Book to Film: The Thirty-Nine Steps

Book to Film:

The Thirty-Nine Steps

         The Thirty-Nine steps is the slim 1915 novel by John Buchan about a man on the run for a crime he didn't commit, hiding from the law and a secret organization of spies. You can easily read that and mistake it for a summary of over half of Alfred Hitchcock's filmography. It's not hard to see the famed film maker being drawn to this. Its' basically a novel version of a Hitchcock movie before Hitchcock was making movies. His version isn't the only version though, and while there have been others, I will only be focusing on the aforementioned film and one other - the 1978 version directed by Don Sharp. It's a tale of exciting action and twists and turns, with charismatic characters and mysteries in need of unravelling, chiefly among them being: what are the thirty nine steps?

The Book

         In the book, the answer to the question is simply the number of steps outside the main headquarters of the organization that has been pursuing the main protagonist. That main protagonist is Richard Hannay, a man just returning home from a long stay in Africa, who is miraculously swept up into a big conspiracy. He is framed for the murder of man in his flat and has to go on the run across Scotland to escape the police chasing him, as well as a secret organization that the man in the flat told him about before he was assassinated. Its a very fun book, but that's about it. The character has interesting, episodic adventures before solving the final mystery in a sort of anti-climax. It's definitely worth reading, but it simply isn't on the level of other great books I've read this year, like To Kill a Mockingbird or All Quiet on the Western Front. It can't even be considered among books I didn't really enjoy, like Dracula or Wuthering Heights just because those did do more things and were at least sort of impressive.

The 1935 Film

         The 39 Steps in the Hitchcock film actually refers to the organization instead of some stairs outside a guy's house. This also isn't the only thing different from the book in the movie. The two share pretty much the basic summary and then the film wildly deviates from the original text. There is an added love interest and the ending is completely changed, along with mostly all of the story before it. It is though, better than the book, having essentially the same spirit, only adding gorgeous photography and a fun central performance from Robert Donat. There's also much more substance here overall and a much more interesting finale involving a man who can remember millions of facts (most of them useless) and simply can not help answering any question he is asked, especially ones that completely throw light on to the super secret organization he is trying to protect.

The 1978 Film

         The 39 Steps in this version are the ones that are inside of the giant clock tower Big Ben in London. This leads to probably the best finale of these three stories, involving Hannay hanging from the hands of the clock. Hannay in this version is played by Robert Powell, giving my favorite performance from the two movies. In this version there is also an added love interest and much of the plot is changed, but it bears possibly more resemblance to the book, but only slightly. It is again also very well shot, giving off a sort of Hammer feel at times, especially the scenes in London. It's not quite as good as the 1935 movie, but it's just as fun as that one.

Conclusion

          In the end, I think the Hitchcock film is the definitive Thirty-Nine Steps. All three are enjoyable, but this version has the best combination of story, visuals, and characters to make it the classic it is viewed as. The best Hannay is Powell, as well as the best climax being in that film, and the book was a fun and breezy read but the Hitchcock film is the best story.

The Book - 7/10

The 1935 Film - 9/10

The 1978 Film - 7.5/10