The 39 Steps

THE 39 STEPS. British 1935 film thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock loosely based on the 1915 adventure novel The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan. It tells the story of a man in London who tries to help a counter-espionage agent prevent an organisation of spies called The 39 Steps from stealing top secret information. When the agent is killed and he stands accused of the murder, he goes on the run with an attractive woman to save himself and stop the spy ring. Of the four major film versions of the novel, Hitchcock's film has been the most acclaimed. In 1999, the BFI ranked it the 4th best British film of the 20th century and in 2004 Total Film named it the 21st greatest British film of all time.