Sunday 11 August 2019

The Thirty Nine Steps (1978 Don Sharp)

Well now we know why Big Ben needed fixing...


It's interesting how different the three versions are, this one being closest to Buchan's novel. But. The direction and music are pedestrian. The John Mills character claims to know quite a bit about Hannay - this isn't explained. There's no humour. The Karen Dotrice character is flat. The Big Ben ending is fun, but then the actual ending is a real disappointment, like they ran out of script or money.

Robert Powell is fine, Mills looks fit for 70. David Warner and Eric Porter are fine. John Coquillion's photography is less moody than usual, but he catches the Scotland scenes well (though the opening night scenes are so dark it's really annoying - and I like a dark night scene...)

Michael Robson's early screenplays were for sex star Fiona Richmond. He later wrote the TV series Hannay in the eighties, also with Powell.


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