The 39 Steps

The 39 Steps

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Richard Hannay clambering along the outside of a train

In a world where the excellent is often the enemy of the good, what about The 39 Steps? Not Hitchcock’s 1935 classic, but the 1959 remake starring Kenneth More? So often compared to the original, so often reviled – especially in its native UK – the 1959 version is actually a pretty good stab at an adaptation of John Buchan’s rattling thriller and a decent film in its own right. But thanks to the Hitchcock version it struggles to get a hearing. To watch it, it’s probably best to mentally lock Hitchcock’s version away, though there is also something to be said for watching it as a compare and contrast. Same plot more … Read more

The 39 Steps

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Madeleine Carroll handcuffed to Robert Donat in The 39 Steps

There are several filmed versions of John Buchan’s novel. The other two notables have Kenneth More and Robert Powell in the lead. But this one, in spite of its antiquity, is the best. It stars debonair, pencil-moustached Robert Donat as the innocent man forced into going on the run after accidentally getting caught up at the wrong end of someone else’s spying caper. The “innocent” theme was something Alfred Hitchcock was already comfortable with in 1935 and one which he’d return to repeatedly, most notably in North by Northwest. If you’ve read John Buchan’s original book, you’ll know The 39 Steps is a taut thriller full of derring-do, a rattling good read even … Read more