Newsletter Articles

The 39 Steps: The History

“Both John Buchan’s novel and Alfred Hitchcock’s film version of The 39 Steps enjoyed immense popularity. The novel was published in 1915 and twenty years later, in 1935, Hitchcock’s classic film was released.”

The 39 Steps: From Novel to Movie

“I found that by taking certain of the characters, part of the plot, and the excellent locales, I had the background for a very good screen story. Therefore I ignored the book as it stood, and developed the story with the screen in mind.”

Speaking of the Authors: Quotes by and about Buchan and Hitchcock

“I’m not interested in content,” Hitchcock said. “It’s the same as a painter not worrying about the apples he’s painting – whether they’re sweet or sour. Who cares?"

The 39 Steps: The Book and the Movie

“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," a term he defined as “an adventure where the events in the story are unlikely, and the reader is only just able to believe that they really happened.”