The 39 Steps

The 39 Steps (1959)

The Most Suspenseful Manhunt in History!

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.

Date of release
1959-03-13
TMDB
6.3 / 10 (39)
Runtime
1h 33m
Genres
Thriller, Mystery
Director
Ralph Thomas

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Based on: The Thirty-nine Steps
  • Filmed in: Pinewood Studios, Edinburgh, Dunblane, and Falls of Dochart

The 39 Steps is a 1959 British thriller film directed by Ralph Thomas and starring Kenneth More and Taina Elg. Produced by Betty Box, it is a remake of the 1935 Alfred Hitchcock film, loosely based on the 1915 novel The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan.

Production

Filming was originally scheduled for 1958 but was postponed in January that year due to a drop in cinema attendances.

Kay Kendall was originally announced as the co-star. In July, Rank announced June Allyson would star. This was part of a deliberate policy by Rank to have American stars in order to make the films more appealing in the USA. (Most of More's female co stars around this time were imported.)

By August, however, Finnish actress and dancer Taina Elg was signed.

The casting of Taina Elg was unpopular with contemporary critics, who felt her performance to be unconvincing, feeling that "her beauty is frozen by the uncertainties of ignorance, if not of neuroticism". Other players were largely character actors with long associations with Pinewood Studios and producer Betty E. Box.

In addition to the primary cast, the film features a number of small appearances by British actors who were to become well known from their later work, for instance Joan Hickson as a teacher and Brenda de Banzie as a psychic. Bill Simpson and Andrew Cruickshank, both soon to appear together in Doctor Finlay's Casebook, had small roles, in Simpson's case his only film appearance.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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