The 39 Steps (1959)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Ralph Thomas

Writers:

Frank Harvey (screenplay)
John Buchan (novel)

Release Date:

13 March 1959 (UK)

Genre:

Thriller | Drama

Tagline:

The Most Suspenseful Manhunt in History!

Plot Keywords:

Remake | Espionage | Remake Of Hitchcock Film | Spy | Road

Cast

Kenneth More	...	Richard Hannay
Taina Elg	...	Fisher
Brenda De Banzie	...	Nellie Lumsden
Barry Jones	...	Professor Logan
Reginald Beckwith	...	Lumsden
Faith Brook	...	Nannie
Michael Goodliffe	...	Brown
James Hayter	...	Mr. Memory
Duncan Lamont	...	Kennedy
Jameson Clark	...	McDougal
Andrew Cruickshank	...	Sheriff
Leslie Dwyer	...	Milkman
Betty Henderson	...	Mrs. McDougal
Joan Hickson	...	Miss Dobson
Sid James	...	Perce (as Sidney James)

Also Known As:

The Thirty-Nine Steps (UK) (alternative spelling)

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English | French

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

USA:Approved (certificate #19544) | Finland:K-12 | UK:U

Filming Locations:

Balquhidder, Stirling, Scotland, UK

Company:

Rank Organisation, The

Trivia:

The first film of Peter Vaughan.

Goofs:

Continuity: The oncoming ambulance that we are to presume is to assist Nanny after the "accident", speeds off-screen right and we hear tires skidding to stop in a relatively impossible time.

Movie Connections:

Version of The Thirty Nine Steps (1978)

This one is a bit sluggish, but if you like Kenneth More (and Brenda de Banzie) it's worth watching

It's quite possible to enjoy this 39 Steps, but it helps to see it fresh, without any recent memory of the 1935 Hitchcock version. That one is a classic of suspense, charm, testy romance, and surprises, abetted by two fine performances from Robert Donat and Madeleine Carroll. This 1959 Kenneth More vehicle maintains more-or-less the same plot line and contains some very good piece parts. While it doesn't add up to being in the same league with its elder sibling, it's good enough for a pleasant hour-and-a-half entertainment.

When a nanny Richard Hannay (More) had met accidentally earlier in the day is murdered in his rooms after telling him there is an international plot involving ballistic missiles, he realizes he will be blamed by the police. So, after looking through the dead woman's purse and discovering a map where Glenkirk in Scotland is circled, off he goes to see if he can discover the man behind the plot...a man with part of a finger missing. What Hannay encounters along the way is a suspicious school teacher, Miss Fisher (Taina Elg), who turns him in on the train going to Scotland; a fortune teller; an all too knowledgeable professor; two killers; a clever escape while handcuffed to Fisher and, finally, the secret only Mr. Memory, a music hall performer, can unlock.

The movie has several good elements, especially the charm and confidence of Kenneth More as Hannay; some wonderful Scottish scenery (the movie is in color); great train rides and one exciting train escape; a ripely eccentric performance by Brenda de Banzie as a fortune-telling realist who helps Hannay; a menacingly friendly appearance by Barry Jones; a funny performance by Joan Hickson as a twittering school teacher that reminded me of a middle- aged Miss Marple on amphetamines; and an all too brief performance by Faith Brook as the nanny. For nostalgia buffs, the movie opens with the great J. Arthur Rank gong doing its reverberating thing.

Sadly, there is little chemistry between More and Elg. She most often only looks irritated. The spirit of the movie aims for light-hearted charm mixed with thrills, something More was very good at. To make the movie work, however, director Ralph Thomas and his editor needed to bring more energy to many of the thrills. Often the music score is used to set the tone, which is not always matched by the pace of the movie. To give Thomas credit, he was capable of delivering some menacing thrills as well as some fine, broad comedy. If you can track them down, The Clouded Yellow (1951), for romantic thrills and menace, and Doctor in the House (1954) and Doctor at Sea (1955), for comedy, are well worth viewing.

If you like Kenneth More and don't mind a relatively undemanding but pleasant adventure, you might enjoy this movie. I did. If you are one of those movie goers who fixate on how awful remakes of classics are, and indignantly make comparisons, this one will probably give you conniptions.