Hitchcock was Wrong About Being Wrong

Rating: 8/10 (9 October 2017)

There are a handful of sublimely 'Hitchcockian' moments in this 'picaresque' American version of The 39 Steps. A truly sinister moment is the beginning of the aircraft plant fire with jet black smoke coiling and expanding across the back drop of the vast metal doors of the aircraft plant. It is quite beautiful. The shoot out in Radio City Music Hall is a classic set piece, one of Hitch's best. The Nazi agent reminiscing about his beautiful blond curls as a boy is a touch worthy of Bunuel!
Hitch always said it should have been the hero dangling from the Statue of Liberty but I disagree. At that moment of vertiginous terror we are forced to identify with the ferret-faced, fragile, pathetic little monster, Fry whose death is caused by his own cheap suit. Morally it is more complex and satisfying than the reversed role (as in North By Northwest). Norman Lloyd's fall from the statue was one of the truly great special effects of classic cinema and is unforgettable.
Both Bob Cummings and Priscilla Lane are not 'A-list' but they give all they have for Hitch and he appreciated it. He even used Cummings again in Dial M for Murder.