"The Thirty Nine Steps", the spy novel by John Buchan, has been adapted for the screen three times. The most famous one being the 1935 version by Alfred Hitchcock which still remains an old favorite by most viewers. The 1959 remake directed by Ralph Thomas was a vehicle for its star, Kenneth Moore. We were intrigued when the Don Sharp 1978 film version when it showed up on a classic channel not long ago.
Not having read the novel, we cannot, in all honesty, make an objective assessment of how close to the written page the latest remake is, but we were pleasantly surprised by what Mr. Sharp was able to accomplish. The adaptation was written by Michael Robson. The action used a lot of well known backgrounds. The best of these is the one that takes place in the last sequence of the film in which we are taken inside Big Ben where Hannay, having solved the mystery, goes after the Prussian spies.
Robert Powell was effective in his characterization of Hannay, the South African engineer that is drawn, against his will, to be at the center of a manhunt for something he never did. The cast was excellent. John Mills, Eric Porter, David Warner, Donald Pickering, Ronald Pickup, and Karen Dotrice, among them.
John Coquillon was the cinematographer and the musical score was created by Ed Welch. Don Sharp's entertaining take on this classic is worth a look.
Not having read the novel, we cannot, in all honesty, make an objective assessment of how close to the written page the latest remake is, but we were pleasantly surprised by what Mr. Sharp was able to accomplish. The adaptation was written by Michael Robson. The action used a lot of well known backgrounds. The best of these is the one that takes place in the last sequence of the film in which we are taken inside Big Ben where Hannay, having solved the mystery, goes after the Prussian spies.
Robert Powell was effective in his characterization of Hannay, the South African engineer that is drawn, against his will, to be at the center of a manhunt for something he never did. The cast was excellent. John Mills, Eric Porter, David Warner, Donald Pickering, Ronald Pickup, and Karen Dotrice, among them.
John Coquillon was the cinematographer and the musical score was created by Ed Welch. Don Sharp's entertaining take on this classic is worth a look.
