An Introduction to Patrick Barlow’s Adaptation of “Alfred Hitchcock’s 39 Steps”

Dr. Michael Flachmann, Jo Ann Lawson, Daniel AseltineUtah Shakespearean Festival’s 22nd Camp Shakespeare Summer, 2010

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Portrait of Scotsman John Buchan, approximately mid-1930s

as Governor-General in the late 1930s

Alfred Hitchcock’s Film of John Buchan’s Spy Thriller Premiered in June, 1935

Alfred Hitchcock’s Film of John Buchan’s Spy Thriller Premiered in June, 1935

Robert Donat plays the lead role of Richard Hannay, 1935 film Madeleine Carroll co-stars as Pamela

Evading capture on the Scottish moor Pamela’s stocking scene at the inn

John Buchan, August 1875-February 1940 Born the eldest of five children into a middle-class family in Perth, Scotland, and raised in Kircaldy and Fife, Scotland, John Buchan (pronounced “buckin’”) studied on scholarship at Glasgow University, enrolling at age 16. He was a barrister (admitted to the Bar in 1901), journalist, war correspondent, intelligence officer with the rank of lieutenant colonel for the British Army in France during World War I, historian, chancellor of Edinburgh University, and prolific author of 29 novels and nine biographies.While a student of classics at Oxford in the mid-1890s, he published his first four novels. He worked in South Africa on reconstruction efforts (1901-1903) after the Boer War. At age 39, Buchan began writing The Thirty-Nine Steps in August, 1914, while recovering from surgery upon a duodenal ulcer; the novel was published 13 months later by William Blackwood & Sons. At his age, Buchan was declared unfit for active service with the infantry, so his attempt to volunteer was initially denied. The spy novel serves as the reader’s introduction to an adventurous hero, Richard Hannay, who appears in four sequels. The first and second sequels take place during World War I, while the other two occur during the postwar years.Buchan was a conservative Member of Parliament during the interwar years (1927 – 1935), after which he served as the 15th

Governor-General of Canada by appointment of King George V in November, 1935. Politically, Buchan supported Zionism and the role of Scotland as an independent nation within the United Kingdom. At age 65, Buchan died from a stroke in Montreal inFebruary, 1940.

John Buchan’s Most Famous Cliffhanger, The Thirty-Nine Steps, 1915Richard Hannay is a professional mining engineer living in London in the summer of 1914, just before the outbreak of the Great War. Hannay has just returned to England from his work in South Africa. He stumbles upon a perfidious German spy ring, which is attempting to steal secret plans of the British Royal Navy. His almost single-handed attempts to preserve the British Empirefrom the Huns attempting to undermine it form the core of the novel.An American journalist, Franklin P. Scudder, informs Buchan’s action hero Hannay of the German plot to steal the Navy’s secret plans. But Scudder is killed in London by German spies, and the police wrongfully suspect Hannay of his murder. Hannayescapes from the West End of London north to the Scottish Highlands via the “Flying Scotsman” railroad determined to clear his name and preserve the future of the Royal Navy. Providing comic relief, Hannay bribes a milk delivery man to lend him his milkman’s uniform, in order to throw off the German spies who are searching for him. Another iconic scene is a machine-gunning biplane pursuing the escaping Hannay across the Scottish moor.There is no main female lead in this adventure novel, no romance, no bridge escape, and no slapstick humor in Buchan’s 17th

published work, a story of clean living and good and evil. Buchan’s son, William, claims that the title of the adventure novel came from the author’s daughter, who was counting the number of wooden stairs down to the beach.

Alfred Hitchcock’s Black and White 1935 film In 86 minutes, Hitchcock radically alters Buchan’s novel by introducing a female lead and romantic interest to the plot. Madeleine Carroll as Pamela is the beautiful blonde British actress whom Hitchcock linked to Robert Donat’s Hannay and his attempts to reach Alt-na-Shellach, Scotland. Hitchcock’s 18th film is considered his first masterpiece, which pioneered the theme of “innocent man on the run” that Hitchcock would use throughout his career.Hitchcock’s other free adaptations, not referenced in Buchan’s novel, include “Mr. Memory” (Wylie Watson) at the London Palladium and Hannay’s jump from the train on the Forth Rail Bridge in eastern Scotland.

historic map of railways around the Forth Rail bridge

The 1978 version remained somewhat more faithful to Buchan’s original thriller. Directed by Don Sharp, it starred Robert Powell as Hannay and Karen Dotrice as Alex Mackenzie. This version ended with Hannay foiling the German plot by hanging from the hands of Big Ben in order to stop the detonation of a bomb.

