“The Thirty-Nine Steps is a major achievement. In the figure of Hannay/Donat, Hitchcock creates his first complete protagonist and figure of identification, the first of a long line of Hitchcock heroes. And it is the first Hitchcock film that ‘plays' as well as it ‘reads,' working flawlessly as theater as well as taking theater as its subject. Every role in this film is cast with compelling sensitivity to the nuances of real human types. In this film, Hitchcock makes judgments of his human subjects and calls for agreement with these judgments. First and foremost, he calls upon us to accept his judgment that Hannay/Donat is a figure with whom we may identify. Those who accept this comprise Hitchcock's audience. The Thirty-Nine Steps is the first film in which Hitchcock calls forth an authentic audience--one in which we gladly assume our place. And it is the first film that grants the world its abiding sense of Hitchcock as the ‘master of suspense.'” --William Rothman