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By
NICK ZEGARAC
Alfred Hitchcock's British
film making period hints at the brilliant foray of
creative genius that was to follow during his
Hollywood tenure.
In "The 39 Steps" Hitch perfectly captures the
aura of swinging London and its music halls --
except that this time they have become the scenes
for murder, mayhem and, one of Hitchcock's classic
touches, the wrong man in the wrong place at the
wrong time. Robert Donat stars as that wrong man,
playing out a series of parts as Richard Hannay,
Mr. Hammond, Capt. Frazer and Henry Hopkins. A
Canadian tourist, Hannay is forced to flee police
across the countryside and Scottish moors after he
is suspected as part of a deadly conspiracy that
resulted in the murder of a mysterious spy in his
London flat. Hannay is accompanied, for the most
part, by the abstinent Pamela (Madeleine Carroll).
Determined to prove his own innocence and find the
criminal mastermind with the missing fingers,
Hannay eventually winds up in a showdown and a
race against time. Hitchcock populates his
landscape with a series of eccentrics, villains
and downright kooks in an effortless blend or
romance and adventure.
"The 39 Steps" was made available in a slew of
bootlegged DVD transfers -- none of which is
satisfactory, including the legitimate and
expensive Criterion Edition. Granted "The 39
Steps" was a film in genuinely bad shape, before
Criterion came along. However, this DVD is not
"pristine" or "sparkling" as Criterion's packaging
suggests. Contrast levels are still too low. There
is an incredible amount of camera flicker in
almost all of the scenes. Fine details are lost in
darker scenes and only marginally visible during
the brighter ones. There is also a limited amount
of edge enhancement and shimmering of fine detail.
This is not an outstanding restoration or even a
mediocre one. When I think of "pristine" and
"sparkling" Warner Brothers' "Mildred Pierce"
comes to mind. "The 39 Steps" is no Millie!!!
Extras include the usual fluff stuff -- a bunch of
written essays that are really, really boring.
Honestly, how many DVD's have you read lately?!? A
documentary on Hitchcock's British period is also
included but is not comprehensive and appears as
though the source material being used were found
under a haystack in Sussex. And this is what
Criterion wants consumers to pay upwards of
$40-$60 bucks for? Forget it! |
