I take back what I said about The Lady Vanishes, this is my favorite Hitchcock from his British era. This is the film that catapulted Hitchcock to success, which then led to The Lady Vanishes.

But what exactly is the 39 Steps? This is the question our main protagonist is forced to find out after helping an “agent,” and then to only watch her keel over with a knife sticking out of her back. What sets in is a race across Scotland to a little known location to discover the 39 Steps before other secret agents steal away with secret British intelligence.

The movie works in the way you’d expect from a Hitchcock thriller: less-than-daring escapes are made and secret agents are avoided by running really fast on foot across vast plains of fields. All cheese aside it’s still a Hitchcock worth seeing.