The 39 Steps (1959 film)

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The 39 Steps
Title card from The 39 Steps
Directed by	Ralph Thomas
Written by	John Buchan (novel), Frank Harvey (adaptation)
Starring	Kenneth More, Taina Elg, Brenda De Banzie, Sid James, James Hayter
Music by	Clifton Parker
Distributed by	Rank Organisation
Release date(s)	October 10, 1960 (US)
Running time	93 min.
Language	English

The 39 Steps is a 1959 thriller directed by Ralph Thomas, starring Kenneth More and Taina Elg, based on the novel The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan.

It was the first colour version of the popular tale, and has much higher production values than the previous 1935 Hitchcock version, with several large setpieces such as Hannay's escape from the train on the Forth Rail Bridge and the music hall finale.

[edit] Plot

Coming to the assistance of a nanny who is almost killed during a bungled hit-and-run assassination attempt, Richard Hannay (More) is surprised to find that there is no baby in her pram. Curious, he meets her at the Palace music hall where she has gone to see the act of Mr Memory (James Hayter). Afterwards, she goes back to Hannay's flat with him, where she reveals that she is a spy working for British Intelligence following a group called "The Thirty-Nine Steps"; all they know about their elusive leader is that he is missing the tip of a finger. The Thirty-Nine Steps are in possession of a set of top-secret plans for "Boomerang", a British ballistic missile project that could tip the balance of power in Europe. She tells Hannay that she must leave for Scotland immediately, but while Hannay is out of the room, she is killed by two hitmen.

Fearing he will be accused of her murder, Hannay decides to continue her mission and catches a train to Scotland from King's Cross railway station, evading the hitmen outside his flat by adopting a cunning milkman disguise.

During the journey, he has a chance encounter with Miss Fisher (Elg), a netball coach at a boarding school for girls. He is forced to pretend they are lovers to avoid the police detectives who boarded at Edinburgh. However, Miss Fisher gives him away and Hannay jumps from the stationary train on the Forth Rail Bridge.

He then meets Percy Baker (Sid James), a helpful ex-convict lorry driver who advises him to stop at "The Gallows", an inn owned by Nelly Lumsden (Brenda De Banzie), who was once accused of practising the occult. She helps him pass the border patrols by disguising him in a cycle party she is accommodating and creating a diversion with her husband.

Hannay eventually finds the house of the man he thinks he is looking for, Professor Logan (Barry Jones), but finds out that he has been tricked; the man is actually the spy ring's leader. He escapes and informs the police, but is not believed and has to jump out of the police station window. Hannay escapes in the back of a passing sheep transporter. He then poses as a lecturer in a Highland girl's boarding school, coincidentally where Miss Fisher works, and ending up giving a bizarre lecture on the Woods and the Wayside in August. Miss Fisher recognises him and he is again taken into custody, but this time by the two assassins posing as detectives. After he shouts out to Miss Fisher to telephone Scotland Yard about the Boomerang, the assassins are forced to take her with them.

Hannay is handcuffed to Miss Fisher in a Ford Zephyr with the hitmen, who are taking them back to London. A burst tyre gives Hannay his chance to escape, but only having one hand to drive with, he crashes the car, forcing him to wander through the bleak Scottish Highlands handcuffed to Miss Fisher. Eventually, they chance upon a bed and breakfast run by Mrs MacDougal (Betty Henderson). Hannay hides their handcuffed condition and informs her that they are a runaway couple.

While Hannay sleeps, Miss Fisher frees herself from the handcuffs, but then overhears their pursuers inquiring about them and about The Thirty-Nine Steps. She realises her error and goes back to help Hannay, telling him the final rendevous for the conspirators.

The finale is back in the Palace music hall where Hannay asks Mr. Memory where The Thirty-Nine Steps are, just as the police arrest him. The Thirty-Nine Steps have been using his formidable memory to memorise the Boomerang plans. However, before he can reveal the secret, Memory is shot by the ringleader and the secret of the actual Thirty-Nine Steps remains elusive, although the main conspirators are either dead or in custody.

[edit] Trivia

• The film features a number of cameo appearances by famous British actors, for instance, Sid James as the lorry driver who helps Hannay and Joan Hickson as a teacher.
• The scene on the train was parodied in the 1961 film Carry On Regardless.

[edit] External links

• The 1959 version of The 39 Steps at the Internet Movie Database

John Buchan's Richard Hannay novels
The Thirty-nine Steps | Greenmantle | Mr Standfast | The Three Hostages | The Courts of the Morning | The Island of Sheep
Film adaptations
The 39 Steps (1935 film) | The 39 Steps (1959 film) | The Thirty-Nine Steps (1978 film)