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Variety (1940) - Pictures: Inside Stuff--Pictures (Feb 14th)

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Passing of Lord Tweedsmuir, Governor General of Canada, in Montreal Sunday (11) after a brain operation, recalls "The 39 Steps," which was based upon his novel. Film, starring Madeleine Carroll and Robert Donat, focused attention of the industry on the Alfred Hitchcock technique of direction and was more or less responsible for the cycle of films which followed in a similar vein.

Though a prolific writer with an extraordinary capacity for work, none of his other novels was believed to have been made into films. "Steps" was written in London during the World War when he was serving as Director of Information. In addition to the many biographies, essays and other books, Lord Tweedsmuir also wrote a 1,500,000-word history of the World War.