The 39 Steps (1959)

In London, a diplomat accidentally becomes involved in the death of a British agent who's after a spy ring that covets British military secrets.

Director:

Ralph Thomas

Writers:

Frank Harvey (screenplay), John Buchan (based upon the novel by)

Stars:

Kenneth More, Taina Elg, Brenda de Banzie

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kenneth More	...	Richard Hannay
Taina Elg	...	Fisher
Brenda de Banzie	...	Nellie Lumsden (as Brenda De Banzie)
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 (as Andrew Cruikshank)
Leslie Dwyer	...	Milkman
Betty Henderson	...	Mrs. McDougal
Joan Hickson	...	Miss Dobson
Sidney James	...	Perce

Storyline

Richard Hannay witnesses a hit-and-run involving a woman pushing a pram. Looking in the pram he sees a gun instead of a baby. He tracks the woman down and she reveals that she is a secret agent trying to stop foreign spies leaving the country with important military secrets. Later that night she is murdered in Hannay's flat. Hannay takes it on himself to thwart the enemy agents. This involves travelling to Scotland and keeping one step ahead of the police who are looking for him in connection with the murder of the woman.

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Plot Keywords:

military secret | spy | spy ring | secret agent | murder | 

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Taglines:

The Most Suspenseful Manhunt in History!

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English French

Release Date:

13 March 1959 (UK)

Also Known As:

39 escalones

Filming Locations:

Edinburgh, Scotland, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

The Rank Organisation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Film debut (uncredited) of Jill Haworth.

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Goofs

The model ship in the lake in the opening scene is a paddle steamer with a black hull, a distinct white stripe and red anti-fouling paint below the waterline. The model carried across the bridge by the contact/agent a minute later is larger, has a brown hull with black anti-fouling paint, and seems to be a naval ship.

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Quotes

Kennedy: [Staking out Hannay's flat] Have you ever tried suckling pig?
Brown: No.
Kennedy: Tender as a baby.
Brown: Haven't tried that either.

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Connections

Version of The 39 Steps (1935)

User Reviews

Rank Bad Remake

Kenneth More was at his peak when "The 39 Steps" came out: trim and the right side of 50 but capable and sagacious, the paradigm of the modest, unflappable and humorous British gent.

But his chances were limited by the grey blanket thrown over the Rank Organisation's contract players by its calculating accountant boss, John Davis. More's loyalty to the uninspired producer-director team of Box and Thomas did him no favours either. Stodginess suffuses "The 39 Steps": it seems all too fitting that this must be one of the last action pictures whose hero wears a business suit and tie throughout.

As a modernised, colour remake of Alfred Hitchcock's classic, it makes the Highland scenery look good. And it follows the original (a cheerful travesty of Buchan's yarn) pretty closely save for a few pointless changes, such as making the hunted hero lecture giggling girls instead of a political gathering. Yet it is lifeless compared with More's previous and subsequent movies, "A Night to Remember" and "North West Frontier".

It's not Kenny's fault: he is Donat's equal in resourcefulness and blitheness. One flaw is games mistress and love interest Taina Elg, one of several drippy Continental misses imported to exoticise British films in those faraway days (cf Maria Schell, Anouk Aimee, Odile Versois). Ms Elg's mousy Finnish looks and manner cannot begin to compare with Hitch's haughty but seducible blonde, Madeleine Carroll: the stocking-changing scene, for instance, packs no heat.

But the big problem is Thomas's pedestrian handling. Toning down the erotic charge is only one way in which he garbles his tale. The constant flashes of imagination and twists which Hitch extracted from genre material-- such as the glimpse of the crofter and his young wife through the window after Hannay leaves, or the chorus line's legs kicking heedlessly behind the pitiable Mr Memory-- have all vanished, like a master-painter's brushwork obscured by clumsy retouching.

That poignant final scene in the music hall could serve as a film-school case study in the gap between genius and mediocrity. Thomas hustles us through it. Mr Memory has no time to display his skills, nor has Hannay time to work out the mystery, before the assassin strikes. Hitch's backstage show-must-go-on flurry is omitted; Thomas reproduces the famous hands-and-handcuffs shot, then tries to cap the scene with a silly epilogue showing More in a flat cap with a walking stick, strolling arm in arm with Elg by the river. A banal happy ending to a listless entertainment. Only Van Sant's misbegotten remake of "Psycho" served the Master's memory worse.