The Analysis of "The 39 steps" by Alfred Hitchcock (1935)

Minimalist Poster of The 39 Steps

" The principle of classical film is well known: the end must reply to the beginning;  between one and the other something must be set in order; the last scene frequently discovers the first and constitutes its resolution."

The Analysis of Film by Reymond Bellour.

MUSICAL OVERTUNE:
"Here that tune" Hannay Says. "It's that damn thing I couldn't get out of my head. Now I know where I heard it before, of course, that MUSIC HALL. Annabella's..."
Enters Mr. Cully, "Ladies and Gentleman, with your kind attention and permission, I have now the honor to present to you one of the most remarkable men in the world, every day he commits to memory, 50 new facts, and remembers every one of them."
Mr. Memory is introduced to the audience.

  SHORT SYNOPSIS

The 39 steps is a Spy-Thriller, by  Alfred Hitchcock based on the book of the same name. The Plot revolves around  Richard Hannay he finds out the mystery of The 39 steps, and stops some secret information from being taken out of the country. This has to be done in order to proof  Mr. Hannay innocent for not murdering Miss Annabella.

THE OPENING SEQUENCE.

 The 39 Steps opens with a panning movement along an electric sign against a black background, flashing letters spelling "MUSIC HALL".The Director (Alfred Hitchcock) brings us inside the music hall following a mysterious figure, as he enters the music hall. The musical overtune along with the camera placement inside the music hall mentally puts us in the very music hall. The curtain opens and the next act begins. Mr. Cully introduces us to Mr. Memory, a person of remarkable intelligence and memory. The Director  acknowledges the presence of us among his audience and asks us to observe the act very carefully. Mr. Memories act calls for him to handle hecklers as well as to field serious questions. As the audiences makes fun, we are also introduced to the audiences from the POV of Mr. Memory, and we assumes that our mysterious figure might be sitting somewhere there. Mr. memory in his witty give and take in which wise cracks are exchanged and set off by real questions and true answers. In this question and answer session between Mr. Memory and audiences; our Mysterious man is introduces, we recognize him as our protagonist. Mr. Memory introduces him as a Gentleman from Canada, the audiences welcomes him with claps. A sudden heckling in the hall gets out of hand and a fistfight breaks out. An insert, a hand fires gun as two shots ring out. The camera breaks us from our position from the audience and puts us as a distant observer, observing this chaos, to frame the films' first declaration, that there is a mystery in this world. When the camera again brings us to ours protagonist, we find the an unknown lady in  his arms. We learn that our "Hero" is not  fully invested in her and he tries to go in opposite direction when she pulls him and asks to go with him. though we latter learn about her motives. They both left in bus.

                                                                                                                                                     DISSOLVES.

An Excerpt from HITCHCOCK: THE MURDEROUS GAZE writes :

1. Music Hall electric board of the opening sequence

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Mr. Cully introduces Mr. Memory.

POV of Mr. Memory.

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The insert.

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The scene where the camera puts the audiences as a spectator of the film and not just mere audience in the music hall.

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The opening sequence of the film is 7min and 29sec long (inc. the opening credits). The first dissolve ends the first scene of the film, from this point onward, The Director creates the suspense, in the following scene Annabella  reveals something about the 39steps, the title of the film, it cues us to the problem and then the mysterious murder of annabella who claims she is a spy and then Richard Hannay is being identified as the murderer who is on the run, the chase between the police and Mr. Hannay, identifying the villain Professor Jordan, who will be selling the military secrets out of the country, but How?
According to Bordwell and Thompson, one of the ways in which the classical narrative is arranged depends on the causal system, this means that the narrative forwards in time based on the problems that arises and their solution, and here where Hitchcock as The Master of Suspense comes in. He holds on to problems in such a way that the conclusion comes at the very end causing the resolution. Like the game of the jigsaw puzzle, he puts the pieces of the jigsaw (Scenes) in such a way that when the very last piece is put into its place, we realize that the last piece was just under our nose, which we missed in the beginning.

"In Hitchcockian fable, to achieve a certain truth, the riddle must be solved and the mistaken identity in which it is cloaked is revealed, these two questions may be stressed back to their common origin, resulting in final Equilibrium."

The riddle was the tune, that Mr. Hannay could not get out of his mind, until the very end when the musical orchestra plays it again. The mistaken identity (last piece of the jigsaw puzzle), is Mr. Memory, who is the vector in taking the information out of the country. The last piece which was right beneath our nose from the beginning is put into place and our Puzzle is COMPLETED.

The film is available in  Youtube and the link is given below:

References:

1. Hitchcock: The Murderous Gaze by William Rothman.
2. The Analysis of Film by Reymond Bellour.
3. Film Art: An Introduction by David Brodwell and Kristin Thompson.