North by Northwest

Rating:
Summary: A great Hitchcock, one of his best!
Review: This movie is superb. Not just is this one of my favorite Hitchcocks, it's one of my favorite movies of all time! This is a classic for anyone interested in good movies. Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint are perfect for the roles in this fine film. Grant gets mistaken for an agent and men take him out. Soon he gets involved in an evil plot with another agent Eva Marie Saint. I really like this movie and I hope you do too.

Rating:
Summary: Games? Must we?
Review: Cary Grant is at his most sauve and most powerless in this marvelous thriller. A consortium of spies led by James Mason, who plays it cooler than dry ice, mistakes Grant for an intelligence operative and thus ensues a chase half way across country. A close study of the mutual seduction scene between Grant and Eva Marie Saint could teach the sloppiest frat-house drunk how to become a deboniar man about town. Wonderful camera work (including an unforgettable shot from the top of the U.N.)and endless talent make this a re-watchable classic.

Rating:
Summary: Great movie ... but watch for mistakes
Review: "North by Northwest" has been hailed as one of director Alfred Hitchcock's greatest masterpieces. In terms of script, acting and intrigue, that is absolutely true. "North by Northwest" can be enjoyed for the same reasons as virtually ever other Hitchcock film, particularly because they keep the viewer guessing until the very end.

However, "North by Northwest" adds another dimension for your viewing interest. It is perhaps the worst-edited movie of its quality that I've ever seen. There are hanging boom mikes, reflections in mirrors, and visible scenery curtains. Two things to particularly look for: the missing roof on Cary Grant's cab near the beginning of the film, and a little boy with his hands on his ears BEFORE Eva Marie Saint even produces her pistol in the Mount Rushmore cafeteria. The missing roof might not be visible in some prints, especially those which have been modified for TV screens, but the boy is evident in every version and is always a howl for those who know he's there.

Even with the errors, "North by Northwest" is a wonderful movie, and is something worth owning -- particularly on widescreen DVD, so you can freeze, and even magnify, the mistakes!

Rating:
Summary: 'I've got a job, a secretary, a mother, ....
Review: ... two ex-wives, and several bartenders dependent on me.' (Carey Grant)

This movie has it all. A great (original) script by Ernest Lehman. One of Bernard Hermann's scores. James Mason playing a sinister villain. Martin Landau and even more chilling villain and in his strongest performance in a supporting role. Eva Marie Saint (who I wouldn't have picked for the female lead, but then that's why I'm not the one making movies this good) at her sultry best. Carey Grant, always debonair, the very picture of suave, in the best role he ever had. And the best filmmaker ever: Alfred Hitchcock. There's the one-liners that only Grant can deliver. Humor. Drama. Suspense. There's a murder in the UN. A chase in a cornfield by a bi-plane, which is one of the most famous chase scenes. And a fight across Mount Rushmore. The Hitchcock film to end all Hitchcock films.

I've seen DVD's that contain more extras and I've seen DVDs that contain less. This has some 50 production stills, the tv trailer, the theatrical trailer, and the Hitchcock trailer. There is a 40 minute documentary on the making of the movie. The documentary just covers the basics, so don't expect all the hard details, but it's worth watching. Unfortunately neither Hitch nor Carey Grant were around to do a commentary, so the next best thing, Ernest Lehman, did the commentary. Actually, it turns out that his interview for the making of documentary (in its less edited form) is what's laid out over the movie. Which might explain why there are large gaps of no commentary and why there aren't as many insights as to why he wrote a scene one way versus another. You do get some colorful stories about Hitch and the making of this movie, and at one point Lehman goes into detail about the writing of the script. It's not the best commentary I've seen, but worthwhile. There is also a music only track for the serious student of Hitchcock. It's probably not something anyone other than a film student is going to watch (over two hours with no dialogue and at times no music takes a certain level of commitment). But if you want to see just how effective Hermann's score is, there is no better way to do it.

North By Northwest is one of my favorite movies and one of the best movies ever made. The DVD isn't spectacular but it does contain a few perks.

Rating:
Summary: Hitchcock is the Master
Review: I am only 23 years old. I am not enough to have been around in the Hollywood Heyday where the stars were bigger than life and the studios ran like well oiled machines, cranking out one star after another. That is why I love movies like this because it allows the younger generation a glimpse into the past where the stars were relatively well behaved and free from addictions. Perhaps this is a romanticized view that Hollywood wants my generation to believe, but I believe it to be true.

In North by Northwest, Cary Grant is a blatant stud. He has the nice clothes, gets all of the pretty girls and has that smooth talking manner about him. Lets not forget about Eva Marie Saint. In my opinion she must have embodied the definition of "Blonde Bombshell." Both give great performances as Roger Thornhill and Eve Kendall, their respective characters.

