The Thirty-Nine Steps: Difference between revisions

(NB: The book is ''The Thirty-Nine Steps''. The 1978 film is ''The Thirty Nine Steps''. The other adaptations are ''The 39 Steps''.)

 

It's May 1914. Richard Hannay has just returned to London from Rhodesia. A man called Scudder meets him and tells him the tall tale of an international conspiracy determined to start a war. The conspirators are on Scudder's track and his only hope is to stage his own suicide and lie low for a while. Hannay agrees to hide Scudder in his London flat, but a few days later Scudder is murdered there by enemy agents and Hannay realizes he will be accused of the crime. Hunted by both policemen and enemy spies, Hannay takes to the Scottish moors in a desperate bid to stay one step ahead of the enemy until he can thwart their evil plans.

 

In this original version, the 39 steps are {{spoiler|steps down to the sea which identify a villa along a stretch of the Kent coast where the final confrontation with the German agents takes place}}.

 

* ''Greenmantle'': Hannay and four friends make their way through wartime Europe to Turkey, searching for the truth behind the rumours of a German secret weapon that could throw the entire Muslim world into the war on the Germans' side. Sometimes considered to be one of the best books Buchan ever wrote; Hitchcock wanted to film it for years but never got around to it.

* ''Mr Standfast'': An old enemy reappears and in the last pivotal days of [[World War One]] on the Western Front, Hannay wages a battle of wits. ''Finally'' introduces a [[Love Interest]] (she's worth the wait).