The Thirty-Nine Steps
Recently I took the opportunity to view The Thirty-Nine Steps. This was not the original movie but a BBC production from 1979, I believe. It featured Robert Powell, John Mills and Karen Dotrice. I remember when the film was featured on televison. At the time we did not own a VCR. But I had a friendly gas station man. (Remember when you didn’t pump your own gas? I guess in some states that is still true.) I was yarning with Roger about the upcoming viewing and lamented the fact that we didn’t own a VCR and how much I liked the story, which was from the novel by John Buchan. He offered to tape it for me.
I hadn’t watched the film for a long time and had forgotten much of it. The film is quite different from the original 1935 version of the film which features Robert Donat and Madeleine Carroll. I also have not read the novel for a long time. I think the last time was in ‘93 when I was in the hospital and had an omnibus volume of the ‘Richard Hannay’ stories to pass my idle time.
Quite a few of the scenes are changed. Basically the story is about the attempt by English anarchists to blow up Parliament while the Greek statesman is addressing it. This will surely set off World War I. Richard Hannay obtains some information early on and becomes the object of pursuit by the bad guys to get it back. One obvious difference is the opening of the film. This later version has a lot more about politics and statesmen meeting to plan for the protection of the Greek statesman. In the original film the ‘Memory Man,’ a music hall act, was an important part at both the beginning and again at the end. Missing completely in the later version. And the scenes at the hotel where Hannay is handcuffed to the woman are missing as well. The ending plays out at Big Ben. ‘The thirty-nine steps’ in the latter film refers to three sets of steps leading to the clock tower of the parliament building. I seem to remember that in the original the thirty-nine steps referred to the stairs down to the harbor.
Robert Powell is quite good in the film. There is an exciting scene which Hannay plays out on the face of Big Ben, attempting to stop the minute hand. Karen Dotrice has beautiful eyes and wonderful hair. A search of the web tells me that she was born on the Isle of Guernsey and acted for Disney as a child. She’s seems not made many films as an adult but appears in television productions frequently. With the many differences I think I’m going to have to go back, read the novel again and then view both films for comparison. Not a bad task.
I hadn’t watched the film for a long time and had forgotten much of it. The film is quite different from the original 1935 version of the film which features Robert Donat and Madeleine Carroll. I also have not read the novel for a long time. I think the last time was in ‘93 when I was in the hospital and had an omnibus volume of the ‘Richard Hannay’ stories to pass my idle time.
Quite a few of the scenes are changed. Basically the story is about the attempt by English anarchists to blow up Parliament while the Greek statesman is addressing it. This will surely set off World War I. Richard Hannay obtains some information early on and becomes the object of pursuit by the bad guys to get it back. One obvious difference is the opening of the film. This later version has a lot more about politics and statesmen meeting to plan for the protection of the Greek statesman. In the original film the ‘Memory Man,’ a music hall act, was an important part at both the beginning and again at the end. Missing completely in the later version. And the scenes at the hotel where Hannay is handcuffed to the woman are missing as well. The ending plays out at Big Ben. ‘The thirty-nine steps’ in the latter film refers to three sets of steps leading to the clock tower of the parliament building. I seem to remember that in the original the thirty-nine steps referred to the stairs down to the harbor.
Robert Powell is quite good in the film. There is an exciting scene which Hannay plays out on the face of Big Ben, attempting to stop the minute hand. Karen Dotrice has beautiful eyes and wonderful hair. A search of the web tells me that she was born on the Isle of Guernsey and acted for Disney as a child. She’s seems not made many films as an adult but appears in television productions frequently. With the many differences I think I’m going to have to go back, read the novel again and then view both films for comparison. Not a bad task.
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