The plot revolves around Thornhill, an advertising executive who encounters a case of mistaken identity. It becomes clear that he is being used as some sort of pawn in a game of chess between US and foreign agents. Thornhill is mistaken for George Kaplan and then framed for murder. This series of events leads him to try to escape the whole situation. Along the way he encounters a beautiful Eve Kendell and we are not sure what her motives are.

Again, I was not around in Hitchcock's time, but he is known as a master of suspense and North by Northwest does not disappoint. This movie was listed in the top 25 of the greatest movies of the 20th century by the American Film Institute and rightfully so. North by Northwest is an exciting thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat for the entire movie. It has more ups and downs than a San Francisco avenue. I would highly recommend it for any avid movie buff, but especially for those Gen. Xers who have no idea what the '50's were like.

Rating:
Summary: Classic cold war espionage story.
Review: Imagine you're a businessman abducted by the Soviets because you're thought to be an American secret agent. This nightmare is exactly what happens to Manhattan advertising executive Roger Thornhill (acted by Cary Grant). Once he is mistaken for the spy George Kaplan, the action never lets up. Thornhill is thoroughly perplexed, and even his mother thinks his story is completely disbelievable: "I think I'd like to meet these killers." But the Soviets, led by Phillip Vandamm (James Mason), really are killers because they are convinced that Thornhill is about to expose them. As it turns out, secret agent George Caplan, the man whom the Soviets mistake Thornhill to be, is a fictional creation of the Americans to take the heat off their real secret agent. And so the Americans are eager to convince Thornhill to continue the charade, life-threatening as it is. Along the way, Thornhill gets involved with the beautiful Eve Kendall (Eva Marie Saint). Or is she a Russian spy herself? Or perhaps a counter-spy? It is this combination of romance and intrigue that sets the tone for the rest of the movie.

Personally I found the romance rather overdone, particularly the extended and passionate kisses. Although there is the implied suggestion that the two spend the night together (the trivilization of both casual sex and divorce is a remarkable laxity in morals that was very bold for 1959!), thankfully we are spared any footage more intimate than the kissing. Thornhill & Kendall's mutual feelings of "love" are pure infatuation based on physical attraction at first sight. The mention of making love in the first minute of their first conversation is rather absurd and certainly outrageous at the time of production. Nonetheless, these "offensive" elements are rather tame alongside what most modern movies deliver. And they are not the focus of attention, since it is really the suspense of the espionage and intrigue that carries the plot and the drama.

Of course there are many espionage movies with wonderful suspense. But Hitchcock's 1959 production delivers suspense without extensive violence, profanity and sex. The focus is on the suspense and intrigue with numerous plot twists, accompanied throughout by wonderfully dry humor (For instance, Thornhill expressing his reluctance to participate in a charade that could threaten his life: "I have two ex-wives, a mother and several bartenders depending on me! They would be most disappointed if I got slightly killed.") There is beautiful scenery and filming throughout - the memorable cinematography of the crop duster attack and the final chase scenes on the faces at Mount Rushmore is superb! Unlike most modern thrillers, there are times where the action is slow, such as when Thornhill waits alone alongside a desolate road in the middle of nowhere - effectively building up suspense and tension all the more. As far as cold-war thrillers go, this is a worthy classic of the genre! Hitchcock serves up delightful humor, spine-tingling suspense, and delightful cinematography, without marring it with much of the moral filth that pollutes contemporary movies. It's one of the master Hitchcock's best, and is certainly worth a look.

Rating:
Summary: when who we are doesn't matter
Review: Most of Hitchcock's films deal with the notion of identity, whether it be mistaken identity or the pathological desire of a person to make someone into someone else. In Vertigo, obsessive love (and desire to be loved) led to the loss of a woman's identity with disastrous consequences.

In North By Northwest, the twist is not someone who turns out to be someone else, but someone who has no identity except that which is adventageous to him. "Maggie," as Thornhill (Grant) puts it, "in advertising there is no such thing as a lie; only the expedient exaggeration". This is the crux of the story and before the first 15 minutes of the picture is over, Thornhill will become a man (who never existed) in order to establish that he is not that man. Ironically, and unbeknowst to him, by doing this he is simply undercutting what could have been his sole defense.

In essence, Thornhill is doing what children will often do (after making a similar misjudgement) which is to lie rather than own up to the truth because (as Grant will say in 'Charade') "they want something and they are afraid that the truth won't get it for them." The mistake children make is not understanding the more advanced real world experience of their parents that make the flaws in the story immediately apparent.
Thornhill makes the same misjudgement.

