Les 39 marches

Although it is not 100% faithful to the book, it is the most faithful in spirit of the four versions I've seen. Of the four though on its own, I do prefer Hitchcock's 1935 film, for how well made and directed it is and how suspenseful it is. This version is better however than the well done if slightly flat 1959 film and the awful 2008 TV adaptation. The pace sags in the middle perhaps, but this is a very well done film both as an adaptation and on its own merits. The locations look beautiful and are very atmospherically photographed, while the score adds much to the often thrilling and suspenseful tone. The script is intelligent and does feel as though it's flowing naturally, and the story is securely paced and the suspense is in equal measure with Hitchcock's like with Hannay's escape from the train. If there is one scene though that I prefer over the Hitchcock film, it's the climax, which I found thrilling and not as rushed. Robert Powell has both the bearing and charm for Richard Hannay, Karen Dotrice is a likable female interest and David Warner is an ever charismatic presence. The villains are suitably ruthless also. All in all, a very well done film, well made, engaging and mostly faithful. 8/10 Bethany Cox

The best-known film version of John Buchan's famous novel was made by Alfred Hitchcock in 1935 but, although an excellent film in his typically playful style, it actually had little to do with the book. Ralph Thomas's 1959 remake was a dull affair. Don Sharp does a much better job.

The film reverts to the book's Edwardian setting and opens with a striking scene beside the fog-shrouded Thames, which reminds one of Sharp's work for Hammer Films. Robert Powell is an agile and likeable hero, supported by a strong cast and the climax, cleverly borrowed from the Will Hay classic "My Learned Friend", has Hannay attempting (literally) to turn back time.

It was reported that, when this film premiered at a West London cinema, the audience burst into spontaneous applause at the end!

Hitchcock would agree that Don Sharp did him one better in the 1978 remake of "The 39 Steps." Sharp's camera technique may not be as spare and precise as Hitchcock's but the overall blend of script, acting, character and plot development make this a truly delightful and fun film. Robert Powell sparkled in his role as a Richard Hannay from "down under." Great film meant to be viewed again and again. I do believe Hitchcock might have considered a request to pop out of a doorway or jump on a bus lending his profile in cameo to this film as he did in so many of his own.

R Houghton's review claims that "...with this version, we finally get the story as it was written."

This is a very long way from true. To note only three departures, the thirty-nine steps of the original text do not refer to the steps leading up to Beg Ben, but to a staircase leading from a house in Bradgate down to the sea; in the original text, Scudder is knifed in Hannay's flat; and the scene of Hannay clinging to the hands of the clock appears nowhere in Buchan's novel.

But all that said, this production is a fine piece of work in its own right, having great pace, style and atmosphere, and with some first-class acting from Robert Powell.

This is about as far removed from the Hitchcock version as you could imagine. For starters, instead of a beautiful female spy you get John Mills, (though his demise with a knife in his back in the arms of the hero in a public place might be taken as a tribute to "North by Northwest"; it's even got Hannay menaced by a plane on a lonely moor). It is, in fact, a reasonably faithful rendition of the book where Hitchcock's was a fanciful re-imagining, (and a good deal more fun), but it's no disgrace. Indeed as a Boy's Own Adventure it's thoroughly enjoyable; a Ripping Yarn in fact, with a splendid cast of British character actors, good use of locations and a spiffing climax involving Big Ben.

Robert Powell's Hannay is considerably more po-faced than Robert Donat's, (he's too stiff to be a proper action hero), and comes over as a bit of a boor. Still, you wish him well and are happy to perch close to the edge of your seat as he dodges both the police and the dastardly Huns as he attempts to clear his name. Love interest, for what it's worth, is provided by Karen Dotrice, and whose character is an amalgam of Peggy Ashcroft's and Madeline Carrol's, but this is a film in which soppy girls needn't bother us; the heroes and villains keep it ticking along nicely.