Movies - The Thirty-Nine Steps

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	Movies - The Thirty-Nine Steps

The Thirty-Nine Steps is an adventure novel by John Buchan, first published in 1915. It is one of a number of Buchan's works to feature Richard Hannay, an all-action hero with a stiff upper lip and a miraculous habit of getting himself out of sticky situations. The novel formed the basis for a number of film adaptations, notably Alfred Hitchcock's 1935 adaptation The 39 Steps
, a 1959 colour remake and a more authentic 1978 version.

The Novel

Background

John Buchan wrote The Thirty-Nine Steps while he was ill in bed with a duodenal ulcer, an illness which remained with him all his life. The novel was his first "shocker", as he called it - a story combining personal and political dramas. The novel marked a turning point in Buchan’s literary career and introduced his famous adventuring hero, Richard Hannay. He described a "shocker" as an adventure where the events in the story are unlikely and the reader is only just able to believe that they really happened.

Plot Summary

In May 1914, Europe is close to war and spies are everywhere. Richard Hannay has just arrived back in London from Rhodesia to begin a new life when a freelance spy called Franklin P. Scudder calls on Hannay to ask for help. Scudder takes Hannay into his confidence and tells him that he has uncovered a German plot to murder the Greek Prime Minister in London and to steal British plans for the outbreak of war. He is following a ring of German spies called the Black Stone.

A few days later, Hannay returns to his flat to find Scudder murdered. If Hannay goes to the police, they will arrest him for Scudder’s murder. He decides to continue Scudder’s work and his adventure begins. He escapes from the German spies watching the house and makes his way to Scotland.

The hunt for Hannay begins. He is chased across Scotland both by the police and by the German spies. He works alone, wearing disguises and inventing stories to avoid capture. When he finally makes contact with the authorities and returns to London, the mystery of the thirty-nine steps and the Black Stone is still unsolved.

Full Plot

Richard Hannay, the protagonist and narrator, an expatriated Scot, returns from a long stay in South Africa to his new home, a flat in London. One night he is buttonholed by a stranger, a well-travelled American, who claims to be in fear for his life. The man appears to know of an anarchist plot to destabilise Europe, beginning with a plan to assassinate the Greek Premier, Karolides, during his forthcoming visit to London. He reveals his name to be Franklin P. Scudder. Hannay lets Scudder hide in his flat, and returns later the next day to find that another man has been found shot dead in the same building, apparently a suicide. Four days later Hannay returns to find Scudder stabbed to death in his flat.

Hannay fears that the murderers will come for him next, but cannot ask the police for help because he is most likely suspect for the murders. Not only does he want to avoid imprisonment, but he also feels a duty to take up Scudder's cause and save Karolides from the assassination, planned in three weeks' time. He decides to go into hiding in Scotland and then to contact the authorities at the last minute. In order to escape from his flat unseen, he bribes the milkman to lend him his uniform and exits wearing it. Carrying Scudder's pocket-book, he catches a train to Scotland.

Arriving at the countryside somewhere near Galloway, Hannay lodges in a shepherd's cottage. The next morning he reads in a newspaper that the police are looking for him in Scotland. He boards a local train and jumps off between stations. He is seen but escapes, finding an inn where he stays the night. He tells the innkeeper a modified version of his story, and the man is persuaded to shelter him. While staying at the inn, Hannay cracks the substitution cipher used in Scudder's pocket-book. The next day two men arrive at the inn looking for Hannay, but the innkeeper sends them away. When they return later, Hannay steals their car and escapes.

On his way, Hannay reflects on what he has learnt from Scudder's notes. They contradict the story that Scudder first told to him, and mention an enemy group called the 'Black Stone' and the mysterious 'Thirty-Nine Steps'. The United Kingdom appears to be in danger of an invasion by Germany and its allies. By this time, Hannay is being pursued by an aeroplane, and a policeman in a remote village has tried to stop him. Trying to avoid an oncoming car, Hannay crashes his own, but the other driver offers to take him home. The man is Sir Harry, a local politician, and when he learns of Hannay's experience of South Africa, he invites him to address a meeting that afternoon. Hannay's speech impresses Sir Harry, and Hannay feels able to trust him with his story. Sir Harry writes an introductory letter about Hannay to a relative in the Foreign Office.

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