The 39 Steps (1960)

Excellent but underrated film

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

For whatever reason when J. Arthur Rank decided to remake Alfred Hitchcock's masterpiece The 39 Steps he opted for a much lighter approach. When Robert Donat essayed Richard Hannay in the original you were watching a most desperate man thrown together with Madeline Carroll running from the cops.Kenneth More apparently decided he was Cary Grant and played it the way Grant did his last Hitchcock film North By Northwest. But what worked for Cary Grant did not work for Kenneth More. And Taina Elg was no Madeline Carroll, few women have ever been that beautiful.Best in this rather tepid remake is Brenda Da Banzie as a most horny women who keeps dropping hints at More who seems completely oblivious.This version of The 39 Steps isn't a patch on what Hitchcock did though it has its moments.

Kenneth More plays Richard Hannay, the victim of circumstances who finds himself inheriting the job of solving a crime whilst being its chief suspect.Our Ken is a solid, reliable actor who brings a lighthearted touch to most every role he plays. Basically a decent British bod, whether sweating it on the 'Northwest Frontier' or shivering on the Titanic; I don't think he's ever played a baddie. This 1959 version is one of several that includes an earlier, and arguably superior, Hitchcock release. As a More fan, I prefer this one. But that's only my bias talking. Here, he does just look a wee bit bored at times. It's not particularly violent, easy on the drama, with no sex to speak of. There's nice location-work in London and Scotland, good photography, steady editing and adequate sound. Although filmed in colour, most of the time it looks like a deeply-sepia'd black & white. You might need to adjust your settings.Well worth a matinée punt if you're off sick, skiving or unemployed.

The Christopher Reeve version of Rear Window was alright, and the Gus Van Sant remake of Psycho was rubbish, so I dubious about seeing another remake of a popular Hitchcock film, but I gave it a chance anyway. Basically it follows the same plot as the original, Richard Hannay (Kenneth More) meets a spy who tells him something she shouldn't of, and is murdered soon after, putting Richard in the frame and on the frame. He follows her instructions and something about a guy with little finger missing all the way to Scotland to find out more about something called The Thirty-Nine Steps. As Richard does all this, both the police and the real murderers are trying to catch him, and a woman called Nellie Lumsden (Brenda De Banzie) ends up coming along too. It still has the same ending also, with Mr. Memory (James Hayter) being the one with all the answers, but with an extra little bit afterwards where Richard and Nellie are together like a couple. Also starring Taina Elg as Fisher, Barry Jones as Professor Logan, Reginald Beckwith as Lumsden, Faith Brook as Nannie, Michael Goodliffe as Brown, Duncan Lamont as Kennedy, Jameson Clark as McDougal, Andrew Cruickshank as Sheriff, Leslie Dwyer as Milkman, Betty Henderson as Mrs. McDougal, Joan Hickson as Miss Dobson and Sid James as Perce. I will admit I did get a little caught in the film with its new extra material, like one or two chase and chatty sequences, but I can see why the critics would give this less interesting version two stars. Okay!

"The 39 steps" is quite an enjoyable Kenneth More movie.Like a good boy scout Mr More is unflappable,resourceful,straightforward,clean in word and deed and whistles cheerfully under all difficulties.He carries a comb with him and manages to look manly wearing pale - blue shorts.He is a nice middle - class 1950s English hero,soon to be drowned under an ocean of vicious foul - mouthed murderous thugs who will beat the film audiences into submission to such an extent that well - spoken chaps with service flats in town and spare time on their hands to save the old country from Johnny Foreigner will shortly disappear from our screens for ever - or at least until Don Sharp's brilliant 1970's remake. There is very little actually "wrong" with this movie.It's main weakness is Miss Tania Elg who has no obvious reason for being in the picture.She can't act,she can't react and she can't even wear her clothes convincingly.It seems to me that doing the movie was a chore she just had to get done before she was allowed to go out to play. She seems an irrelevance to Mr More too,which is unfortunate as she was presumably meant to provide the love interest.Miss Brenda de Banzie proves far more interesting in that department. Mr Duncan Lamont and Mr Michael Goodliffe are good as the villains,the chillingly named Kennedy and Brown,possibly coincidentally the names of the murderers of PC Gutteridge in 1928 in Essex who shot his eyes out in fear of the superstition that the retina retained the image of the last image it saw in life. The obvious Hitchcockian "hommages" are present but not offensive and it is a delight to see Mr Reginald Beckwith and Mr James Hayter in the same movie. Watching this,you can see why Mr More was the most bankable male British actor for years.He exhudes charm,honesty,humour and good chappishness and the ladies loved him.Most people back in 1959 did not see this as a remake of a great original,merely as a good comedy - thriller starring one of their favourite actors,perhaps,nearly half a century on,we should be doing the same.