The Thirty-Nine Steps: Difference between revisions

Line 4:

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 [[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.

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 I]]. 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.

Line 19:

<big>'''The sequels'''</big><br/>

* ''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).

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

* ''The Three Hostages'': With [[World War ~~One~~]] over, Sir Richard and Lady Hannay are enjoying a quiet life in the country, but when three young people are kidnapped and a mind-controlling genius starts [[Criminal Mind Games|leaving cryptic clues behind]], the pair of former spy-hunters have to go back to work.

* ''The Three Hostages'': With [[World War I]] over, Sir Richard and Lady Hannay are enjoying a quiet life in the country, but when three young people are kidnapped and a mind-controlling genius starts [[Criminal Mind Games|leaving cryptic clues behind]], the pair of former spy-hunters have to go back to work.

* ''The Island of Sheep'': Set roughly fourteen years after ''The Three Hostages''. Hannay and his son Peter John Hannay have to protect an old friend from fortune-hunters.

Line 92:

* [[This Is No Time to Panic]]: Repeatedly invoked as Hannay finds himself trapped, alone, and helpless.

* [[Unstoppable Rage]]: Hannay can be pushed into this with severe bullying, as Stumm finds out in ''Greenmantle''.

* [[World War ~~One~~]]: ''The Thirty-nine Steps'' takes place in the run-up to the war, and both ''Greenmantle'' and ''Mr Standfast'' are set during the war.

* [[World War I]]: ''The Thirty-nine Steps'' takes place in the run-up to the war, and both ''Greenmantle'' and ''Mr Standfast'' are set during the war.

----

Line 158:

[[Category:The Thirty-Nine Steps]]

[[Category:Films of the 1930s]]

[[Category:The Criterion Collection]]

Line 168:

Line 167:

[[Category:Literature]]

[[Category:Multiple Works Need Separate Pages]]

[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]