The 39 Steps A Synopsis

Romance on the Run Richard Hannay is alone in London. His visit to a music hall coincides with a fight in the auditorium. Outside, he encounters Annabella Smith, who invites herself to his flat. There she reveals that her mission is to stop foreign agents from stealing British military secrets and that she caused the disturbance in order to evade her enemies. The presence of watchers in the street lends credence to her story.

She mentions the thirty-nine steps without explaining what they are and insists that she must go to Scotland the next day to prevent the secrets from falling into the wrong hands. She warns Hannay of a man with part of his little finger missing. Later that night she is stabbed to death. In her hand is a map of Scotland with Alt-na-Shellach marked. The next morning, Hannay evades the watchers and sets off to Scotland in her place. He discovers from a newspaper headline glimpsed on the train that Annabella’s body has been found and he is wanted for her murder. To evade the police who are searching the train, he throws himself at a blonde and pretends to be locked in an embrace before escaping on the Forth Bridge.

Hannay travels across Scotland on foot, taking shelter with a crofter and escaping when the police close in. At Alt-na-Shellach, he seeks help from a local resident, Professor Jordan. Too late he notices that part of the professor’s little finger is missing. Hannay escapes after being shot, giving himself up to the local sheriff, who pretends to believe his story but alerts the police. Another escape leads Hannay to seek refuge in a public hall, where he is mistaken for the guest speaker at an election meeting. Pamela, the blonde from the train, is in the audience and has him arrested.

When the policemen insist that Pamela accompany them in the car, Hannay realizes they are impostors. Pamela is handcuffed to him while their captors clear sheep from the road. He seizes the chance to escape, dragging Pamela with him. At an inn where they share a room, she frees herself from the handcuffs while he is asleep. Before she can phone the police, she overhears the agents talking in the bar and realizes that Hannay has told the truth.

The couple returns to London, where the gangs are to meet at the Palladium. Pamela tells the police. Though they disbelieve her, they follow her to the theatre, where a memory act is taking place. Hannay asks from the audience what the thirty-nine steps are. When Mr. Memory replies that it is a gang of spies, the professor shoots him and is chased through the theatre by the police. As Mr. Memory dies in the wings, he reveals the formula for an aircraft engine, which he had been paid to memorize. Hannay and Pamela hold hands, this time without the handcuffs.



By: Francis David


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