From Hitchcock to the Boer Wars - and Beyond

The Film

Of course the name Alfred Hitchcock will instantly suggest films --Suspense! Horror! — all the vital elements for total, spine-chilling thrills occasioned by other people's involvement in unspeakable situations, while we sit on our soft seats, secure in the temperature-controlled darkness of the theatre, savouring our wine gums or chewing liquorice all-sorts.

At the conclusion of the performance, nine out of ten of us will leave there perhaps discussing the genius of the producer or the actors, but without giving another thought to the writer of a book which might have precipitated the film - if such were the case. In years to come it will be the names of the former that come to mind, if and when, the title is mentioned.

The Book

Such has been the case with The 39 Steps, an adventure novel by the Scottish author John Buchan, first published in 1915. Upon this book four major film versions have been based – the first being a 1935 British production directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

It was remade, in colour, in 1959, a version that was more faithful to the story. It was also produced in 1978, and most recently, in 2008, another version was made for British television. In 1999, the Hitchcock movie came 4th in a BFI poll of British films, rated one of the best of all time – right up there with The Third Man (1949), Brief Encounter (1945) and Lawrence of Arabia (1962).

How the Title was Chosen

Buchan, who greatly admired the writings of Sir Walter Scott, is thought to have published some 100 books, but not all are fiction, and an interesting story is associated with his choice of a title for the one in question. For most of his adult life John Buchan suffered repeatedly with a duodenal ulcer, and it was his son, William, who revealed that that the name of the book originated when his young sister was counting the stairs at a private nursing home in Broadstairs, where his father was convalescing.

"There was a wooden staircase leading down to the beach,” he explains. “My sister, who was about six, and who had just learnt to count properly, went down them and gleefully announced, ‘There are 39 steps.’ " When, in time to come, the building was demolished, a section of the stairs, complete with a brass plaque, was sent to Buchan.

Connecting with South Africa

Like the endearing character, Richard Hannay, South Africa generally comes into all Buchan’s novels. In a series for which the author is best known, Prester John was the first of his adventure novels set in South Africa, and Hannay, narrator of The 39 Steps, just happens to be an expatriate Scot who returns to his new home in London - after a long stay in Southern Africa.

Article Author: Marie Warder

Born in Ficksburg, South Africa, trained to be a journalist, fell in love - for keeps - at 16, married at 19, wrote novels, played the piano in my husband's dance band for 35 years, had two children, studied to be a teacher, started my own school and …

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