39 Facts About The 39 Steps
- By a strange coincidence, the play, original film, Hitchcock, and Buchan all celebrate their anniversaries in the month of August — August 14 is the first anniversary of the London production; August 1 was the release date for the original film; August 13 is the 108th anniversary of Alfred Hitchcock's birth; and August 29 is the 132nd anniversary of John Buchan's birth.
- The London production of The 39 Steps has extended its run three times and is now scheduled to play through February 9, 2008.
- Hitchcock's film version of The 39 Steps (made in 1935) has been remade twice: in 1959 by director Ralph Thomas and in 1978 by director Don Sharp.
- You can watch Hitchcock's version of The 39 Steps for free online at archive.org.
- The 1959 version of The 39 Steps has by far the most on location filming of any of the three versions of the movie, as filming took place over a large portion of central Scotland.
- The film versions of The 39 Steps all depart substantially from John Buchan's original novel, including the addition of a love interest.
- Director Robert Towne is currently working on yet another remake of The 39 Steps.
- Some of the taglines for Hitchcock's version of The 39 Steps were "The MAN who put the MAN in romance" and "Fated to be Mated with the One Man She Hated."
- Alfred Hitchcock makes a cameo in The 39 Steps about seven minutes into the movie, tossing some litter as Richard Hannay (played by Robert Donat) and Annabella run from the music hall.
- Robert Donat was affectionately known as the Monte Cristo man.
- Hitchcock attempted to land Donat for three other roles, Sabotage and Secret Agent in 1936 and Rebecca in 1940, but illness, commitments, and more illness supposedly kept Donat from accepting each, respectively.
- Madeleine Carroll from the Hitchcock film was the first in a notorious line of Hitchcock's female stars that later included Grace Kelly and Tippi Hedren.
- Hitchcock was a mean practical joker. He handcuffed Robert Donat and Madeleine Carroll together for their very first scene and then "lost" the key for over an hour.
- Near the beginning of the The 39 Steps in the scene where Mr. Memory is entertaining the audience by answering their questions, a woman yells out, "Who is the last British Heavyweight champion of the world?" Beside her is a man who mouths the woman's words in synch with her.
- The 1978 version of The 39 Steps starred Robert Powell as Hannay. Powell also starred in the U.K. television series "Hannay" in 1988.
- North by Northwest (1959) is widely considered Hitchcock's "American 39 Steps."
- The 39 Steps was Hitchcock's first film with a classic theme that he modeled repeatedly for the remainder of his career.
- Trains are a major theme in Hitchcock's films, including The Lady Vanishes, Strangers on a Train, Sabotage, North By Northwest, and The 39 Steps.
- Hitchcock was reported to say, "What interests me is the drama of being handcuffed" as one of the major themes of the film.
- There is no Mr. Memory in the novel, but he is based on a real-life character.
- John Buchan's official title was "First Baron Tweedsmuir of Enfield."
- The Thirty-Nine Steps is the first of five novels by John Buchan that feature the character of Richard Hannay.
- During World War One, Buchan worked for the British War Propaganda Bureau and as a war correspondent for The Times, before joining the Intelligence Corps in France.
- It was during the first few months of World War One that, while confined to a bed and recovering from illness, Buchan wrote his most famous novel, The Thirty-Nine Steps, which was subsequently published in 1915.
- In the spring of 1915, Buchan became one of five journalists attached to the British Army, responsible for writing articles for both The Times and the Daily News.
- Buchan is generally credited as the creator of the modern spy novel because he originated so many vital elements of the genre.
- Buchan won the Victory Medal and the British War Medal.
- Buchan was initially disappointed that Hitchcock's film differed vastly from his book. But, after seeing the film he admitted it was much better.
- It's likely that Buchan based the character of Hannay on Lord Ironside of Archangel, an intelligence officer in the Boer War who used disguises to penetrate enemy lines.
- Adaptor Patrick Barlow was Bridget Jones's mother's love interest in the film Bridget Jones's Diary.
- Barlow also appeared in Nanny McPhee, Notting Hill, and Shakespeare in Love as Will Kemp.
- Patrick Barlow was in the Rolo television commercial where a honeymooning couple are travelling on a train with a loveheart drawn on the carriage window in the condensation. There is one last Rolo left in the wrapper and they are both smiling at each other all lovey-dovey. They go through a tunnel, he looks at the sweet, not there! He looks at his wife who is chewing the last sweet innocently, he angrily wipes the loveheart from the window. He didn't love her enough to save her his last Rolo!
- There are 686,000 entries with Patrick Barlow in them on Google.
- There are 1,480,000 for Alfred Hitchcock.
- Director Maria Aitken played Wendy, John Cleese's loveless wife, in A Fish Called Wanda.
- The Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion were agreed upon by The Church of England in 1571. They form the basis of the Articles of the Episcopal Church of America and the Twenty-five Articles of the Methodist Church.
- At the old Wembley Stadium in the U.K., 39 steps needed to be climbed to reach the Royal Box and collect a winner's trophy.
- The 39th day of the year is February 8th.
- There are 39 books in the Old Testament.
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