Reception
The film was the sixth most popular movie at the British box office in 1959. Critically, the film has often been regarded as inferior to Hitchcock's 1935 adaptation, and director Ralph Thomas stated it was not his favourite film. On being asked why he agreed to direct it he stated:
Well, Rank owned it, and I was under contract, and they asked me to do it. So I asked Alfred about it, and he said "If you have the chutzpah to do it, you go ahead, my son and do it. You won't do it as well as I did it." And of course he was right. His film was a wonderful picture. I think mine was a piece of effrontery that didn't come off, and on the whole I regretted it.
A number of critics have pointed to the slow pacing of the film, noting a lack of suspense usually attributed to More's charming, but leisurely performance. Comparing it to Hitchcock's version A.H. Waiton writing in 1960 suggested: "the pace, as well as the execution is milder, more civilized and somehow less suspenseful than it seemed previously. Mr. Thomas's direction may be at the core of it all, but Kenneth More's polished performance seems lacking in urgency. He is a frowning, somewhat put-upon gent, but certainly not a citizen involved in a life-and-death matter." Reviewing it more recently for LoveFilm, Mark Walker opined: "As a thriller it's hardly in the same league as North by Northwest, but as a window on life in England and Scotland in the 1950s, this 39 Steps has much to recommend it."
Read more about this topic: The 39 Steps (1959 Film)
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