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The 39 Steps - Unmissable Hitchcock Thriller

Advantages: Robert Donat, one of Hitchcock's favourites in action
Disadvantages: None

Alfred Hitchcock's adaptation of the John Buchan novel"The 39 Steps" produced in 1935 was the 24th film that he directed. Voted into the British Film Institute's top 5 British Films. It runs for 106 minutes and is in black and white. A classic Hitchcock thriller based upon the mistaken identity theme, starts with Richard Hannay, brilliantly portrayed by Robert Donat) meeting the exotic "icy blonde" (Lucie Mannheim) at music hall show presenting ...
...she is being followed. In the night she appears to him with a knife in her back, clutching a map and muttering something about the "39 Steps", telling him the leader has a portion of his little finger missing. Fleeing to Scotland as he is wanted by the police he meets Pamela (Madeleine Carrol) who acts as his accomplice after they are handcuffed together, something Hitchcock did hours before the filming started, and the first time Donat and Carrol ...

jackwilliams86 03.05.2007 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of The 39 Steps (DVD)

Early Hitchcock doesn't quite cut it

Advantages: Very entertaining in those days I'm sure...
Disadvantages: but we're in the 21st century now

...films deemed too irrelevant for the common movie-goer. Alas I just can't seem to give this DVD the thumbs up. You see, the thing is -if a black and white film, handicapped with the inevitable restrictions of movie-making in yesteryears, is to be an enjoyable experience for an audience today, it must have certain qualities of timelessness to it. Casablanca, The Seventh Seal and The Lady Vanishes are adored, remastered and distributed widely today ...
...to people still. I watched The Lady Vanishes (Hitchcock's last British film before he moved to America to make such international blockbusters like Vertigo and Psycho) prior to this DVD and found that to be suspenseful enough despite it being made around the same time with this film. However I must say that The Man Who Knew Too Much proved just too boring and sketchy for me despite having such a promising plot and such a decent cast. Vintage Hitchcock ...

habitualdamnation 13.07.2005 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of The Man Who Knew Too Much (DVD)

The Boredom Vanishes (Lame title or what?).

Advantages: Easy-going on the head.
Disadvantages: A little 'twee' for nowadays, but still a good classic.

The Lady Vanishes. What can I say? It's a pretty good film for one of those sleepy rainy Sunday afternoons or cold miserable sick-days! The film is about a woman named Miss Froy, who evidently, goes missing, and someone she helped out of the goodness of her heart realises she is missing, but the people who should have seen Miss Froy, claim not to have done, and then there also seems to be more to the sweet innocent Miss Froy than meets the eye... ...
...engaging, and the fact that nothing to terrible happens in the film makes it an enjoyable experience for all really as it doesn't weigh on your mind and keep you tensed up! Although the plot develops quit quickly, still it is worth a look-in because after all Hitchcock turned out some fantastic works, and this, in my opinion is one of them. Go on...see for yourself. ...

duderob1989 25.06.2006 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful
Review of The Lady Vanishes (DVD)

But I just saw her on this train! She must exist!

Advantages: Charming, clever lines, satisfying ending
Disadvantages: Not for the impatient action-lover

...obsessed with making movies in the comedy /thriller /mystery genre with a distinctive English touch to them. Even after the advent of colour TV, I can totally understand why this film, so rich in humour and class, remains an unforgettable classic to this very day. The Lady Vanishes is definitely one of Hitchcock's best (and I would say also the funniest!) from that bygone era and also his last before he went to America. It's always difficult to write ...
...SYNOPSIS: A lengthy introduction to the characters takes place in a hotel before the set goes onto the train where the mystery begins. Iris is a woman who met an elderly lady by the name of Ms. Froy back at the hotel and takes pleasure in extending their friendship on the train. Unfortunately the lady vanishes into thin air after Iris' nap and everybody denies even seeing such a person! Together with the help of a slightly obnoxious skirt-chaser, ...

habitualdamnation 08.07.2005 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of The Lady Vanishes (DVD)

Action-packed with some witty dialogue but still flawed somehow

Advantages: Quite thrilling when it gathers pace, seemed an authentic depiction of London, some humour
Disadvantages: Something about Downey Jnrs depiction of Holmes didnt work somehow, not for all ages/the squeamish

...Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's novels, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson start out by catching a serial killer who dabbles in the the supernatural, an evil man called Lord Blackwood who is sentenced to death, indeed Watson confirms he's dead after he's hung. Things take a distinctly sinister turn, however, when they discover than Blackwood has apparently risen from the dead and Holmes recalls what he told him before he was hung, which indicated that more ...
...actor (Robert Downey Jnr.) played Sherlock Holmes, while an English actor (Jude Law), played his right hand man, Dr. Watson. Now of course I knew that before I went to see the movie, infact I quite like Robert Downey Jnr. as an actor and I have enjoyed some of his other movies and the fact that he plays the main character was one of the main reasons I wanted to see it in the cinema but there was something about him playing this role that I just didn't ...

IzzyS 27.12.2009 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Sherlock Holmes