The Thirty-Nine Steps: Difference between revisions

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What are the thirty-nine steps? A question that almost every adaptation answers differently.

John Buchan was one of the world's first spy novelists, and did a similar job for the genre as [[~~JRR~~ ~~Tolkien~~ ~~(Creator)~~|JRR Tolkien]] did for fantasy. ''The Thirty-Nine Steps'' is his most famous work, written in the run-up to [[World War One]]. It was a huge popular success and owed much to its 1903 predecessor, Erskine Childers' ''The Riddle Of The Sands'', and the adventure stories of [[H Rider Haggard]]. Buchan began his writing career as a journalist, but enlisted at the start of the First World War, working away from the front lines producing propaganda for the War Office. His experiences of the war, interwoven with a strong sense of national pride, a love of Africa and a belief in the strength of the British character, are themes in many of his novels.

John Buchan was one of the world's first spy novelists, and did a similar job for the genre as [[J. R. R. Tolkien|JRR Tolkien]] did for fantasy. ''The Thirty-Nine Steps'' is his most famous work, written in the run-up to [[World War One]]. It was a huge popular success and owed much to its 1903 predecessor, Erskine Childers' ''The Riddle Of The Sands'', and the adventure stories of [[H. Rider Haggard]]. Buchan began his writing career as a journalist, but enlisted at the start of the First World War, working away from the front lines producing propaganda for the War Office. His experiences of the war, interwoven with a strong sense of national pride, a love of Africa and a belief in the strength of the British character, are themes in many of his novels.

Unfortunately in later years he has not enjoyed similar popularity, though according to [[The Other Wiki]] his works have been seeing a resurgence in more recent times.

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* [[Karmic Death]]: {{spoiler|Medina}} in ''The Three Hostages'', {{spoiler|who would have survived if he hadn't just disabled Hannay, the one man able to save him.}}

* [[Lady of Adventure]]: Mary, when duty calls.

* [[Locking MacGyver in ~~The~~ Store Cupboard]]

* [[Locking MacGyver in the Store Cupboard]]

* [[Majorly Awesome]]: Hannay, during ''Greenmantle''.

* [[Master of Disguise]]: The [[Big Bad]] of ''Mr Standfast'' and Sandy Arbuthnot in ''Greenmantle'' and ''The Three Hostages''. To a lesser extent, Hannay and his friend Peter Pienaar in ''Greenmantle''.

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* [[No-Holds-Barred Beatdown]]: In ''Greenmantle'' Hannay begins to unload one of these on Stumm. Averted in that his [[Unstoppable Rage]] evaporates once the fight is won:

{{quote| I had no particular ill-will left against Stumm. He was a man of remarkable qualities, which would have brought him to the highest distinction in the Stone Age.}}

* [[Officer and A Gentleman]]

* [[Officer and a Gentleman]]

* [[Paper-Thin Disguise]]: Justified good and proper. Taking on a new ''personality'' is more effective than new clothes. The only problem is that to successfully pose as [[Obfuscating Stupidity|harmless idiots]] the characters run the risk of [[Becoming the Mask]] and losing their intellectual edge!

* [[Properly Paranoid]]: Even the [[Reasonable Authority Figure|Reasonable Authority Figures]] find it difficult to believe Hannay's wild story in ''The Thirty-Nine Steps''.

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* [[Idiot Ball]]: The stile scene.

* [[Loads and Loads of Roles]]: Four actors play every role in the movie, sometimes having to play two characters in the same scene. Traditionally it's one actor for the main character, one actress for all the attractive women, and two other actors for ''everything else''. {{spoiler|Scenery not excluded.}}

* [[Shout-Out]]: To [[North By Northwest]], The Alfred Hitchcock Show, and pretty much every other [[Alfred Hitchcock]] work.

* [[Shout-Out]]: To [[North by Northwest]], The Alfred Hitchcock Show, and pretty much every other [[Alfred Hitchcock]] work.

** "Through the door?" No! Through the [[Rear Window]]!!"

** Lampshaded in one instance when two characters come to a ladder and the woman won't go up. "Why no- oh, [[Collective Groan|don't tell me]]. '' {{spoiler|[[Vertigo]].}}''"

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==== This [[Made for TV Movie|TV Movie]] contains examples of: ====

* {{spoiler|[[Disney Death]]: Victoria}}

* [[Homage]]: The scene with the plane is a homage to that other [[Alfred Hitchcock]] classic ''[[North By Northwest]]'', even though it's...

* [[Homage]]: The scene with the plane is a homage to that other [[Alfred Hitchcock]] classic ''[[North by Northwest]]'', even though it's...

* [[Just Plane Wrong]]: Hannay is chased by an aircraft not in service in 1914

* [[Shirtless Scene]]: It's got [[Mr. Fanservice|Rupert Penry-Jones]] in it, what do you expect?