The 39 Steps [1978] [DVD]

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Sir Walter accepts the bulk of Hannay's story but doubts that Karolides' life is in danger. An urgent government phone call, however, informs him that Karolides is already dead. The two men travel to London, where Sir Walter is to host a high-level official meeting at his city townhouse. Hannay, now cleared of the Portland Place murder, is left to his own devices, but a general feeling of unease prompts him to call at Sir Walter's house. He arrives just in time to see the First Sea Lord leaving; their eyes briefly meet, and Hannay recognizes him as one of the spies in disguise. Hannay breaks into the meeting, but by the time the deception is confirmed the man has long gone, taking with him the naval secrets he has just learned. The writer and actress reassures viewers that many of the key elements that have made this tale popular for more than 90 years will be there in her adaptation, to be broadcast on BBC1 on Boxing Day with Rupert Penry-Jones, the former star of Spooks, in the lead role of Richard Hannay. 'There is still a steam train chase,' she said. 'And a political hustings, and a scene with a biplane.' The puzzle of the meaning of the '39 steps' is one of the best-known riddles in English fiction, but the actual significance of the title has been lost in a succession of rival screenplays. Each film has put forward a new solution to the mystery.

Part of the appeal was the cars, I'm a bit of a buff... And I said– jokingly, of course– that I wouldn't be in The 39 Steps unless the action included the famous chase scene in which Hannay is pursued by a biplane. I've always wanted to be chased by a plane like Cary Grant in the movie North by Northwest and I was just delighted when it happened in our version of Steps. [8] Locations [ edit ] The main gate at Stirling Castle, one of the locations used for the production and the setting for a pivotal scene. The film's period setting gives it quite a different flavour to other spy films, including the previous film versions of this story. The re are splendid old cars, steam trains and an early monoplane. The period trappings are not completely authentic, and the railway train is a 1950s one with "Midland" painted on the carriages to represent the more period appropriate Midland Railway. But the film has good production values, with a generally convincing sense of period and it benefits from a pleasing score by Ed Welch .abridged, read by James Fox and released by Orbis Publishing, as part of their "Talking Classics" series. It consisted of an illustrated magazine accompanied by a double CD or cassette. Post-Climax Confrontation: After the assassins are killed and the bomb is defused, there is still the matter of finding Appleton and capturing him. Tony Williams Interviewed by Andrew Spicer, London, 18 March 2011, Michael Klinger Papers accessed 16 April 2014

a b Johnson, Andrew (15 June 2008). "Thirty-nine steps to an unlikely theatrical triumph". The Independent. Archived from the original on 20 June 2022 . Retrieved 1 May 2013.a b c Dixon, Wheeler W., Collected interviews: voices from twentieth-century cinema, (SIU Press, 2001) ISBN 978-0-8093-2417-0 p.112 The Scottish author, a future Governor-General of Canada, was recuperating from a duodenal ulcer at a house in Broadstairs where a nearby set of steps, set into the cliff, runs down from the garden to the beach. These are thought to have inspired the title, which in the book refers to the steps down to a quay where the villains' vessel, Ariadne, is waiting to speed them away. The film was the first in a series of films financed by Tony Williams at the Rank Organisation which was (temporarily as it turned out) increasing its film production in the late '70s. [7]

The music was by British film composer Clifton Parker, who composed prolifically for cinema and theatre in this period. [19] The score was conducted by Muir Mathieson. Many of the melodic themes throughout the film derive from pieces performed by the house orchestra during the early music hall scene, particularly the "Mr. Memory" motif. A review by the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures also makes a comparison between the theatre and the film, noting "The score Clifton Parker has composed for the new version of The 39 Steps has a gay overture which also sets the right mood. It's short, not noisy, has musical wit, and promises comedy, not thrills." [20] Reception [ edit ] Box office [ edit ] Meanwhile, the police, led by Hannay's former detective nemesis Lomas (Eric Porter), burst into the tower and shoot it out with the German spies. This whole Big Ben sequence is sometimes criticised for its improbability, but it does make for a spectacular finale and it's at least as entertaining as it is absurd.The Thirty-Nine Steps first edition dustwrapper". Johnbuchansociety.co.uk. 19 October 1915. Archived from the original on 13 October 2013 . Retrieved 12 October 2013. A colour film of 'The 39 steps' was released in 1959 starring Kenneth More and directed by Ralph Thomas. This was followed by another version starring Robert Powell in 1978. Both were filmed in Scottish locations. The adaptation was released on Region 2 DVD on 2 February 2009, [26] and Region 1 DVD on 2 March 2010. [27] Sequels [ edit ] John Buchan wrote The Thirty-Nine Steps while he was ill in bed with a duodenal ulcer, an illness which remained with him all his life. Buchan's son William later wrote that the name of the book originated when the author's daughter was counting the stairs at St Cuby, a private nursing home on Cliff Promenade in Broadstairs, where Buchan was convalescing. "There was a wooden staircase leading down to the beach. My sister, who was about six, and who had just learnt to count properly, went down them and gleefully announced: there are 39 steps." There were actually 78, but he halved the number to make a better title. When the original steps were later replaced, one of them, complete with a brass plaque, was sent to Buchan. [6] A set of later concrete replacements, now numbering 108, still runs from the garden to the beach. [7] The Thirty Nine Steps[ sic] is a British 1978 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.

Filming took place on location in Scotland. [2] Locations used included the area around West Register Street in Edinburgh for the London scenes at the start of the film, Bo'ness railway station, [9] Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum for the interior scenes of St Pancras railway station, [10] Glasgow City Chambers, Culross, Stirling Castle, [11] Dumbarton Castle, [12] the highlands of Argyll and Loch Katrine, used for the finale. [7] [13] Filming [ edit ] Billings, Josh (17 December 1959). "Other better-than-average offerings". Kinematograph Weekly. p.7. Interior filming took place primarily at Pinewood Studios, with extensive location filming in Scotland, including North and South Queensferry, Dunblane, Balquhidder, Altskeith and at the Falls of Dochart in Killin, as well as other parts of Stirling and Perthshire such as Brig o' Turk and its 1930s wooden tearoom, which featured as "the Gallows" inn . [16] [17] The film also includes a large section at Waverley Station and at Princes Street Station, Edinburgh, on the Forth Bridge and on board a train hauled by an ex-LNER Class A4. [18] The cinematography was by Ernest Steward, and it was filmed in Eastmancolor. [15] Music [ edit ] So while another screen version might seem redundant, the 1978 film makes a good case for itself by hewing much more closely to John Buchan's novel and by turning the story into an eve-of-war period piece. Kate Bassett (3 July 2005). " The 39 Steps, West Yorkshire, Playhouse, Leeds". The Independent. Archived from the original on 18 June 2009 . Retrieved 4 April 2008.The casting of Finnish actress and dancer Taina Elg, meanwhile, 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". [12] Other players were largely character actors with long associations with Pinewood Studios and producer Betty E. Box. [5] [13]