·E14
The 39 Steps (1935, Alfred Hitchcock) with Sid Gottlieb - Criterion Collection Spine #56
Episode Description
"See how far the truth gets you."
In this episode of Why This Film?, I'm joined by, film scholar, Sid Gottlieb to explore The 39 Steps, Alfred Hitchcock's 1935 masterpiece thriller and a Criterion Collection essential, the film where Hitchcock became definitively Hitchcock.
The 39 Steps follows Richard Hannay (Robert Donat), an ordinary Canadian accused of murder he didn't commit. Fleeing across the Scottish Highlands, he's handcuffed to Pamela (Madeleine Carroll), a woman who doesn't believe him. What starts as a spy story becomes a meditation on trust and survival. To survive, Hannay must convince strangers he's telling the truth. But truth doesn't always help.
Sid Gottlieb is a Professor of Communication and Media Studies at Sacred Heart University, where he's taught since 1976. He co-edits The Hitchcock Annual and has spent decades inside Hitchcock's own words and interviews through books like Hitchcock on Hitchcock, Framing Hitchcock, and Hitchcock: Interviews. His writing extends to Welles, Capra, and beyond, the kind of range that comes from thinking deeply about how directors construct meaning. He's the ideal guide for understanding how a 1935 suspense thriller became the blueprint for everything Hitchcock would make for the next 40 years.
We discuss:
- Why The 39 Steps is the film where Hitchcock's career took shape
- The "wrong man" motif
- Performance and storytelling as survival strategies
- Hitchcock's critique of institutions
- Pamela refusing to be won over on charm alone
- Class consciousness
- The MacGuffin and why it doesn't matter
Whether you're encountering The 39 Steps for the first time or returning to it, this conversation explores a film that moves at breakneck speed while asking questions about who we trust and why. It's a thriller that is also political. It's a love story where the couple barely knows each other. It's a comedy and also a suspense thriller. And it's the film that taught Hitchcock how to be Hitchcock.
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