A stranger is killed in Richard Hannay’s flat. His only lead takes him to Scotland.
1935 · British espionage thriller · 86 minutes · Black and white
Synopsis
A disturbance at a London music hall leads Richard Hannay to offer shelter to a woman who says she’s being followed. When she is killed in his flat, the police suspect him. With only a few clues to go on, Hannay boards a train for Scotland, where he crosses paths with Pamela, a fellow passenger who has little reason to believe his story.
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Meet the cast
Film credits
Director · Alfred Hitchcock
Adaptation · Charles Bennett, from John Buchan’s novel The Thirty-Nine Steps
Dialogue · Ian Hay
Producers · Michael Balcon and Ivor Montagu
Cinematography · Bernard Knowles
Editing · Derek N. Twist
Production company · Gaumont-British
Also featuring Wylie Watson as Mr. Memory and Frank Cellier as Sheriff Watson.
Production and film notes
Charles Bennett’s adaptation retains Buchan’s fugitive hero and the Scottish pursuit. Hitchcock gives the chase a comic edge through Hannay’s exchanges with Pamela, and uses the music hall and its performers as part of the mystery. The Criterion Collection
The train sequence and the crofter’s cottage give the chase very different rhythms. The film’s combination of espionage, a man wrongly suspected and a reluctant travelling companion anticipates Hitchcock’s later North by Northwest. The Criterion Collection
Related films
Take My Life (1947) · A British thriller that also sends its lead to Scotland in search of evidence.
Channel Crossing (1933) · Early British suspense aboard a Dover-to-Calais ferry.