The 39 Steps (1959 film)

The 39 Steps
Original British cinema poster
Directed by	Ralph Thomas
Screenplay by	Frank Harvey
Based on	The Thirty-Nine Steps 1915 novel by John Buchan
Produced by	Betty E. Box
Starring	Kenneth More Taina Elg Brenda De Banzie Barry Jones Reginald Beckwith Sid James
Cinematography	Ernest Steward
Edited by	Alfred Roome
Music by	Clifton Parker
Production company	The Rank Organisation
Distributed by	Rank Film Distributors
Release date	12 March 1959 (1959-03-12)
Running time	93 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

The 39 Steps is a 1959 British thriller film directed by Ralph Thomas and starring Kenneth More and Taina Elg.^[1] Produced by Betty Box, it is a remake of the 1935 Alfred Hitchcock film, loosely based on the 1915 novel The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan.

In the film, diplomat Richard Hannay returns home to London, only to become inadvertently embroiled in the death of a British spy investigating the head of an organisation planning to sell the secret of a British ballistic missile. Hannay thus travels to Scotland to escape the police, and attempts to complete the spy's work.^[2]

It is the first colour version of the Buchan tale, and, unlike the mainly studio-bound original, features extensive location shooting. Several large set pieces (such as Hannay's escape from the train on the Forth Bridge and the music hall finale) and much of the dialogue are taken from the original film. As with the Hitchcock version, the scenario was contemporary rather than the pre-Great War setting of Buchan's original.