Week 2 blog post (The 39 Steps)

I will be analyzing the scene in which Hannay and Pamela are being driven through the countryside by two members of the 39 steps, which goes from approximately 51:20 to around 56:04. In this scene, Hannay has just finished giving an impromptu introduction for a political candidate, and as he finishes he leaves the venue with Pamela and the two spies (who are pretending to be police detectives). Interestingly, he does not try to flee and has no trouble getting into the car with them. They are driving through the countryside when the car encounters a road block – a flock of sheep. The spies handcuff Pamela to Hannay to prevent him from escaping while they move the sheep, and Hannay high-tails it out of there with Pamela – eluding the 39 Steps once again.

The most obvious thing about this scene is the fact that the policemen are being equated with sheep.  At 53:27, when Hannay firsts spots the sheep, he even says, “Oh, it’s a whole flock of detectives,” mocking his captors.  At 53:46, there is a shot that is almost a POV shot from the POV of a sheep – but the back of the sheep’s head is visible in the foreground. The sheep is literally looking at Hannay’s backside as he simply runs off and escapes again.

Another interesting element in this scene is the lighting – Hannay has been quite well-lit the entire film, and just before this scene, while he is giving the speech, his face is illuminated and the camera is looking up at him, with his face occupying almost the entirety of the shot (49:42). Light is often used to symbolize knowledge, wisdom, and power, as the associations are as old as time. People say “I am enlightened”, or “I have seen the light!” when they have acquired knowledge or wisdom, and even before people started formally worshiping the sun we were aware of its immense power. Hitchcock keeps the spies’ faces hidden in shadow, partly because they are fairly expendable – much more so than Hannay or Professor Jordan – but also to re-enforce their lack of intelligence and common sense. A smart spy would never let his captive escape because of a couple sheep, and Hitchcock portrays the spies in the 39 Steps as stupid to make a statement on the cognitive dissonance and lunacy of international war games.