The Thirty Nine Steps

The Thirty Nine Steps (1978)

Every second counts in the adventure of a lifetime!

The year is 1914 and Richard Hannay, Mining Engineer who is visiting Britain for a short time before returning to South Africa, is shocked when one of his neighbours, Colonel Scudder, bursts into his rooms one night and tells him a story that Prussian 'sleeper' agents are planning to pre-start World War I by murdering a visiting foreign minister. However, Scudder is murdered and Hannay is framed for the death by the 'sleepers'. Fleeing to Scotland Hannay attempts to clear his name and to stop the agents with the aid of Alex Mackenzie but not only is he is chased by Chief Supt Lomas for Scudder's death but by the agents who are headed by Appleton who has managed to hide himself in a high-placed position in the British Government...

Date of release
1978-11-04
TMDB
6.7 / 10 (46)
Runtime
1h 42m
Genres
Mystery, Thriller
Director
Don Sharp

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Based on: The Thirty-nine Steps
  • Filmed in: Pinewood Studios and Marylebone station

The Thirty Nine Steps is a 1978 British thriller film directed by Don Sharp, with screenplay by British playwright Michael Robson, based on the novel The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan. It was the third film version of the 1915 novel.

Production

Producer Greg Smith said he wanted to make the film because he had always been a fan of John Buchan's books and wanted to do a version of The Thirty-Nine Steps which was "true to the period in which the novel was set, just prior to the Great War, when Europe was one huge powderkeg and nobody knew what a world war was."

The executive producer was James Kenelm Clarke who said the film "was an Edwardian melodrama, the way we think Buchan would have liked to see his own penny dreadful." The rights became available when Rank did not renew the licence. Clarke bought them for what he said was "a tremendous amount of money", had a script written by Michael Robson, which he then took back to Rank. They agreed to finance when Robert Powell agreed to play Hannay.

Smith claimed "the Hitchcock version was about 20 percent Buchan and 80 percent Hitchcock. Our goal was to turn it around and make the film 80 percent Buchan and 20 percent invention." Smith chose Sharp to direct "because he's one of Britain's best action adventure directors and he was familiar with the period." Sharp had recently shot a remake of The Four Feathers with Powell. He said making the film was a very enjoyable experience.

Powell said "If we had tried to use Buchan's book literally we would not have had a film at all. For one thing it's thoroughly anti-Semitic and no one would get away with that."

Robert Powell was cast in part because of his success in the mini series Jesus of Nazareth. The script did add a romantic interest for Hannay, played by Karen Dotrice. "You can't make a movie without women", said Smith. "You can't go through life without women."

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