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Derrick De Marney finds himself in a 39 Steps situation when he is wrongly accused of murder. While a fugitive from the law, De Marney is helped by heroine Nova Pilbeam, who three years earlier had played the adolescent kidnap victim in Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much. The obligatory "fish out of water" scene, in which the principals are briefly slowed down by a banal everyday event, occurs during a child's birthday party. The actual villain, whose identity is never in doubt (Hitchcock made thrillers, not mysteries) is played by George Curzon, who suffers from a twitching eye. Curzon's revelation during an elaborate nightclub sequence is a Hitchcockian tour de force, the sort of virtuoso sequence taken for granted in these days of flexible cameras and computer enhancement, but which in 1937 took a great deal of time, patience and talent to pull off. Released in the US as The Girl Was Young, Young and Innocent was based on a novel by Josephine Tey.

A Brilliant Melodrama

Genres: Crime, Drama

Starring: Nova Pilbeam, Derrick De Marney, Percy Marmont

Released: November 1, 1937

Runtime: 83.0

Popularity Rating: 3.825

Gaumont British Picture Corporation

United Kingdom

Erica Burgoyne Nova Pilbeam
Robert Tisdall Derrick De Marney
Col. Burgoyne Percy Marmont
Old Will Edward Rigby
Ericas Tante Margaret Mary Clare
Det. Insp. Kent John Longden
Guy George Curzon
Ericas Onkel Basil Basil Radford
Christine Clay Pamela Carme
Detective Sergeant Miller George Merritt
Henry Briggs J.H. Roberts
Truckfahrer bei Tom's Hat Jerry Verno
Police Sergeant Ruddock H.F. Maltby
Police Constable John Miller

Art — Art Direction: Alfred Junge
Camera — Camera Operator: Stephen Dade
Camera — Director of Photography: Bernard Knowles
Camera — Director of Photography: Reg Johnson
Crew — Second Unit: Pen Tennyson
Crew — Sound Recordist: A. O'Donoghue
Directing — Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Directing — Script Supervisor: Alma Reville
Editing — Editor: Charles Frend
Production — Producer: Edward Black
Sound — Music: Jack Beaver
Sound — Music: Louis Levy
Writing — Dialogue: Gerald Savory
Writing — Novel: Josephine Tey
Writing — Screenplay: Anthony Armstrong
Writing — Screenplay: Charles Bennett
Writing — Screenplay: Edwin Greenwood