Customer Reviews

Alfred Hitchcock's 39 Steps

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

VCI Entertainment and J. Arthur Rank Film Distributors presents "THE 39 STEPS" (1959) (95 min/Color) -- Starring Kenneth More, Taina Elg, Brenda De Banzie, Barry Jones, Reginald Beckwith, Faith Brook & Michael Goodliffe

Directed by Ralph Thomas

Often criticized for being a shot-for-shot remake of the Hitchcock original, this film is in fact a perky little thriller which benefits from Kenneth More being a more sympathetic leading man than Robert Donat in the '39 version. However, the Kenneth More film is utterly enjoyable as a bit of light drama. Certainly the underlying plot is worthy and overall,

Kenneth More is really in fine form on this, and actually uses the dull background to great effect by allowing himself to become the focus of the film at all times.

Having seen the original version by Hitchcock, its the same story which was in black and white with an awful picture and sound quality. I have most of Hitchcock's films on DVD and there's no advantage to the Hitchcock film over this one - on the contrary this one is better.

In addition to that we have some humorous touches absent from the original one. So I for one would thoroughly recommend this one, even though I am a big HITCHCOCK FAN, just being honest.

BIOS:
1. Ralph Thomas (Director)
Date of Birth: 10 August 1915 - Hull, Yorkshire, England, UK
Date of Death: 17 March 2001 - London, England, UK

2. Kenneth More [aka: Kenneth Gilbert More]
Date of Birth: 20 September 1914 - Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, England, UK
Date of Death: 12 July 1982 - Fulham, London, England, UK

Mr. Jim's Ratings:
Quality of Picture & Sound: 4 Stars
Performance: 4 Stars
Story & Screenplay: 4 Stars
Overall: 4 Stars [Original Music, Cinematography & Film Editing]

Total Time: 95 min on DVD ~ VCI Entertainment ~ (May 17, 2011)

Although one must ask, 'Why remake a nearly perfect Hitchcock masterpiece?' there's no getting around that this 1959 technicolor thriller is thoroughly likeable in itself. While lacking the original's taut pacing (and hence its sense of menace), snappy dialog and cutting-edge camerawork, the mostly UK cast here-- deftly led by the underappreciated Kenneth More-- makes this breezy update well worth watching. Recommended especially for fans of the post-WWII period in British film. 3 1/2 stars.

This film lays out so many of the motifs that show up in one Hitchcock film after another that it is a "Must see" for all of his fans. It's all there; The blonde love interest, the innocent man drawn into intrique when a dead body falls into his lap, the suave criminal, the sexual overtones, the macabre humor. There's even a scene on a train in which a "McGuffin" is discussed. (Watch for the passenger who is played by Wilfrid Brambell, who went on to portray Paul's Grandfather in A Hard Day's Night)

Truly fine performances by Donat and Carroll make a somewhat dated film very watchable. Watching the seeds of such classics as North by Northwest and The Man Who Knew Too Much sprouting makes The 39 Steps fascinating viewing for any Hitchcock afficianado.

I first became acquainted with John Buchan's classic spy novel, THE 39 STEPS, when I was in the seventh grade and my literature teacher read it aloud in class. The story fascinated me and looked forward to that class every day, so that I could hear the next chapter or two. I didn't see a film dramatization of Buchan's work until 1959 when I was a senior in high school.

VCI Entertainment has now released that movie, directed in Eastman Color by Ralph Thomas, onto DVD.

THE 39 STEPS (1959) is a very good, entertaining thriller. Kenneth More is quite likable as Buchan's hero, Richard Hannay, who finds that he must go on the run, heading to Scotland, after a British secret service agent (Faith Brook) winds up dead in his London flat. It's a race against time. With both the police and numerous foreign agents after him, Hannay has only forty-eight hours to prevent the plans for a vital weapons system from being transported out of the country. Taina Elg co-stars as the reluctant schoolteacher who Hannay "drafts" into helping him achieve his goal.

The "elephant in the room," of course, is Alfred Hitchcock's classic 1939 filming of THE 39 STEPS, which this 1959 version draws from liberally. I didn't see Hitchcock's movie until I was, I believe, a sophomore in college.

There is really no comparison between the two pictures.

Ralph Thomas made a delightful chase movie that can/should be enjoyed in its own right...but he was not Hitchcock.

Nobody can remake Hitchcock...except Hitchcock.


