39 Steps? Bring back Mr Memory!
Apparently (well, according to the Graun), the BBC has done a new version of John Buchan’s “The 39 Steps”, for Xmas. Good-oh! It’s a rattling good yarn…
…At least the Hitchcock fillum version of the story is. But, we’re warned, the Beeb remake will be based upon Buchan’s book and so won’t feature Mr Memory! This outrageous decision was made, apparently, on the grounds that ‘Memory’ is not in Buchan’s original book, but was inserted into the story by Alfred Hitchcock and his screenwriter Charles Bennett for the 1935 fillum, starring Robert Donat as reluctant hero Richard Hannay.
Well, all I can say is that Hitch’s fillum is a darn sight more enjoyable than Buchan’s dreary novel; and if the BBC really want ‘authenticity’, then they should reinstate Buchan’s anti-semitic conspiracy theories, which were central to his original plot, but that even Hitchcock (no PC-merchant, he) exorcized.
Here’s the denouement of the Hitchcock fillum, featuring ‘Mr Memory’:
KB Player said,
December 1, 2008 at 11:38 pm
I do have to disagree that Buchan’s novel is “dreary”. The politics are crude and a bit revolting, the code breaking a joke, and the plot is incredible, but the flight and the chase across Scotland are gripping. I see that the adaptor has included the scene where Hannay has to improvise an election speech. There was quite a bit of humour in the book.
“Love interest comes in the form of Victoria, a suffragette who is ‘very spunky and of her time’.”
Before I read the Groaning article I made a bet with myself that they would stick in some love interest for Hannay. This is the age when you are absolutely obliged to include a Feisty Female among the characters. Oh well, at least it hasn’t been adapted by Andrew Davies so we should be spared the shagging scenes.
Euripides Trousers said,
December 2, 2008 at 9:58 am
I hope there will be a crofter’s wife with an atrocious Scottish accent as well.
That’s my favourite bit of the film.
“I’m frome Glearsgoo”
Matt said,
December 2, 2008 at 12:02 pm
Having just read it for the first time recently and enjoyed it, despite the differences with the film, I think it’s stretching it to talk about Buchan’s anti-semitic conspiracy theories. Scudder, the character who voices them and is then killed, is later described as a “half crank” with “a lot of odd biases too. Jews for example”. His theory is not central to the original plot, it’s a red herring that Hannay disposes of when he discovers the real conspiracy by the German Naval Command.
Buchan was a free trade Tory in politics (MP for the Scottish Universities and later Governor General of Canada) who described himself as an old-fashioned, Gladstonian Liberal. I’d be interested to see any evidence that he personally was an anti-semite as opposed to a character in one of his books.
KB Player said,
December 2, 2008 at 1:16 pm
True enough about the anti-Semitic conspiracy theories in The Thirty Nine Steps. My bet is that the Beeb will silently drop that bit. I read the Richard Hannay series ages ago and my memory is of a politics of benevolent British imperialism, with a network of old boys and fixers working in secret against proto-James-Bond type villains.
Hannay was always the thoroughly decent modest chap who was pulled from ordinary life to take on villains. His descendants are the heroes of Dick Francis’s novels.
modernityblog said,
December 2, 2008 at 2:16 pm
talking of drama, SU blog has a good post up, there is a libel action against Alex Hilton, of Labourhouse, by Johanna Kaschke.
Whilst I have little time for New Labour, I have even less for born-again Tories like Johanna Kaschke and in particular when they attack bloggers.
I would urge you to post on this case and support Alex Hilton, if you can.
Jim Denham said,
December 3, 2008 at 6:11 pm
Point taken about Alex Hinton, Mod: real life has been a bit demanding over the past few days, but I’ll get moving on the assignment asap.
Matt: I taje your point about the ant-semitism and apologise to the ghost of Buchan. He was a Tory and an imperialist, but probably no more anti-semitic than most people of his class and background at the time.
But I still think the book’s dull compared with Hitchcock’s marvellous film. It’s years since I read either book, but my recollection is that Greenmantle was a better read.
modernityblog said,
December 4, 2008 at 2:18 pm
thanks Stroppy,
I’ll update my post later on.
voltairespriest said,
December 5, 2008 at 11:39 am
Some deletions have been made from this thread: all of them were made at the request of the commenter who posted them.
KB Player said,
December 7, 2008 at 9:01 am
I saw Timeshift: Between the Lines – Railways in Fiction and Film last night on BBC2. There was a bit about The Thirty Nine Steps, how Hitchcock made great use of the train, which is only icidental in the book, and there’s a famous continuity error – Hannay starts off on the north-eastern line (naturally, as he’s going to Scotland) and there is a cut to the train steaming out of a tunnel – the train is Great Western, and it’s coming out of a tunnel on the Bath line.
sackcloth and ashes said,
December 10, 2008 at 11:34 pm
Matt’s comments are sound. A good remake can be done in line with the original ‘39 Steps’, without Scudder’s rantings (although given that Scudder mentions the pogroms as the main reason why the ‘Jew in the bath chair’ was bent on destroying Tsarist Russia, Buchan did go a step beyond the ‘Protocols’ in giving the ‘international Jewish conspiracy’ a motive).
Having said that, there are similarly offensive comments in ‘Greenmantle’ as well (namely, the idea that Turkey wouldn’t have aligned with Germany had it not been for the ‘Polish Jew’ Enver Pasha).
That said, I still rate the 1970s version with Robert Powell, apart from the ridiculous climatic scene on Big Ben:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=JoxmOdC6c5c
fetedejour said,
December 28, 2008 at 11:28 pm
I have to say, Shiraz, I agree that Buchan’s novel is dreary & the Hitchcock adaptation far superior. I have to say, though, that despite the promise that the beeb’s 2008 adaptation would be grittier, I felt it simply captured the sogginess of the novel more accurately! I blogged on this on my new blog…http://sicsempererat.wordpress.com/