Wonderful Movie

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

The 39 Steps starts in Regent's Park in London where Richard Hannay (Kenneth More) witnesses a woman (Faith Brooke) with a pram knocked own by a speeding car, he rushes to the aid of the baby in the pram but only finds a gun inside which he keeps. Later that afternoon Hannay manages to meet up with the mysterious woman at a performance of Mr. Memory (James Hayter) at the Palace theatre, they start talking & the woman says she is a secret agent trying to stop the leaking of top secret Government information. Back at Hanny's flat the woman is murdered & Hannay know's the police will suspect him so he takes the gun & the few pieces of information that he managed to learn from the woman & head towards Scotland where she was due to meet her contact & expose the head of the enemy organisation who want to smuggle top secret plans for the 'Boomerang' defense system out of the country. Wanted for murder Hannay finds himself caught up in a plot that could threaten Britain & those who live there...This British production was directed by Ralph Thomas was a remake of Alfred Hitchcock's earlier The 39 Steps (1935) which itself was based on the novel of the same name by John Buchan while yet another big screen version was made as The Thirty Nine Steps (1978) a couple of decades after this, while I liked The 39 Steps for most of it's duration as a fairly gentle & light hearted action adventure I simply didn't understand the end. Now I don't know if I missed something but I couldn't make sense of anything, what the bad guy's plans actually were or how it was all supposed to work. How did Mr. Memory get all the codes & formula's? Was he in on it? How was the guy with a finger missing going to extract the information he needed? Why not just kidnap Mr. Memory & get the information he wanted sooner? How did Hannay know what to ask Mr. Memory at the end? Was Mr. Memory in on it? If he was why didn't he just tell the guy the secret codes? If he wasn't how did Mr. Memory know those top secret things? It all seemed rather random & rushed, the ending should have been explained better & I am sorry if it's just me being stupid (it wouldn't be the first time) but I honestly didn't understand what was meant to be going on, what the bad guy's plan was & how it was all meant to pan out. If the bad guy's had planted the information in Mr. Memories head then why not just photograph it? Why not say it out loud & record it to tape? Why such a complicated & frankly silly plot? Until the last bewildering five minutes or so The 39 Steps had a been a perfectly likable adventure film that moved along at a decent pace, had a few amusing situations as Hannay met an odd assortment of people on his travels & even had some decent action too but that baffling ending ruined it all for me. Again, if it's just me being thick then I apologise but can someone explain what the bad guy's plan was meant to be? If it had worked properly how was it all meant to go down?The 39 Steps looks nice enough, the colourful London & Scottish locations add to the film although maybe the special effects aren't the best, the shot of Hannay hanging on to the side of a speeding looks poor. Director Thomas keeps things moving at a good pace, there are some workmanlike scenes like the part when Fisher overhears the two spies expose their whole plan over a public telephone. Despite the title we never actually see the 39 steps that it refers to apart from when the opening credits play over a still of them. I have never seen Hitchcock's original or read the novel so I cannot compare how this stands up to them.Filmed on location in Scotland & in the studio back in London, this is well made for the time although obviously it does look a bit dated today. It's interesting to see the leading man here, or the hero if you like as a middle aged rather ordinary looking man rather than a super fit, toned muscle bound twenty something that typifies the average action hero today. Legendary comedy actor Sid James has a great little cameo as a truck driver.The 39 Steps is a perfectly good adventure mystery film until the end where it all falls apart, none of it made any sort of sense to me. Maybe I am just being stupid but I couldn't work any reasonable explanation out. I remember really liking the 1978 version with Robert Powell but haven't seen it since the 90's so I think I will watch that again soon.

The Christopher Reeve version of Rear Window was alright, and the Gus Van Sant remake of Psycho was rubbish, so I dubious about seeing another remake of a popular Hitchcock film, but I gave it a chance anyway. Basically it follows the same plot as the original, Richard Hannay (Kenneth More) meets a spy who tells him something she shouldn't of, and is murdered soon after, putting Richard in the frame and on the frame. He follows her instructions and something about a guy with little finger missing all the way to Scotland to find out more about something called The Thirty-Nine Steps. As Richard does all this, both the police and the real murderers are trying to catch him, and a woman called Nellie Lumsden (Brenda De Banzie) ends up coming along too. It still has the same ending also, with Mr. Memory (James Hayter) being the one with all the answers, but with an extra little bit afterwards where Richard and Nellie are together like a couple. Also starring Taina Elg as Fisher, Barry Jones as Professor Logan, Reginald Beckwith as Lumsden, Faith Brook as Nannie, Michael Goodliffe as Brown, Duncan Lamont as Kennedy, Jameson Clark as McDougal, Andrew Cruickshank as Sheriff, Leslie Dwyer as Milkman, Betty Henderson as Mrs. McDougal, Joan Hickson as Miss Dobson and Sid James as Perce. I will admit I did get a little caught in the film with its new extra material, like one or two chase and chatty sequences, but I can see why the critics would give this less interesting version two stars. Okay!

From the perspective of 2007, British cinema in the 1950s appears more notable for its supporting players rather than its leading lights, and Thomas's remake of The 39 Steps is no exception... look beyond Moore's 2D Hannay and we find a delicious roll call of character turns: De Banzie's aging nympho', Brook's enigmatic 'spook', Cruickshank's foolish sheriff and especially Joan Hickson's hilarious turn as Miss Dobson, all giggling gawkishness with sensible hair and shoes (look at Miss Marple, and then review Hickson's cinematic career - a real unsung hero if ever there was one). Even the schoolgirls on the train are familiar (Carol White became Loach's Poor Cow; Stranks was a 70s 'Magpie' presenter).Not a patch on Hitchcock's original nor the faithful 1978 interpretation, but as a snapshot of British 50s cinematic talent it's a must!

First things first, Hitchcock's 'The 39 Steps' is and always will be a classic of the British cinema and Ralph Thomas's remake (it's unashamedly a remake, rather than an adaptation of the novel) fails to equal it. However, once you get past that fact, on its own terms this is rather an enjoyable little movie.Kenneth More is one of my favourite performers, perhaps not the greatest actor in the world, but one who has a charismatic personality. If he doesn't quite equal Robert Donat's original 'Richard Hannay', he comes close and invests the role with genuine warmth. Taina Elg's foreign heroine however, though very attractive is no Madeleine Carroll and is perhaps the movie's weakest link.The stars are backed up by a splendid cast of familiar British character actors, ranging from Sid James's cameo as a truck driver, to Brenda De Banzie's turn as a friendly, man-hungry roadside café owner.Another plus is the glorious Scottish locations (genuine this time, as opposed to the original's studio mock-ups), filmed in luscious 'Eastmancolor'.All in all, while Ralph Thomas is no Alfred Hitchcock (but then, there's only one Hitch), the remake is ideal entertainment, perfect viewing for a dark winter's night, curled up in your armchair with hot coffee and toast by your side.