Later Film VersionsIn 1959, director Ralph Thomas remade a color version, modeled closely after Hitchcock’s. Kenneth More starred as Hannay, opposite the Finnish actressTaina Elg.

PBS “Masterpiece Classics” Television Film Version, 2010 (Sponsored by the British Broadcasting Commission)

Rupert Penry-Jones stars as Richard Hannay in this 90-minute television film. Lydia Leonard is the British actress who co-stars, playing the role of feminist suffragette Victoria Sinclair.

The film ends with a German submarine in a Scottish loch.

Rupert Penry-Jones is Richard Hannay in the latest version of The 39 Steps

Patrick Barlow’s 2005 Comic Stage Adaptation of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1935 Romantic Thriller Four actors play all roles, though the part of Richard Hannay is played by an actor who does not double any other role. The result is that three actors double more than one hundred roles.

Patrick Barlow = founder of Britain's National Theatre of Brent.

Lead character Hannay’s stiff upper lip is undiminished throughout the fast-paced romantic comedy.

Timeline for the Barlow production:June 2005 premiere, directed by Fiona Buffini at the West Yorkshire PlayhouseAugust 2006 London premiere, directed by Maria Aitken at the Tricycle TheatreSeptember 2007 U.S. premiere at Boston University TheatreJanuary 2008, Broadway opening at the American Airline TheatreMarch 2008, transfers to the Cort TheatreJanuary 2009, transfers to the Helen Hayes TheatreJanuary 2010, ends its Broadway run after more than 750 performances

Plot of Barlow’s Adaptation Differs Significantly from Buchan’s NovelAnnabella Schmitt encounters Richard Hannay at a London theater, the Palladium. A shooting takes place, and Schmitt alleges to Hannay that she is the target of assassins because she is aware of a German conspiracy to steal British naval secrets on the verge of World War I. Ever the English gentleman, he brings her to his apartment for safekeeping. She is murdered there that night, andHannay rightfully fears the police will suspect him of the crime.Hannay sneaks out of his London apartment with the unwitting help of a milkman, and proceeds to Scotland via railroad. He is tryingto expose the German spy ring (led by highly-reputable Professor Jordan, who is missing the tip of his finger) and thereby save the British Empire. Hannay becomes aware that the police are tracking him on the train, so he boldly barges into beautiful Pamela’s compartment and brazenly kisses her. He begs her not to reveal him to the police, but she is incredulous. He jumps out of the train and continues his escape.Hannay encounters Pamela again, and she persists in her refusal to believe his story. Eventually, he persuades her of his integrity, she begins to thaw and provides him with invaluable assistance in his successful efforts to finally unmask the conspiracy, and they fall in love. The Empire is saved.

Further reading

Andrew Lownie: John Buchan: The Presbyterian Cavalier (David R. Godine Publisher, 2003) Janet Adam Smith: John Buchan and His World (Scribner Book Company, 1984)Cannadine, David. "John Buchan: a life at the margins." American Scholar 67.3 (1998): 85+. Academic OneFile. Web. 17 February 2010.Keegan, John. "The Self-Made Scot.(Reconsiderations)." New Criterion 23.2 (2004): 38+. Academic OneFile. Web. 9 March 2010.Kimball, Roger. "'Realism coloured by poetry': rereading John Buchan." New Criterion 22.1 (2003): 16+. Academic OneFile. Web. 3 March 2010.Powell, Geoffrey. "John Buchan's Richard Hannay. (origins of the fictional character)." History Today 37 (1987): 32+. Academic OneFile. Web. 23 February 2010.