The 39 Steps [DVD]

Adapted from the novel of the same name by John Buchan. Using the style and technique that were to make him famous, Hitchcock gained immediate audience sympathy for the plight of his central character, an innocent Canadian, who while visiting England, is implicated in the theft of national secrets and murder. This fast paced, often humorous, spy/chase thriller pays homage to Buchan rather than being a close adaption of his novel and was later remade by Hitchcock as ‘North by North West’. The purpose of the chase - the MacGuffin as Hitchcock called it - becomes increasingly irrelevant except as the means of holding a series of vignettes together. Cast includes Robert Donat, Madeleine Carroll and Peggy Ashcroft.