The 39 Steps (1959)

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Movie
German title The 39 steps
Original title The 39 steps
Country of production Great Britain
original language English
Publishing year 1959
length 89 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Ralph Thomas
script Frank Harvey
production Betty E. Box
music Clifton Parker
camera Ernest Steward
cut Alfred Roome
occupation

The 39 Steps is a 1959 film by British director Ralph Thomas . It was based on the novel The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan and is a remake of the 1935 Hitchcock classic . Another adaptation by Don Sharp followed in 1978 .

action

In London's Regent’s Park , a nanny observes two elderly men who are playing with model ships and appear to be conspicuously suspicious. She is chasing one of the two. Richard Hannay, a very gentleman, hands her a children's rattle that has apparently fallen out of the pram. Busy with other things, she denies it's hers and hurries away. At an intersection she is hit by a car and Hannay saves the "baby" in the stroller, which turns out to be a pistol, and takes the pistol and handbag. When he drives to the address of the nanny given to him in the hospital, he finds only a piece of ruins.

With a ticket out of his handbag, Hannay visits the “Palace Theater” variety show and meets the nanny there. The star of the show is Mr. Memory, a memory artist. Hannay and the "nanny" go into his apartment, she confesses to be Mandy Robinson, a secret agent of the counterintelligence with the cover name "Nannie" and to fear for her life. In fact, she's murdered while he's in the kitchen. Hannay has to flee, first disguised as a milkman in front of the enemy agents, then, after the dead body has been found, in front of the police.

Due to a note in the handbag of the murdered man, Hannay takes the train to Scotland to complete her mission and to save the extremely important secret project “Boomerang” from betrayal by the foreign secret service organization “The 39 Steps”. On the train he meets Miss Fisher, a teacher at St. Catherine's School, who recognizes him and betrays him to the police. Hannay has to flee again, this time from the moving train and in the middle of the bridge over the Firth of Forth . The truck driver Percy Baker and the innkeeper Nellie Lumsder help him, even though they know that he is wanted.

Hannay reaches the property of Professor Jordan, from whom he is hoping for help, and tells him everything. Too late he has to discover that the top link on his little finger is missing on his left hand and that, according to Nannie's description, he must be the head of “The 39 Steps”. Hannay flees again and seeks support from the local sheriff, who doesn't believe him and is also a good friend of Professor Jordan. He jumps out of the window onto a passing sheep truck and accidentally reaches St. Catherine's School.

He is already expected there as a lecturer AR Pringle. He is supposed to give a lecture on the subject of “Forest and Field in August”. Miss Fisher is also present. When she recognizes him and two fake police officers inform the director, the event is stopped and Hannay is "arrested". He calls out all the important names and information to Miss Fisher. Then the "police" asked her to go to the police station.

If there is a flat tire, Hannay and Miss Fisher are handcuffed to each other. Hannay manages to escape anyway and against the will of the confused Miss Fisher. Despite all attempts at persuasion and evidence, she still considers him to be a murderer. In the evening they are accommodated in a country inn as a “newly married couple on the run from the bride's parents”. Miss Fisher reluctantly accepts the romantic story of lies. When Hannay sleeps, Miss Fisher manages to slip her hand out of the bondage. She overhears a phone call by the wrong police officers and realizes that Hannay was telling the truth.

Miss Fisher is to inform Scotland Yard , Hannay goes to the Palace Theater. The final meeting of the "39 levels" is to take place there, Professor Jordan is already there. Enter Mr. Memory again. Hannay asks him "Where are the 39 steps?", Packed with his honor as a memory artist who knows an answer to everything, tells Mr. Memory everything about the espionage organization and is shot on the open stage by Professor Jordan. All suspects are caught by the police, Mr. Memory confirms that he has memorized everything about "Boomerang" and dies.

The final scene takes place in Regent's Park again and shows Richard Hannay and Miss Fisher as a couple.

background

  • The film is based on the novel The Thirty-nine Steps ( The Thirty-Nine Steps ) by John Buchan from the year 1915 , takes over from this but the main theme and some motives. As in Hitchcock's film, the plot was moved from before the First World War to the present (then).
  • Unlike the version from 1935, the film was shot in color and with a much larger budget. In the plot and implementation, especially in the opening scene in Hannay's apartment, the escape from the train, in the country inn and in the final scene in the vaudeville, there are strong parallels to the original version from 1935, right down to the camera perspective, editing and dialogue.
  • In the 1935 version, Professor Jordan, the head of the agent ring, is missing two links on the little finger of his right hand. In the remake, the distinguishing feature is a missing link on the villain's left hand.

Reviews

  • "... a coarser remake (...), which mainly emphasizes the humorous aspects of the plot ..."

media

DVD release

  • The 39 Steps - The 39 Steps . Carol Media, # 4086

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Release certificate for The 39 Levels . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , June 2005 (PDF; test number: 20 235 DVD).
  2. ^ Reclams Filmführer , 9th edition, Verlag Philipp Reclam jun., Stuttgart 1973, p. 558