© Michael B. Druxman

This version stars Kenneth Moore as the hero who is accused of murdering a woman who comes to him for help. She tells him a story of intrigue but is killed by unknown assassins before she can finish the story. He flees to Scotland with the assassins in pursuit and eventually solves the mystery of the "39 Steps". This one is good and better than the one starring Rupert Perry-Jones that was done in 2008. However, for my money the best of the bunch is the one restored by Criterion Collection and stars Robert Donat...[..] .........this one is a bit pricey but you get what you pay for. It's a good restoration worth the extra $$$. This adaptation of the book by John Buchan is the best one and is a classic.

If you were to ask the average young person about THE 39 STEPS, odds are they'll plead ignorance or shrug you off or maybe even suggest that it's a program for really, really stubborn alcoholics. But for old stalwarts like me, THE 39 STEPS is John Buchan's spy novel published in 1915 which was then adapted in 1935 into a smashing film by Alfred Hitchcock. There have been various film remakes since the Master of Suspence did his damn thing, but all are comparatively weaker stuff. Take this 1959 incarnation.

This do-over retains the core narrative, with minor tweaks. Only instead of the sexier plot device which opened Hitchcock's version (mystery woman picking up Richard Hannay at the music hall), in this 1959 iteration, things kick off when Hannay (Kenneth More) picks up a baby's rattle and ends up trailing a snooty nanny (who then gets run over intentionally). The nanny recovers rapidly and she later confesses to Hannay that she is a British secret agent tracking a spy organization that is in possession of top secret intel regarding a British ballistic missile project... blah, blah, MacGuffin.

When the nanny spy is fatally stabbed in Hannay's flat, Hannay goes on the run, with the police in dogged pursuit. Hannay has forty-eight hours to clear his name, find and expose the leader of the enemy spy organization, and prevent national secrets from being smuggled out the country. His clues are sparse: a map of Scotland, the phrase "the 39 Steps," and that the spy leader can be identified by the missing top joint of his little finger. Off he goes on his mad, perilous dash across the Scottish countryside.

I like this 1959 version well enough. Director Ralph Thomas essays a more comedic tone, and I must say I enjoyed Kenneth More's rather jaunty performance (but he's no Robert Donat). Richard Hannay's appeal has always been that of a decent and ordinary man caught up in dire circumstances and forced to use his wits to get by, and More manifests these traits well enough. Thomas is competent with staging (or restaging) all the classic sequences, except that he simply doesn't have Hitchcock's panache or artistic acumen. And so the familiar set pieces come off as lesser bits of homage. Still, even if you've seen the original, there's much here that is serviceable and agreeable.

It isn't an entirely faithful reworking of Hitchcock's masterpiece. For one thing, Hannay runs into a different bunch of incidental characters, this time bumping elbows with a flirty crystal-ball gazer, a flock of giggling schoolgirls, and a batch of bicyclists. They don't really improve the story. And to espy Richard Hannay in those ridiculous blue bicycle short shorts is to lose a measure of respect for him.

The narrative is more leisurely paced, not as suspenseful, and I wonder how much of that is influenced by Kenneth More's studiedly nonchalant approach. Ralph Thomas's direction plays a part, naturally. I can't help but compare his and Hitchcock's presentation. For instance, Hitchcock chose to frame the two gents lurking outside Hannay's flat as two distant shadowy figures, and they seemed truly ominous. Thomas elects to give us a close peek at them, and this instantly dispels that sense of mystery, somewhat diminishes that sense of menace, reduces these two frightening skulkers into mere thugs or goons. Hitchcock knew better.

Hannay's impromptu lecture at the political rally is ixnayed in favor of his addressing a girl's school, and this was probably done so as to reintroduce our romantic female lead. Finnish actress Taina Elg steps in for the Madeleine Carroll role, and there's an immediate drop in sexual tension between the two lead characters. Ms. Elg's stab at reviving the (back then) provocative pantyhose-discarding scene at the inn is a pale imitation of how Carroll did it. Taina Elg is lovely to look at and I guess her performance is decent. But her schoolmarm character just didn't do it for me. Ultimately, this 1959 version is a passable distraction, but it can't hold a candle to the original film.

The 39 Steps is one of my favorite Hitchcock films! The story, the action, the locations
All great stuff from the master of suspense! Too bad the DVD wont play. I returned it
for another copy, now the new copy will not play the last 20 minutes.
Time to try another vendor.

I ordered this DVD from this company and it came to me defective. I would not order from them again.