Don Sharp was hired to direct, because according to Producer Greg Smith, he was "one of Britain's best action adventure directors, and he was familiar with the period.". The steam engine and railway track seen in this movie were from the Severn Valley Railway Company who loaned the production the locomotive. This movie had a Royal World Charity Premiere hosted in the presence of Mark Phillips and Her Royal Highness Princess Anne held on Thursday, November 23, 1978, with proceeds from the special launch event going to aid and benefit the Save The Children Fund. Our goal was to turn it around and make the film eighty percent Buchan and twenty percent invention.". Rushmore in North by Northwest (1959), and the Golden Gate Bridge in Vertigo (1958). Those old actors were marvelous, but if you consult the man in the street, he's more interested in seeing a current artist than someone who's been dead for years. Lord Tweedsmuir, son of "The 39 Steps" source author John Buchan, according to Producer Greg Smith, liked the movie, was glad that the adaptation utilized more content from his father's source novel, and felt that his dad would have liked the added-on ending with the Big Ben clocktower. After The 39 Steps (1935) and The 39 Steps (1959), this is the third theatrical adaptation of the 1915 novel by John Buchan. The sequence was inspired by Safety Last! Producer Greg Smith once said of this movie: "The Hitchcock version was about twenty percent Buchan and eighty percent Hitchcock. PG | 1h 42min | Crime, History, Mystery | 2 May 1980 (USA) In March 1914, a mining engineer named Richard Hannay tries to prevent Prussian Agents from executing a political assassination designed to trigger World War I. First of two late 1970s re-adaptations of Sir Alfred Hitchcock movies from Hitch's English black-and-white 1930s talkies period, this movie being a re-adaptation of the source novel for The 39 Steps (1935). The Thirty Nine Steps (1978) cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more. One of two adaptations of stories by John Buchan that debuted in 1978. Later, when he is taken to the Scottish political rally, he introduces himself as "Mr. Rolls". 5.0 out of 5 stars 'THE THIRTY NINE STEPS' the best version of this classic movie. Producer Greg Smith was a fan of the novels by John Buchan and wanted to make a movie version of Buchan's "The 39 Steps" that was "true to the period in which the novel was set, just prior to World War I, when Europe was one huge powder-keg and nobody knew what a world war was.". Tony Williams of the J. Arthur Rank Organisation, this movie's production studio, said of this movie in 1978: "The old films suffer technically against today's. The film takes place from March 3 to March 15, 1914. This movie was notable for its grand finale with Richard Hannay (Robert Powell) hanging off the clock face of London's Big Ben clocktower, a sequence which doesn't even occur in John Buchan's source 1915 novel. Screenwriter Michael Robson also wrote regularly for the series. (1923) and My Learned Friend (1943). This movie is considered the most faithful of the three screen versions of John Buchan's source novel, despite the addition of the Big Ben clocktower finale (which was borrowed from My Learned Friend (1943)), which was not in the book. Robert Powell reprised his role as Richard Hannay in Hannay (1988). The movie's MacGuffin was a secret black notebook. The fourth version, The 39 Steps (2008), was made for television. Robert Powell was cast in the lead role of Richard Hannay due to his popularity from starring in Jesus of Nazareth (1977). The Thirty-Nine Steps location: Richard Hannay hangs from the clock face: Big Ben, Westminster, London. The Thirty Nine Steps ( 1978) The Thirty Nine Steps. This is the first of three collaborations between Robert Powell and Director Don Sharp. This was the only theatrical adaptation of John Buchan's "The 39 Steps" novel which was not set in the same year that the movie was made or released. The name of the German cruiser ship was "Ariadne". The lead central role of Richard Hannay (Robert Powell) was a much sought after part within the British movie industry, and the international movie scene at the time of the movie's development and pre-production. The pace of modern films is much faster. Italian censorship visa # 73046 delivered on 2 February 1979. The familiar story element of the man and woman being on the run handcuffed together was removed for this movie version of John Buchan's source novel. Verified Purchase. Sir Alfred Hitchcock directed the first filmed version The 39 Steps (1935), and many of Hitch's movies notably had suspense sequences set on famous landmarks, such as the Statue of Liberty in Saboteur (1942), Mt. The Big Ben clocktower seen in this movie, utilized for long-shots and exteriors, is the real London landmark. One of several late 1970s to early 1980s movies where David Warner portrayed a villain. You have to go back in time to tell a story that doesn't have to face seventies problems. The Thirty-Nine Steps location: Richard Hannay’s apartment: Albert Court, Kensington, London SW7. One of five espionage movies directed by Don Sharp. The character of Sir Richard Hannay (Robert Powell) appears in another John Buchan story which has been filmed, "The Three Hostages", which has been filmed twice, The Three Hostages (1952) and The Three Hostages (1977). The style of acting is different. Final produced screenplay for a theatrical movie (to date, December 2018) of writer Michael Robson. This movie was released forty-three years after the first adaptation of the novel, The 39 Steps (1935), nineteen years after the second version, The 39 Steps (1959), and thirty years before the fourth made-for-television version The 39 Steps (2008). Unlike the dull 1950s remake, the third version wisely ignores the 1935 Alfred Hitchcock classic and returns to John Buchan’s original story. It was the third film version of the 1915 novel. Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 22, 2016. This movie had a Royal World Charity Premiere hosted in the presence of Mark Phillips and Her Royal Highness Princess Anne held on Thursday, November 23, 1978, with proceeds from the special launch event going to aid and benefit the Save The Children Fund. The second was a re-adaptation of the source novel for The Lady Vanishes (1938), it being The Lady Vanishes (1979). The others being The Four Feathers (1978) and What Waits Below (1984). Closing credits: All characters and events depicted in this Motion Picture are fictional and any resemblance to any persons living or dead is coincidental. This movie was the first in an intended series of movies financed by the J. Arthur Rank Organisation, which was increasing its output during the late 1970s, though, albeit, this became a transient increase. Other story elements removed for this movie from earlier versions included the characters of Mr. Memory and the spy with the short finger. Third big-screen cinema version of John Buchan's story, with the first being Sir Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps (1935) and the second The 39 Steps (1959), directed by Ralph Thomas. The time that the bomb was set to go off in the Big Ben clocktower was 11:45 a.m. You're Dead! Bang! Though not in the source novel, the use of the famous London landmark, Big Ben, in this movie, was a Hitchcockian type story element. The others being Callan (1974), Bang! (1966), Bear Island (1979), and Hennessy (1975). Andrew Keir (Lord Rohan) and John Mills (Colonel Scudder) both played Professor Bernard Quatermass: Keir in Quatermass and the Pit (1967) and Mills in Quatermass (1979). The fourth version, The 39 Steps (2008), was made-for-television. Other Hitchcock movies featured such famous landmarks as the Albert Hall, Piccadilly Circus, the British Museum, and the Forth Rail Bridge. Powell played Charles Stewart Rolls, one of the founders of the Rolls-Royce motorcar firm, in The Edwardians: Mr. Rolls and Mr. Royce (1972). The close-ups for the action sequences was a replica of Big Ben built on a soundstage at Pinewood Studios. What people are nostalgic for isn't necessarily any particular period, but the happier values that are missing today.". The first shot of the locomotive going through the countryside was used as stock footage in The Elephant Man (1980), showing Joseph "John" Merrick's return to the U.K. from Belgium by train. The Thirty Nine Steps [sic] is a British 1978 thriller film directed by Don Sharp, with screenplay by British playwright Michael Robson, based on the novel The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan.