Luke here, back with a new limited series where I talk about like 60 movies over the next 60 days. Click here for an explanation. Read on for the quick and dirty review!
I was fortunate enough to be able to watch this movie with someone who had worked on a production of the stage version of the 39 Steps. He said that, while this version was a great drama, the stage version was more of a comedy. After looking back on the movie, I could see the points where certain elements, if played differently, could have been laugh out loud funny. That said, I was glad for the drama, as Robert Donat's sly and dry wit and humor would have felt a little dull if everything else was being played up to the nth degree. Hitchcock showcases his at this point well developed sense of pacing and camera work. There's a particularly titillating piece of camera work involving the shot starting in a car, then swinging out as the car drives away, that mirrors Fritz Lang's revolutionary window shot in M (seen here), but improves on it in ways that only Hitchcock could. Of course it's awesome, it's Hitchcock.