Always good to read a MOVIE NIGHTS review Ryan.

Thanks, reddog.  I appreciate you chiming in.  

Onwards, then, to another Movie Night at the House of Dennis.

This night we popped in a newish BBC version of John Buchan's THE 39 STEPS (2008).  I had no idea that this was part of the MASTERPIECE MYSTERIES series seen on PBS so you may have already seen it or will have a chance to see it.  The production values were excellent, the acting good, and generally played like a theatrical rather than a TV movie.  This one stars Rupert Penry-Jones (MI-5) as Richard Hannay and Lydia Leonard (ROME) as Victoria Sinclair.  Lizzie Mickery, a TV writer (PARADOX) and actress (TENKO), adapted the novel.  James Hawes (DOCTOR WHO) directed.

If you don't already know -- and you probably do -- Buchan's novel was shot by Alfred Hitchcock with Robert Donat and Madeleine Carroll in the lead roles and released in 1935.  It's been long considered a classic of the genre and the director.  In 1959 a new version, in color, was released with Kenneth More as Hannay.  In 1978 we got the most distinguished cast with Robert Powell as Hannay and, in support, David Warner, Karen Dotrice, John Mills, Eric Porter, George Baker, and Andrew Keir.

And if you don't know the story -- and you probably do --  it's about Richard Hannay getting mixed up in a nefarious plot which manages to frame him for murder and make him a wanted man on the run.  It is, of course, the perfect Hitchockian "wrong man" story.

What fascinates me is that this tale has become such a warhorse.  I can't remember the 1959 version, but each of the others tell the same story in their own way with their own embellishments and differences.  I've enjoyed them all.  This one takes the female, who is usually along for the ride only reluctantly, and takes her out of the damsel in distress category.  She's a suffragette of the early teens and quite able to handle herself, thank you.  This is a refreshing twist which gives this period piece, set in June, 1914, a modern sensibility.  There is also a clever, and wholly logical, nod to Hitchcock's NORTH BY NORTHWEST.  The film wraps up with a nifty sequence that gives the movie a bit of scope and pizazz.

Watching this got me thinking what fun it would be to write an article comparing the nuances of all four versions of THE 39 STEPS.  I only need two things -- a copy of the 1959 film and a place to publish!  I might mention that the IMDB lists a 2011 version to be written and directed by Robert Towne that he says is, "sorta on the backburner."