Not only is Hannay not a spy, he isn’t a man of particularly impressive abilities or history. The first was the nature of the hero, Richard Hannay. Instead, it was a “shocker.” Truthfully, The Thirty-Nine Steps was not really any more shocking than many of the previous novels Buchan had published, but it featured two notable exceptions.

When he finally did attach his name, he termed it neither a spy novel nor a crime novel. In fact, Buchan originally published his tale in serial form anonymously despite already being an established author. Little wonder that Buchan’s story attracted Hitchcock.īy the time Hitchcock turned The Thirty-Nine Steps into a movie, the spy novel (such as it is, even though the hero isn’t technically a member of any intelligence agency) had attained a certain comfortable level of legitimacy. Despite coming so early in his career (though by then he’d already directed close to twenty features), The 39 Steps was one of the early movies that set the tone for the rest of Hitchcock's career: a regular guy on the run from the baddies who in saving himself might just be saving the world. That movie- Rebecca-was still another five years down the road. This was before Hitchcock had become a household name or even made his first Hollywood movie. In 1935, Alfred Hitchcock directed a film adaptation of John Buchan’s novel, published two decades earlier. We are thankful for their contributions and encourage you to make your own. These notes were contributed by members of the GradeSaver community.

The thirty nine steps