BBC's Adaptation of "The Thirty-Nine Steps"

[fatwoul]

Anybody else disappointed in this evening's shoddy adaptation of Buchan's novel?

Discuss.

 

[byronic]

No, I was unable to watch this, and quite disappointed to have missed it. But if it's as bad as you say it is then i shall stick with my Hitchcock/Donat DVD and thanks for the warning.

 

[stephen1965]

Robert Donat/ Madeleine Carroll

Missed the BBC version but the Hitchcock version recently played to an all but empty cinema in London. Robert Donat wears a very nice great coat at the beginning of the film and Madeleine Carroll is a real beauty. Everyone should own this film on DVD.

 

[byronic]

The fact that it played to an almost empty cinema is a sad reflection on modern audiences, I suppose a lack of gratuitous sex, violence, swearing, crummy CGI effects and explosions are the reason it doesn't appeal to them- or perhaps repeated showings on TV also don't help. I think this was the first or certainly one of the first movies I bought on disc years ago, it's the collectors edition with a splendid art deco package design, and I never tire of watching it. Cost quite a lot at the time- and the London Times newspaper was giving away copies of it free with their Sunday edition a few months ago.

 

[fatwoul]

What irritated me about the new adaptation was that it promised to be a return to Buchan's original novel, which was one of the only books I was made to read at school that I actually enjoyed.

Instead, this new version introduced a whole new character - a woman, no less! - who at every turn insisted on pointing out she was a suffragette. Presumably this was to point out to audiences that Lizzie Mickery (the screenwriter) wanted to make the story more politically correct. Instead, all it did was dilute a fantastic, exciting story about a lone man on the run into a cross between a tame comedy double act and The Bourne Identity.

Don't get me wrong. I've nothing against women having exciting, dynamic roles. But if a writer wants to have a strong female character, they should either take inspiration from a suitable novel with an existing character, or they should write something entirely new. They should not take a perfectly good story and crowbar a female co-lead into it! :rage:

 

[byronic]

Sounds pretty dire alright! Again, to refer to the Hitchcock version, despite the fact that the film is gloriously politically incorrect, Madeleine Carrolls' character is a strong, independent woman, years ahead of her time in comparison to most other celluloid females of the era, yet the script writers did not feel the need to make her character a political activist of any sort, she is just a 'modern' woman. Perhaps the BBC should have taken a leaf from Hitch's book? Better still- when will modern film makers (and there are lots of them!) realise that they can't improve on perfection and stop trying?!?[huh]
I'm sure we could fill a book with dreadful re-hashes of timeless classics- or maybe start a post with a title that goes something like: 'Brilliant movies of the past that have been re-made into mediocre versions by modern film makers who thought they knew better but instead they flopped and went straight to DVD.'lol

 

[H.Johnson]

Awful! Even less accurate than 'The Duchess'! Why can't film makers follow the book any more? Political correctness gone mad... Surely there are plenty of books in which ladies have strong roles to choose from. I know - teh thinking is, 'It worked for Dr. Who, so...'). John Burt has a lot to answer for!

What's next - Household's 'Rogue Male' with comic love interest?

 

[byronic]

I remember that the '78 remake was the most faithful adaptation of the book- but my goodness, was it dull! It plodded along at a snails' pace, and although Robert Powell is a talented and charismatic actor, to my mind he didn't fit the bill as the dashing Hannay. It would be nice after all these years if someone could film the novel faithfully -Hitchcocks' version is hardly that, but a terrific movie all the same- but without inducing catalepsy in the viewer!