The 39 Steps In America --- Part Two

Greenbriar continues its participation in the third annual For the Love of Film: The Film Preservation Blogathon, hosted by The Self-Styled Siren, Ferdy On Films, and This Island Rod. They've been linking to Alfred Hitchcock-related posts from around the Net all week, and would remind readers to please visit this link to make donations toward preserving The White Shadow, one of the first films in which Hitchcock worked.

Andre Sennwald was back eight days later (9/22/35) in pages of the Times to further celebrate The 39 Steps. This time he took US censorship to task for removal of isolated "damns" and "hells" from the Roxy print (It is an invitation to immoderate laughter to find that American censors have tampered even slightly ..., began Sennwald). From there was comparison to thudding H'wood effort at crime thrilling, Warners' uninspired Special Agent a ready target then smelling up the neighboring Strand. It now became a question whether any stateside mystery could measure up to The 39 Steps. The New York-World Telegram said only two came close ... The Thin Man and Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back. Indeed, The 39 Steps had risen well above British origins to reveal, said The Morning Telegraph, a thorough knowledge of timing and pace, and in the end it is a picture to take full and equal rank with the best that Hollywood has ever turned out.

It's easy forgetting how important stage programs were to Broadway film openings. Far from mere extras, they were reviewed as separate entities by trades, and sometimes reaction was severe. The Roxy's live portion to accompany The 39 Steps was nearly as long as the feature itself and subject to much patron expectation for a ticket's worth of entertainment. Broadway prices were higher than dime and quarters for subsequent play, so were naturally judged by goodies served in addition to screen fare. Variety liked The "bang-up" 39 Steps, but gave Roxy a pan for its jumbled, lame, and lethargic stage layout, which, among other things, tendered "three sections of girls" seemingly ad-libbing with their feet to accompany "The Old Spinning Wheel." Comedian Cecil Mack had seemed funnier on previous Roxy occasion, and his meandering act was vulgar besides. The both-thumbs-to-nose gesture directed at the audience is unpardonable, and the many hells and damns don't belong, added Variety's reviewer.

That latter was interesting as I'd always assumed Broadway houses kept profanity out of stage revues. How then to justify snip of swear words out of The 39 Steps with same language issuing from footlights? --- and try imagining stranger bedfellows for Hitchcock than hillbilly balladeer Billy Hill and wife, whose act was followed by a finale of tap dancers accompanying Rhapsody In Blue. As serious a breach as these was Roxy programming of animated Mickey's Kangaroo, outed by the trade for having been exhibited around town about a year ago, according to Variety. First-run customer demand for new product went across the board --- they'd tag stale bread even at a mere seven minutes length. Variety noted a first-run Voice Of Experience short from Columbia that came with 39 Steps admission, but wouldn't forgive Mickey's Kangaroo "putting a penalty on the regular theatre-goer that is difficult to justify."

Still, The 39 Steps clocked two weeks at the Roxy, with its second frame $33,000 confirming status as a bonafide hit. Gaumont used giraffe art to trade-advertise heights they'd attain, critically and commercially. Review quotes were spread thin among autumn territories yet to play The 39 Steps. Maybe now even South and Midwest houses would take a chance and buy British, even as business continued variable depending on place. Minneapolis booked an October date and kept The 39 Steps an impressive three weeks, but then Oklahoma City fizzed after only three days (a deadly $650) and replaced Hitchcock's new kind of thriller with an old kind of western, Powdersmoke Range, Okies doubtless able to identify easier with down-home Harry Carey than suave Brit Robert Donat.

Exhibitor comments were all over the map. I do not rate this picture as high as some critics have, said Leon C. Balduc of Conway, New Hampshire's Majestic Theatre, I can only call this a fair program picture. J.W. Noah of Ft. Worth's New Liberty and Ideal Theatres saw The 39 Steps differently, and came closest to modern-day appreciation for a classic he recognized early on: If all British pictures released in this country were as lively and entertaining as this mystery-melodrama, there would be a brisk competition between foreign and native factions over here, said Noah, The picture has a multitude of clever touches that cannot help (but) to make it the outstanding picture released thus far by Gaumont-British. Our patrons were intrigued by the title and came in profitable numbers. Everyone was pleased.

The World Playhouse in Reduced 80's Circumstance,
 But Still a Noble Edifice

A later playdate and its ad support worth noting ... Chicago's World Playhouse was a 400 seat (at the time) showcase for foreign product that got The 39 Steps during a 1938 reissue. Impressive here is ad copy mentioning Alfred Hitchcock three times, twice by name, and once as "The Master Director Of Them All." Already there is reference to "Fun --- Romance and Suspense In The Hitchcock Manner." I've tried before pin-pointing just when Hitchcock became "The Master Of Suspense" for American audiences, settling then on a somewhat later date. Now I'm wondering if that wreath wasn't laid upon his head even earlier. Had any director established a critical (and audience) foothold so quickly? Even if Hitchcock's first discoverers were longhairs and art-mavens, still it's remarkable how prescient they were for recognizing greatness in him.

Alfred Hitchcock's Greatest Picture! said fresh prepared poster art when The 39 Steps made 1938 repeat rounds, ongoing evidence of how far his reputation (and the film's) had come in so brief a time, and still well ahead of US landfall to do Rebecca. Janus Films by the sixties took distribution reins stateside for The 39 Steps, often pairing same in revival bookings with The Lady Vanishes, the two an ideal (and not overlong) night at art/revival houses. Janus scored non-theatrically as well for Hitchcock's by-then anointed classic, The 39 Steps renting for $80 to schools and $100 plus elsewhere. Up-from-piracy Tom Dunnahoo misunderstood The 39 Steps to be Public Domain and offered 16/8mm "BONAFIDE ORIGINALS" in his 1974 Thunderbird Films catalogue, which made me wonder at the time how in the world Tom got his hands on a so-called "35mm Production Negative" for mastering prints (had such a thing even survived into the 60's?). He offered 35mm as well for theatrical bookings --- you'd wonder what those looked like. Some legal department surely shut Dunnahoo down for his infringement, but whose?

The Janus 1975 Catalogue Listing for The 39 Steps

It's 1938 and Hitchcock's "Greatest Picture!" Is Back

We've since had The 39 Steps in abundance on DVD, Region 2 Blu-Ray, and lately streaming. Enthusiasts have been years trolling for perfection among versions tendered. Several I had in 16mm approached good, but couldn't get far beyond it. Criterion's initial DVD improved on past offerings, but their Lady Vanishes looked better. DVD Beaver expertly covered a Blu-Ray from England and noted but slight advance over what we'd had. A Netflix stream I saw was quite nice and bore an MGM logo. Does MGM control all domestic rights? Now comes announcement of Criterion's forthcoming Blu-Ray, for which many have highest hopes, myself included. Will The 39 Steps finally play as crisp as it did to Roxy crowds? I'll be sure in any case to run Mickey's Kangaroo ahead of it, just for luck.