The Thirty-Nine Steps or The 39 Steps by John Buchan - BEST VERSION (Bentley Loft Classics Book #36)

by JOHN BUCHAN

Overview

Bentley Loft Classics proudly presents book #36, The 39 Steps by John Buchan.

The Thirty-Nine Steps is an adventure novel by the Scottish author John Buchan. It first appeared as a serial in Blackwood's Magazine in August and September 1915 before being published in book form in October that year by William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh.[1] It is the first of five novels featuring Richard Hannay, an all-action hero with a stiff upper lip and a miraculous knack for getting himself out of sticky situations.

The novel formed the basis for a number of film adaptations, notably: Alfred Hitchcock's 1935 version; a 1959 colour remake; a 1978 version which is perhaps most faithful to the novel; and a 2008 version for British television.The Thirty Nine Steps is a 1978 thriller film directed by Don Sharp, based on the novel The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan.

This version of Buchan's tale starred Robert Powell as Richard Hannay, Karen Dotrice as Alex, John Mills as Colonel Scudder, and a host of other well-known British actors in smaller parts. It is generally regarded as the closest to the novel, being set before World War I. The early events and overall feel of the film bear much resemblance to Buchan's original story, albeit with a few changes such as the re-casting of Scudder as English (and a more immediately sympathetic character) and the introduction of a love interest. It also introduces a different meaning for the "thirty-nine steps", although unlike its filmed predecessors it returns to Buchan's original notion of being an actual staircase. It is well remembered for the famous Big Ben end sequence, inspired by the 1943 film My Learned Friend, although this is its most fundamental deviation from Buchan's original story, which reaches its culmination in a coastal location in Kent.

Powell later reprised the role in the ITV series Hannay in 1988 (six episodes) and 1989 (seven episodes).

Product Details

BN ID:	2940013232891
Publisher:	Bentley Loft
Publication date:	10/06/2011
Series:	Bentley Loft Classics , #36
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	865 KB

About the Author

John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir PC GCMG GCVO CH (26 August 1875 – 11 February 1940) was a Scottish novelist, historian and Unionist politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the 15th since Canadian Confederation.

After a brief career in law, Buchan simultaneously began writing and his political and diplomatic career, serving as a private secretary to the colonial administrator of various colonies in Southern Africa, and eventually wrote propaganda for the British war effort in First World War. Once back in civilian life, Buchan was elected Member of Parliament for the Combined Scottish Universities, but spent most of his time on his writing career. He wrote The Thirty-Nine Steps and other adventure fiction. He was in 1935 appointed as governor general by George V, king of Canada, on the recommendation of Prime Minister of Canada Richard Bennett, to replace the Earl of Bessborough as viceroy, and occupied that post until his death in 1940. Buchan proved to be enthusiastic about literacy, as well as the evolution of Canadian culture, and he received a state funeral in Canada before his ashes were returned to the United Kingdom.