The Thirty-Nine Steps

The Thirty Nine Steps is a 1978 thriller film directed by Don Sharp, based on the novel The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan. This version of Buchan's tale starred Robert Powell as Richard Hannay, Karen Dotrice as Alex, John Mills as Colonel Scudder, and a host of other well-known British actors in smaller parts. It is generally regarded as the closest to the novel, being set before World War I. The early events and overall feel of the film bear ... more

The Thirty Nine Steps is a 1978 thriller film directed by Don Sharp, based on the novel The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan. This version of Buchan's tale starred Robert Powell as Richard Hannay, Karen Dotrice as Alex, John Mills as Colonel Scudder, and a host of other well-known British actors in smaller parts. It is generally regarded as the closest to the novel, being set before World War I. The early events and overall feel of the film bear much resemblance to Buchan's original story, albeit with a few changes such as the re-casting of Scudder as English (and a more immediately sympathetic character) and the introduction of a love interest. It also introduces a different meaning for the "thirty-nine steps", although unlike its filmed predecessors it returns to Buchan's original notion of being an actual staircase. It is well remembered for the famous Big Ben end sequence, inspired by the 1943 film My Learned Friend, although this is its most fundamental deviation from Buchan's... less