"Thirty-nine Steps" in "Director's Talk"

Bertha 2021-12-21 08:01:13

When Hitchcock discussed why he wanted to shoot "39 Steps," it was out of respect for the original novel author John Buchan. In fact, Buchan did have a great influence on Hitchcock's creative concept. The popular novelist and politician born in Scotland has five novels with the character "Hana" as the protagonist. "39 Steps" is the first of them. However, Hitchcock was originally interested in another one. For various reasons, he failed to retreat as he wished, and so he made "39 Steps".

But for Hitchcock, Buchan is not only the original author of "39 Steps", but also some of Hitchcock's other works, such as "People Who Know Too Much" and "Northwest by Northwest" (also translated "The Spy" The Sea of ​​Doubt) and so on, all have a Bakken-like character and a Bakken-like atmosphere. But it was Scott, the famous British novelist in the 19th century, whom Buchan regarded as his spiritual mentor. From this relationship, we can get a glimpse of the literary and historical origins of Hitchcock's creation.

In Buchan's novels, there are various unexpected and unexpected conspiracies and crimes. Innocents or outsiders are inexplicably chased, and they endure all kinds of hardships while absconding, and at the same time undergo a strange spiritual and psychological journey. Hitchcock borrowed these to construct the narrative framework of his film. But there are still significant differences between Hitchcock and Buchan.

As Peter Warren said, all the adventures in Buchan's writings have a goal, "the ultimate political goal is to maintain a dynasty or a way of life." But for Hitchcock, this kind of goal has disappeared, and all actions are due to the so-called "McGuffin", which is a word often mentioned by Hitchcock himself and critics (from which the so-called "McGuffin Theory"), it expresses a topic or a simple plot idea, from which suspense and plot come out in the next life.

In "39 Steps", "McGuffin" is a fictitious spy network attempting to steal national defense secrets. That's it. The audience cannot learn about the background and activities of this spy network in the film. What Hitchcock did so naturally came from his avoidance of politics. Hitchcock always denied the social themes in his works. He used Buchan's narrative method, but abandoned the political color of his novels. Of course, canceling the political theme does not mean denying the meaning of the work. Buchan once said, "Now I know how thin the protective layer of civilization is. An accident and a disguised ambulance, a false accusation and a time False detention, there are dozens of ways to dismiss people from this happy and busy world." Hitchcock agrees with this. In "39 Steps" and other "Innocent People Fleeing Thrill", Hitchcock made a very in-depth view of the uncontrollable and dangerous situation of the fate of people in modern civilized society. Explore.

Another purpose of "Mcffin Theory" is to arrange the structure of the work more intensively. Hitchcock believes that if the plot is properly handled, such as reducing the key features of the film, this will not harm the setting and unfolding of the suspense. In the first draft of the script of "39 Steps", Hitchcock had planned to insert a paragraph for the protagonist to follow to a gorge in Scotland, where a huge hangar with a spy network was hidden, and the protagonist attempted to blow up. The hangar was a very attractive plot, but he gave up afterwards. Because that would be too complicated, and the audience is actually only concerned about the fugitive Hanai. Hitchcock sets the core of his film clearly in the position of "chasing" and "escape". He focuses on the contradictory mechanism (including the transformation of their positions) and the psychology of the characters resulting from it. meaning.

In the setting of the plot, compared with the original work, the film also has a distinct director's personal imprint, which is even a bit emotional. The film adds a scene in which a Scottish peasant woman saves Hanai, which is not in the novel. She let Hanai go and gave him a coat with a Bible in her pocket. This plot directly led to Hanai's salvation in the next scene (the bullet shot on the "Bible" made him a catastrophe).

It is said that the idea of ​​adding this plot comes from an old joke that Hitchcock likes, a somewhat obscene romantic story like the "Decameron" or "Canterbury Tales". This is entirely Hitchcock's personal style-he likes to tell obscene stories, and even improvisely arranges things he is interested in in the film. In a similar situation, he had another treatment of the ending of the film. The ending that had been filmed was that Hanai and Pamela got out of the amusement park and got on a rental carriage. Hanai announced to Pamela that they were actually Husbands and wives, because according to Scottish law, as long as they are announced in front of everyone that they are going to get married, they can be considered as a couple, and they have been forced to do so in their escape. Hitchcock talked about this ancient custom-which is contrary to the formal laws of today's civilized society-but in the end, in order to make the whole film more refined, he had to delete the ending.

The "Mr. Memory" McMorry in the film is also a product of Hitchcock's unique experience. Hitchcock likes to go to third-rate theaters and amusement parks. McMurray’s role comes from a well-known artist named Taiz, who can answer people’s questions about dates without thinking. But McMurray was not only an entertainer, Hitchcock also regarded him as the embodiment of professional consciousness and sense of responsibility, until he died, he was still sober-minded, answering all questions, and his death was solemn and funny. Later, in conversations between Hitchcock and Truffaut, McMorry was compared with the dead female teacher in "The Birds", revealing that he thought McMorry was a martyr-meaning role.

Someone once said that "39 Steps" is the film that most resembles Hitchcock's later works in his earlier works. This is undoubtedly a compliment. Almost no one doubts that Hitchcock's films in the American period, especially after the 1950s, have a depth that he did not have in his works in the British period. But on the other hand, the themes and styles of Hitchcock's later works must be a development of his earlier works. We can find all kinds of clues and precursors in works such as "39 ​​Steps", which are from Hitchcock's later works. Foundation and bedding.

