The document discusses Alfred Hitchcock's 1935 film The Thirty-Nine Steps. It summarizes that Hitchcock combined both "high" and "popular" cultural elements in the film. He cast classical Shakespearean actors John Gielgud and John Laurie to appeal to critics but also included sequences set in London's Palladium theater to appeal to a popular audience. This combination of elements made The Thirty-Nine Steps a big hit in Britain and established Hitchcock's reputation as a popular filmmaker who could appeal to both highbrow and mainstream audiences.

1. First Day at School

2. I remember my first day at school:
Dulwich College in South London.

3. I was nine years old, and come from a small
primary school, and a big school like
Dulwich College really frightened me …

4. Let us try and remember our first
days at school ….
In pairs, see if you can
write down a list of
TEN words and phrases
that you might want to
use to describe your
experiences. They can
be any words you like –
adjectives, nouns, or
more colloqiual
expressions

5. Now read the
following
poem:
A millionbillionwillion miles from home
Waiting for the bell to go. (To go where?)
Why are they all so big, other children?
So noisy? So much at home they
Must have been born in uniform
Lived all their lives in playgrounds
Spent the years inventing games
That don't let me in. Games
That are rough, that swallow you up.

6. And the railings.
All around, the railings.
Are they to keep out wolves and monsters?
Things that carry off and eat children?
Things you don't take sweets from?
Perhaps they're to stop us getting out
Running away from the lessins. Lessin.
What does a lessin look like?
Sounds small and slimy.
They keep them in the glassrooms.
Whole rooms made out of glass. Imagine.
I wish I could remember my name
Mummy said it would come in useful.
Like wellies. When there's puddles.
Yellowwellies. I wish she was here.
I think my name is sewn on somewhere
Perhaps the teacher will read it for me.
Tea-cher. The one who makes the tea.

7. Now write down a
similar list of
TEN words and
phrases that you
think describe
this child’s
experiences. They
may be words &
phrases from the
poem, or your
own words

8. Any similarities and/or differences
between the two lists?
Now let us finish
with a creative
activity. In
pairs, write your
own poem
“First Day at
School,” with a
MINIMUM of
10 lines!!

9. John Laurie (1897-1980)
 John Laurie was
another
Shakespearean
actor who played
small roles in
comedies &
melodramas. This
was his first
major character
role.

10. Reaction from Audiences
 Popular audiences at the time would
probably have heard of Ashcroft & Laurie,
but would not know them by sight, as
London-based theatre actors seldom toured,
and then only to the big cities
 However their presence in the film gave it
‘respectability’ with critics & ensured good
potential box-office receipts in London

11. Hence Hitchcock
combines both
‘high’ and
‘popular’ cultural
elements in the
film: the adventure
tale of Hannay –
who by the mid-
1930s had become
something of a folk
hero – and the
classical actors’
presence in the cast

12. Hitchcock as Popular Filmmaker
However Hitchcock wants to make a film that has
cross-class appeal in the mid-1930s, so he has
Buchan’s book rewritten to have a sequence
taking place at the London Palladium, at that
time Britain’s most famous vaudeville theatre (or
music-hall in British English)

13. Performances used to take place twice a night
at 6.00 and 8.30 p.m. and were genuinely
class-less: upper and lower class patrons sat
together in the large theatre

14. … and enjoyed a
variety of acts.
Radio at the
time was not
popular in
Britain;
television did
not exist, so
music-hall was
the main source
of popular
entertainment

15. Evil lurks everywhere, even in a
palace of laughter …

16. Hitchcock’s Reputation Made
The combination of
high cultural &
popular elements
makes Thirty-Nine
Steps a huge hit in
Britain: Hitchcock
tries the same
combination in The
Secret Agent
(1936)