The 39 Steps (1959) on Netflix
A nanny's pram holds no baby, and the woman behind it is a spy hunting a ring called the Thirty-Nine Steps. Diplomat Richard Hannay is drawn into her death and her mission.
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Trailer
Plot summary
Richard Hannay comes to the aid of a nanny who is nearly killed in a hit-and-run attempt in London, then finds her pram empty. She turns up at the Palace Music Hall to watch the act of Mr Memory, and afterwards goes with him to his flat. There she explains that she is a spy for British Intelligence, tracking a group called the Thirty-Nine Steps, whose leader is known only for a missing fingertip. The group holds the plans for a British ballistic missile project called Boomerang. She says she must leave for Scotland at once, and while Hannay is out of the room two hitmen kill her. Fearing he will be charged with the murder, Hannay decides to carry on her work and boards a train north from King's Cross.
Cast
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Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The 39 Steps (1959)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Ralph Thomas said he agreed to direct The 39 Steps because Rank owned it and he was under contract, and when he asked Alfred Hitchcock for advice, Hitchcock told him to go ahead and do it if he had the chutzpah, but that he would not do it as well.
- Filming was originally scheduled for 1958 but in January that year the production was postponed because cinema attendances had dropped.
- It was the first color version of the Buchan tale, and unlike the mainly studio-bound original it made extensive use of location shooting.
