The 39 Steps (1959)

Directed by

Ralph Thomas

Genre

drama film, mystery film, spy film

Country

United Kingdom

Runtime

1h 29m

Rated

NR

Rating

6.3 of 10 from 37 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A diplomat gets caught up in a spy's murder and must clear his name. He travels to Scotland while dodging the police and trying to stop a secret missile deal.

suspensefulfast-pacedlight-heartedadventurousquirkywhimsicalentertainingclever

What happens

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. In the film, diplomat Richard Hannay returns home to London, only to become inadvertently embroiled in the death of a British spy investigating the head of an organisation planning to sell the secret of a British ballistic missile. Hannay thus travels to Scotland to escape the police, and attempts to complete the spy's work. It is the first colour version of the Buchan tale, and, unlike the mainly studio-bound original, features extensive location shooting. Several large set pieces (such as Hannay's escape from the train on the Forth Bridge and the music hall finale) and much of the dialogue are taken from the original film. As with the Hitchcock version, the scenario was contemporary rather than the pre-Great War setting of Buchan's original. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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