Trustworthy, administrator
11,829
edits
Changes
featured article
[[File:39 steps 1978 poster.jpg|thumb|300px|right| Film poster for The Thirty Nine Steps (1978)]]
'''The Thirty Nine Steps''' was a 1978 film adaptation of the adventure novel 'The Thirty-Nine Steps' by Scottish author John Buchan, first published in 1915. It was directed by Don Sharp, produced by Norfolk International Pictures for the Rank Organisation and featured Robert Powell as Richard Hannay, Karen Dotrice as Alex, John Mills as Colonel Scudder, and a number of other well-known British actors in supporting roles.
==Filming on the SVR==
The escape scene was filmed on [[Victoria Bridge]] using railway sequence, set in early 1914, begins in the ticket office at London St Pancras Station. The action scenes used [[LMS Ivatt Class 2 46443]] (in MR livery as No 644) and five of the SVR's LMS carriages with 'Midland' stickers applied. The scene also featured scenes filmed on the first film speaking part for an SVR 'extra' - , which last around 5 minutes in total, comprise:*Hannay boarding the driver shouting out "Come train (filmed on, there's another the island platform at [[Bewdley]])*A wide shot of the train passing the Spring Grove area just west of [[Bewdley Tunnel]] *A distant shot of the train due, come on!" was passing Trimpley Reservoir (re-used in the SVR's John Price1980 film [[The Elephant Man]])<gallery>Thirty_Nine_Steps_screenshot_Trimpley.JPG|Passing Trimpley</gallery>*The train crossing [[Oldbury Viaduct]]<refgallery>SVR News 50Thirty_Nine_Steps_screenshot_Oldbury.JPG|Crossing Oldbury Viaduct</refgallery> Another SVR volunteer, Barrie Geens, played *A lineside shot of the part train just west of [[Bewdley Tunnel]] After a cutaway to a policeman during short scene where his pursuers order all trains leaving St Pancras to be searched, the search railway sequence continues:*The train on [[Eardington Bank]]*The train from emerging from Arley Station Bridge having passed through the station at speed (re-used in the 1980 film [[The Elephant Man]]). #<gallery>Thirty_Nine_Steps_screenshot_Arley.JPG|Passing Trimpley</gallery>*The trainpassing through a station at speed, for which he was paid £7 filmed from a day for footbridge over the line (Bewdley again).*A brief lineside shot on an embankment (location uncertain)*The train stopping at another station ([[Highley]]) where the police come aboard and the train is seen setting off again. #<gallery>Thirty_Nine_Steps_screenshot_Highley.JPG|Stopped at Highley</gallery>*Film of the weekpolice searching the train (between Highley and Arley?) #*The train approaching the bridge, plus "lots of free food"where Hannay pulls the communication cord to bring it to an emergency stop.#<refgallery>[https://wwwThirty_Nine_Steps_screenshot_Bridge1.facebookJPG|Approaching Victoria BridgeThirty_Nine_Steps_screenshot_Bridge2.comJPG|Stopped on Victoria Bridge</groups/2360466988/permalink/10153711899011989/ Barrie Geens' recollections gallery>*The escape scene on the Unofficial SVR Facebook Groupbridge. #*A parting shot of the train setting off through [[Eyemore Cutting]]</ref>.*Hannay climbing down from the bridge.
<gallery>
File:39steps1.jpg|Robert Powell as Richard Hannay hanging from the underside of Victoria Bridge
File:39steps4.jpg|SVR volunteer Barrie Geens as a policeman during filming
</gallery>
Hannay’s train journey is via the Midland Railway from their London terminus at St Pancras to Dumfries. The film contains several anachronisms and 'oddities':
*Although the train journey is set in 1914, the locomotive and carriages are of a more modern (late LMS) appearance.
*The 'Midland Railway' carriage that Hannay boards carries the number W24617M, a BR era number for an ex-LMS carriage allocated to the BR Western Region. A "First Class" symbol on his carriage window is also in the BR ‘Totem’ style.
*As the train first sets off, a number of GWR carriages are visible through the window. It is unlikely that GWR carriages would have been at St Pancras in 1914.
*During the first sequence, the train is seen on a single track line, unlikely for a mainline express route from St Pancras to the north.
*The escape scene takes place on a fictional bridge in Scotland, presumably south of Dumfries which was Hannay’s destination. The landscape at Arley is rather out of character for that area.
== Other adaptations==
The 1935 Alfred Hitchcock film 'The 39 Steps', which was only loosely based on the novel, starred Robert Donat and Madeleine Carroll. It was remade under the same title in 1959, starring Kenneth More and Taina Elg. Both versions used a contemporary setting.
The Thirty Nine Steps was the third film adaptation of the book and is generally regarded as the closest to the novel, both being set just before the First World War. The film’s producer Greg Smith claimed "the Hitchcock version was about 20 percent Buchan and 80 percent Hitchcock. Our goal was to turn it around and make the film 80 percent Buchan and 20 percent invention."
A spin-off television series [[Hannay]], also featuring Robert Powell, included scenes filmed on the SVR during 1987. It ran for 13 episodes from 1988 to 1989.
==See also==
==References==
<references />
==Links==
*[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078389/ The Thirty Nine Steps on the Internet Movie Database]<br>*[http://www.reelstreets.com/films/thirty-nine-steps-the-1978/ Stills taken from the film on ReelStreets.com]
