You could say it’s like being the highest peak below 2000 meters in the French Alps. You could also say that it’s a very good movie if not an outstanding one. As for myself, I prefer to see my glass of Champagne half full.

So you’ll have to grant a suspension of disbelief (for the many Coleridge fans out there) or accept a few inconsistencies in the scenario: spies everywhere, an ever-escaping hero, etc.

If that’s not too much to ask, you’ll be rewarded with a thrilling, palpitating, entertaining spy movie, especially if you’re into one of the following items:

• Innocent men on the run (usually because they know too much);
• Woman spies who get stabbed in your bedroom;
• Being handcuffed to someone else while trying to escape from killers or the police;
• Impromptu political speeches;
• Trains and Scottish landscapes;
• Hitchcock cameo spotting (twice in this movie).

Any subsequent need to rebalance the quintessential image of the ‘Hitchcock blonde’ with something less patriarchal can be fulfilled by watching the excellent His Girl Friday.

If you’re planning on escaping from something in the near future, watch that movie.

The post The 39 Steps first appeared on My Kingdom for a Movie.

Most last around 25 minutes and, though many of them involve a murder, they all have a deeper common point: perfect structure of the storytelling, attention to detail, and a taste for the unexpected, for reversals of situations, for the inattendu.

They deal with revenge, psychology, murder, suicide, accidents, women, men, death insurance, cheating, guns, social classes, alibis, young chicks, old bores, love, hate, surprise, and so much more.

If you like Hemingway novels, it’s like reading Hemingway’s short stories. Well, if you like Hitchcock movies your know what to do.

The post Hitchcock Presents first appeared on My Kingdom for a Movie.