Les 39 marches

...with Robert Donat as a Canadian ex-pat living in London who gets accused of murder. He goes on the run, avoiding the authorities in hopes of clearing his name, with the trail leading to the Scottish countryside. He eventually ends up involving a reluctant Madeleine Carroll. With Lucie Mannheim, Godfrey Tearle, Helen Haye, Wylie Watson, John Laurie, and Peggy Ashcroft.

Highlights for me: the Scottish Highlands, Madeleine Carroll removing her stockings while handcuffed to Donat, and Peggy Ashcroft's brief turn as the unhappy wife of a country farmer. Donat's easy charm and affable demeanor foretell the similar performances by Stewart and Grant in Hitchcock's later thrillers. There are some glaring plot-holes (why don't the villains deal with Donat when they off the woman in his apartment at the film's start?), but they can be ignored thanks to the pace of the proceedings.

The Criterion DVD bonus features include commentary by Hitchcock expert Marian Keane; a "visual essay" by Hitchcock expert (how many are there?) Leonard Leff; Hitchcock: The Early Years (2000), a short British documentary; excerpts from a 1966 British TV interview; more audio-only excerpts of Truffaut's Hitchcock interviews; a booklet/essay from critic David Cairns; and the complete Lux Radio Theatre adaptation, with Ida Lupino and Robert Montgomery. Truly the best way to see it, and thus why I bring it up.