Most of us don't really believe that prentending to be someone else is the way to achieve a desirable end. But Hitchock creates a situation in which we find ourselves accepting it, as improbably as it may seem. After all, doesn't Thornhill have friends who can vouch for his identity? Wouldn't the proper investigation of the death of Townsend (and the identifty of Kaplan) ultimately reveal the complicity of the housekeeper and the gardener? Of course. In the real world, the absurdity of the events would have become apparent in a matter of days, without the need for Thornhill to ever leave New York.

But, in fact, he does leave (and, in so doing, undercuts his own defense). His motivation is derived from his experience as an advertiser (illusionist). If he can make "people buy things they don't need" then, he is arguing, the public could very well be duped by someone with a more sinister motive. In essence, Thornhill has come to distrust his fellow man precisely because he realizes how easy it is to lie to them. His experience in the courtroom when he tries to tell the truth only reinforces this view. His only weapon is his ability to lie, so much so that he is actually able to dupe the Professor, who created the entire scenario (not for "our amusement" the Professor protests), by pretending to be honest.

Authors have argued that Hitchock was a misogynist, but North By Northwest is more than misogynistic. It is cunningly misanthropic. As Van Dam's character says, "you make this very room a theatre". In North By Northwest, most people are fools, blindly accepting what they see at face value, while all around them is actually being played out a sinister battle between good and evil. The "truth" is nothing more than what it is these players want us to believe. If Hitchcock had tried to make that point in a serious movie (like "Manchurian Candidate") it would have likely been dismissed. How much cleverer to play it as ironic humor.

Rating:
Summary: the most brilliant first two minutes on celluloid
Review: Hitchcock was master theorist. The famous crop-duster scene in North By Northwest was designed to show that suspense did not require a black limosine and a dark night on a deserted street corner but, instead, could happen in broad daylight in a cornfield in the middle west.

Rear Window exposes another "fallacy", that extensive dialog is necessary in order to reveal the nature of a story's characters. In the first two minutes of Rear Window, we learn about the protagonist's career and how he came to be laid up in a cast, we learn something of his attitude toward his girl friend, and we learn enough about his 8 neighbors to set the scene for the entire story, without so much as a word of dialog being spoken. He has done, in two minutes, what some authors and directors could only do in two hours.

My one disappointment with this film was with the ending, which the studio forced him to modify. In the original screenplay, Thorwald's guilt was not the issue. His confrontation with Jeffries (Stewart) was a response to the harrassment he was experiencing due to Jeffries' suspicion of his guilt. Thorwald is driven to attack Jeffries because Jeffries refuses to leave him alone. Hollywood forced Hitchcock to make Thorwald's guilt a certainty, thereby reducing the poignancy of this story, which is the degree to which our belief in what we THINK we know can damage and destroy ourselves, and others.

As with many of his later films, Hitchock employs humor to obscure the fact that there is a serious message underlying the story. But like most "jokes" the humor is derived from something much more serious and unfunny.

Rating:
Summary: flawless transfer
Review: Aside from being one of the greatest movies of all time, this has got to be the best looking dvd of an old movie that I have ever seen! The movie is around 43 years old, and to buy this movie on video through the years (as I did) was to witness a washed out, faded, and rather grainy picture. Never having seen the movie in theaters, I took these things for fact. The other day, I went out to buy the dvd, and when I brought it home to watch it, I was completely amazed! The picture is vibrant, crisp, and gorgeous, and perhaps the most amazing thing is that there is not one flaw on the picture anywhere. There is not one speck, one grain, or even the tiniest visible flaw anywhere in this movies 2 hour plus running time. I was absolutely amazed. Even brand new movies often have at least a few imperfections, this film transfer beats them all. This is what dvd is all about. Buy this one, it will stand as the crowning jewel in your collection.

Rating:
Summary: *The* essential Hitchcock and Grant movie
Review: Cary Grant has always been one of my favorite actors, and his talent was always shown to its fullest in the Hitchcock movies. While we saw a lot of his darker side in movies like "Suspicion" and "Notorious", there's definitely more of a comedic feel to "North by Northwest". That's not to say that the signature Hitchcock thriller touch isn't there, in fact there's plenty of it, and it's probably the combination of the two that make this movie great.

Another hit was pairing up Eva Marie Saint with Cary Grant, which gives the movie exactly the right sexual tension. ("I'm a big girl.", Saint says, with Grant replying "And in all the right places")

"North by Northwest" isn't necessarily the best Hitchcock movie in terms of quality (though it's close), but it certainly brings together the best combination of Hitchcockian thrills and comedy which to me make it the essential Hitchcock movie. At the same time it also shows of Grant's amazing abilities as an actor which makes it a great place for new Cary Grant fans to start.