The Thirty Nine Steps Movie And Book Differences

When comparing the book and film versions of The Thirty Nine Steps, there are many similarities in plot and theme, but differences in gender and specific details of the film. In my opinion, women and gender becomes a substantial theme when comparing the book and film versions. Hitchcock directed and got the idea to adapt the book version, written by John Buchan, into a movie. Hitchcock recalled reading the book as a teenager and found the action, mystery, and suspense of the book interesting and wanted to turn it into a film. The gender usage in the book was not satisfactory, as there were no women in the book version. In Hitchcock’s films, women were an important part of the appeal, so he had to adapt the book to include women. The Thirty-Nine Steps movie and book versions vary …show more content…
Firstly, in regards to themes of the book and film versions, let’s look at the MacGuffin. The MacGuffin is described as “the secret or documents the spies are after, distinguishing between his own point of view and that of the characters in the film…” (Walker) This theme is prevalent in both the book and film versions of The Thirty Nine Steps. Clearly, it is the idea of the thirty nine steps. It is mentioned in the beginning of the film and book, but what it is is not revealed until the end. The thirty nine steps are why Annabella in the film version and Scudder in the book version are killed. The MacGuffin is a theme only seen in spy films. The MacGuffin is the secret plan the police/spies wanted all along throughout the film but ended up just being plans for an airplane engine. Another theme shared by the book and film is the obvious theme of spies. Spies are mentioned in the beginning of the book when mentioning Scudder, the spy Hannay meets and is blamed of killing. The first person met in the