The 39 Steps (1959)
Directed by Ralph Thomas

Film Review

This second adaptation of John Buchan's 1915 novel The Thirty-Nine Steps is an earnest but ultimately misguided attempt to remake Hitchcock's classic thriller The 39 Steps (1935), in colour and with more extensive location work.  Director Ralph Thomas later admitted that he was reluctant to make the film and didn't feel he was up to the job, and the end result pretty well bears this out, although the film is not entirely without charm.  Better known as a director of comedies, such as the immensely popular Doctor series, Thomas plays to his strengths and manages to weave some well-judged humour into the film, albeit at the expense of sacrificing the tension and unremitting menace that makes Hitchcock's film such an enduring classic.

Kenneth More, one of the biggest stars of British cinema in the late 1950s, makes a likeable Hannay, although his laid back persona does little to lift the film out of the sluggish rut it manages to get itself into almost from the word go.  If Hitchcock's film is a brisk race across forbidding terrain, this remake feels more like a leisurely stroll in the country.  Taina Elg makes next to no impact as Hannay's reluctant love interest and is too easily eclipsed by the more talented performers in minor supporting roles, some of whom (Sid James, Joan Hickson, Leslie Dwyer and Brenda De Banzie) would go on to far better things in later years.  Today the film is dated most by its dodgy use of rear screen projection, which renders some of the action sequences more comical than exciting.  Despite some unfavourable reviews from the critics, the film proved to be a box office winner on its first release, although now it is completely overshadowed by Hitchcock's vastly superior film, and rightly so.

Film Synopsis

Shortly after his return to London, government agent Richard Hannay witnesses a hit-and-run accident in which a seemingly ordinary nanny narrowly avoids being killed.  Later, the nanny tells Hannay that she is in fact a secret agent, on the trail of a spy network that has somehow acquired the plans to a new missile system.  When the woman is stabbed to death in his apartment, Hannay takes flight and heads for Scotland, hoping to conclude the dead woman's mission and evade the police for as long as he can.  Unfortunately, he cannot be sure who he can trust and it isn't long before he runs up against some very dangerous enemies...