"Actor: Lucie Mannheim"

• The 39 Steps | DVD | (19/06/2007) from £4.45   |  Saving you £11.54 (259.33%)   |  RRP £15.99

  A high point of Hitchcock's pre-Hollywood career, 1935's The Thirty-Nine Steps is the first and best of three film versions of John Buchan's rather stiff novel. Robert Donat plays Richard Hannay, who becomes embroiled in a plot to steal military secrets. He finds himself on the run; falsely accused of murder, while also pursuing the dastardly web of spies alluded to in the title. With a plot whose twists and turns match the hilly Scottish terrain in which much of the film is set, The Thirty-Nine Steps combines a breezy suavity with a palpable psychological tension. Hitchcock was already a master at conveying such tension through his cinematic methods, rather than relying just on situation or dialogue. Sometimes his ways of bringing the best out of his actors brought the worst out in himself. If the scene in which Donat is handcuffed to co-star Madeline Carroll has a certain edge, for instance, that's perhaps because the director mischievously cuffed them together in a rehearsal, then left them attached for a whole afternoon, pretending to have lost the key. The movie also introduces Hitchcock's favoured plot device, the "McGuffin" (here, the military secret), the unexplained device or "non-point" on which the movie turns. --David Stubbs

• Adventures of the Scarlet Pimpernel - The Complete Series | DVD | (30/07/2012) from £9.99   |  Saving you £20.00 (200.20%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Marius Goring, one of British cinema's most gifted and versatile actors, brings his remarkable talents to the role of the enigmatic adventurer risking his life to save innocent French aristocrats from the guillotine during Robespierre's revolutionary Terror. Switching between the flamboyant Pimpernel and his foppish, outwardly simple alter ego Sir Percy Blakeney with consummate ease, Goring is ably supported by Patrick Troughton in another of ITC's mid '50s swashbuckler series which, though not seen in sixty years, easily holds its own alongside stablemates The Adventures of Robin Hood, William Tell and The Buccaneers.This classic adventure series also features a guest cast that includes Robert Shaw, Christopher Lee, Conrad Phillips, Ivor Dean, William Franklyn, Alfie Bass and John Laurie.

• The High Command | Blu Ray | (15/02/2021) from £16.69   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Lionel Atwill, Lucie Mannheim and James Mason (in an early breakout role) star in this memorable Colonial tale of honour and betrayal between the wars. Oscar-nominated Thorold Dickinson's feature debut as a solo director, The High Command is presented here as a High Definition remaster from original film elements in its as-exhibited aspect ratio. West Africa, 1937. When a medical officer attached to a military garrison is found murdered, a fellow officer is suspected. The subsequent court martial rakes up the past, uncovering secrets best left dead and buried...

• The 39 Steps | DVD | (01/10/1999) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Hitchcock's first great romantic thriller is a prime example of the "macguffin" principle in action. Robert Donat is Richard Hannay, an affable Canadian tourist in London who becomes embroiled in a deadly conspiracy when a mysterious spy winds up murdered in Hannay's rented flat--and both the police and a secret organisation wind up hot on his trail. With only a seemingly meaningless phrase ("the 39 steps"), a small Scottish town circled on a map, and a criminal mastermind identified by a missing finger as clues, quick-witted Hannay eludes police and spies alike as he works his way across the countryside to reveal the mystery and clear his name. At one point he finds himself making his escape manacled to blonde beauty Pamela (Madeleine Carroll), whose initial antagonism is smoothed by Hannay's charm. It's classic Hitchcock all the way, a seemingly effortless balance of romance and adventure set against a picturesque landscape populated by eccentrics and social-register smoothies, none of whom is what he or she appears to be. Hitchcock would play similar games of innocents plunged into deadly conspiracies, most delightfully in North by Northwest, but in this breezy 1935 classic, Hitch proves that, as in any quest, the object of the search isn't nearly as satisfying as the journey. --Sean Axmaker, Amazon.com

• The 39 Steps | DVD | (27/02/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Alfred Hitchcock considered The 39 Steps to be one of his favourite films partly because it launched his classic theme of the innocent man on the run from villains and lawmen. Robert Donat stars as Richard Hannay in this freely adapted version of John Buchan's story. Despite repeated remakes Hitchcock's riveting original remains unequalled.