In "39 Steps", one can find that Hitchcock has formed his principle of suspense, that is, he would rather give up a short surprise to a lasting suspense. In his own words, his work does not start with "hidden but not revealed" like a detective film, but with "revealing the truth". At the beginning of "39 Steps", the protagonist Hanai met a female agent in the amusement park, and immediately revealed the core of the whole film incident-defending a national defense secret from being stolen abroad by a spy organization-to the audience and countenance. Focus the audience's attention on Hanai's fate and whether he can fulfill his mission. This forms a lasting suspense that will not be resolved until the end of the film, and the audience also participates in the setting and completion of this suspense with the characters, not just a bystander.

However, we must also use a higher criterion to measure the suspense handling of "39 Steps". For Hitchcock, even though suspense is so important, it is not the whole of his work, nor is it even the core of his work, but the second one, a method or means. This higher level of understanding and application of suspense seems to have not been reached in "39 Steps". Compared with the complex moral concepts revealed in the suspense development of Hitchcock's later works, the concept of good and evil in "39 Steps" is relatively simple, and the power of suspense is basically reflected in the tension of maintaining the plot. In other words, among the double clues that Hitchcock's works usually have, "39 Steps" is more on the romantic one (including chasing and escaping and love, etc.), while the other clue about the character's spiritual journey is weak. , Especially the indispensable theme of "salvation" in his later works seems to have not appeared yet. It can be said that the suspense in "39 Steps" mostly provides pleasure, rather than the reflection of his later works.

In terms of narrative style, "39 Steps" can be regarded as the forerunner of Hitchcock's future works. This style is reflected in the compact and solid composition of the whole film with one event after another and scenes. A rough analysis shows that there are more than ten events and scenes in "39 Steps". Starting from the amusement park, passing through the murder of the Portland apartment, the fright on the train, the encounter and rescue of the farmer’s family, the village of Nacherac was caught and a series of arrests and escaped, and finally returned to London in the amusement park. At the end, every small event and scene can be called a short thriller. But the most commendable thing is not the scenes of these events themselves, but the techniques for how to quickly switch from one to the next.

Hitchcock himself also said that in "39 Steps" he is most proud of the "rapid and sudden" transition between events. The key here is speed, which makes the audience have no time to think about it and keeps them focused. Of course, the transition must be rapid and natural and smooth. For example, Hanai’s shooting in the village of Nacherac was really a genius of “putting to death and resurrecting”. Hanai relied on a "Bible" to resist the catastrophe. It was all because of the foreshadowing of the front. Giving the "Bible" is a wonderful conversion. After Hanai was arrested, he escaped because of a flock of sheep blocking the car. There is no lack of easy humor in the thrill, and the atmosphere is tense but the technique is simple and clear. Hitchcock told people that it is very important to realize this kind of conversion, and if anything hinders this kind of conversion, it should be deleted without hesitation. On the contrary, anything that is conducive to the connection and conversion of event scenes should be adopted without hesitation.

Here, Hitchcock expresses an important point of his: that is against the so-called "authenticity", he is concerned about the "life events after removing the bland fragments" and the details necessary to express these events , Suspense, atmosphere and how to determine the location of the camera, etc. In "39 Steps", we can find all kinds of dramatic or legendary ideas. It is in "39 Steps" and the films before and after that this kind of "pure passion" is formed by Truffaut. style.

Contrary to this "wonderland" concept is the so-called "restricted narrative" style. This style, which Hitchcock called a very "British" style, seems to have been inspired by Buchan. To put it simply, this is a deliberately "insufficient" and "not incisive" technique. It uses "light tones to express a dramatic plot", and "popular" plots do not use "popular" techniques. On the contrary, a certain humorous and leisurely taste is also revealed from time to time. Many examples can be cited in "39 Steps". However, this style is not unique to Buchan's novels. What Hitchcock drew from it is the entire British literary tradition, and Dickens' novels are full of this meaning. Hitchcock is not alone in the movie, and some other British directors have also reflected this style to some extent. Of course, none of them can combine this tension with ease, strong and light as perfect as Hitchcock.

Although "39 Steps" won Hitchcock's unprecedented reputation, the film eventually became one of Hitchcock's "final performances" to bid farewell to Britain. Perhaps the award of "39 Steps" by the New York film critics for the best film gave Hitchcock a sense of "friends" on the other side of the ocean and contributed to his determination to go to the United States. In fact, Hitchcock did not deny his British career. He called this period a period of "cultivating his own intuition in film conception". But perhaps out of incompatibility with the British documentary movement of the same period, or even dissatisfaction with the prejudice of the British nationality towards movies (which also led to an unfair evaluation of his films), he went to Hollywood. This is of course a great loss for British cinema, but it is a blessing for the history of world cinema and the global audience. After all, for Hitchcock, Hollywood is a more suitable place for him to display his talents.

In this way, "39 Steps" has not only left the reputation of "the best British feature film in the 1930s" or "the representative work of Hitchcock in the British period" in the history of film. In the eyes of future generations, it has a strong reputation. His British style and British style are just like the nostalgic tune played by a Scottish bagpipe, chanting the heartfelt sentiment of an artist to leave his home country.

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Extended Reading
  • Bobbie 2022-04-21 09:02:28

    ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! First Hitchcock movie I watched

  • Johathan 2022-04-23 07:02:32

    Hitchcock's early works, the style is beginning to emerge. Short and powerful but with all the internal organs, rough and sharp video style, rich details and all kinds of shadow stalks, it is also the first time that Xi Fat can throw off the burden of humor, and hit a few points. Many of the characters with little but outstanding roles, such as "Mr. Kuaisui", the peasant woman and the innkeeper's wife, have impressive performances. The plot of the first and last theaters echoes the extra points, but the collection is a little hasty...

The 39 Steps quotes

  • Richard Hannay: I know what it is to feel lonely and helpless and to have the whole world against me, and those are things that no men or women ought to feel.

  • Richard Hannay: There are 20 million women in this island and I've got to be chained to you.