North by Northwest

Rating:
Summary: Movie magic for film buffs and students
Review: Mr Hitchcock made this film ACCIDENTALLY. He was supposed to make a film version of The Wreck of the Mary Deare but his writer Ernest Lehman had a form of WRITER's BLOCK but, thankfully, had some ideas about a "chase movie". All is revealed in the excellent additional material and documentary on the making of the film narrated by Ms Saint. It may be one of those instances of how the artist (Mr Hitchcock) uses the system (Hollywood producers) to get his way, and run way over budget, and still bring home the bacon with a work of cinematic wonder. A must have DVD.

Rating:
Summary: Great story line and Great Chemistry
Review: Semi-spoilers

The storyline was great. The jokes were funny. And the romance was believable. I'm not used to seeing Cary Grant so taken with the lead actresses. He usually seems so aloof and indifferent to their advances. But the chemistry in North by Northwest was good between Grant and Eva Marie Saint.

The story line was fun. This is one of Grant's better ones. And one of Hitchcock's better ones, too. The bad guys were excellent as well.

Rating:
Summary: Shakesphere would approve
Review: One of Hitch's best and most effortless suspense movies has the benefit of a brilliant, witty script by the late Ernest Lehman and star performances by Cary Grant as the put upon Thornhill (whose initials are R.O.T. a nice representation of what's happened to his world), the sexy Eva Maire Saint, the menacing Martin Landau (in his first film role)and the charming but deadly James Mason.

Grant plays Thornhill an advertising executive who, through a case of mistaken identity (he raises his hand calling for someone to come take a telegram at the exact moment that a telegram is announced for Mr. Kaplan). As a result, he's kidnapped, taken to the country retreat of a diplomat by the name of Vandamm. Vandamm (Mason)believes that undercover agent Kaplan has too much information about his spy ring and plans.

He has his men get Thornhill drunk and they put him behind the wheel so he can have a fatal auto accident. Fortunately, Thornhill survives. He's determined to find out who Kaplan is and what Vandamm really wants. From there Thornhill's life spirals out of control as Vandamm tries to have him killed during the famous cropdusting sequence and convince his lover Eve Kendall (Eva Marie Saint)to become involved with him and, later, betray him. There's so many twists and turns in this hairraising classic that you have to see the film to appreciate the beauty of the direction, writing and performances.

This new spruced up digital transfer looks terrific. Warner evidently had the film digitally restored (not quite as painstaking as the restoration for Vertigo, Rear Window and Lawrence of Arabia but considerably less expensive)so that the colors are closer to the original release prints from 1959. The soundtrack has been beautifully remixed for 5.1 Dolby Digital. While the soundtrack can't completely take advantage of the remix, it sounds terrific. There's also a really good feaurette on the making of the film featuring Landau, Saint, Lehman and Patricia Hitchcock.

The inclusion of Ernest Lehman's nicely detailed audio commentary is a nice extra as well although it's clear that some of the same comments show up again in the documentary. Bernard Herrmann's marvelous music score is isolated on one track so that music fans can hear the original score in all its glory.

North by Northwest was the next to last in a string of classics directed by Hitch during the 60's (Hitch only made one movie in the 60's that comes close to his best films and that's the brilliant, dark The Birds). After a string of great movies and box office smashes including Rear Window, To Catch A Thief, Vertigo, The Trouble With Harry, Strangers On A Train and other lesser known works, North By Northwest was a brilliant conclusion to a decade that showed enormous growth in Hitch's directing ability and style. Psycho which would come out the following year would continue Hitch's groundbreaking approach to cinema as well but North by Northwest was the last of Hitch's complex thrillers to capture the public's attention.

Rating:
Summary: Hitchcock does an action thriller
Review: Isn't it interesting that the two best movies made by the great Alfred Hitchcock both starred Cary Grant? He plays completely different roles in the two films. In Notorious (Hitchcock's best movie) he is a sullen, lovestruck, jealous fiend who drives Ingrid Bergman into the arms of another man, using the love she feels for him and not confessing his love for her until it is almost too late and she is almost dead.

However, in North by Northwest, he plays a funny, completely clueless advertising man who gets caught up in espionage within the first five minutes of the movie. He is mistaken for a spy who is trailing a man named Van Damme (James Mason) Grant is not a spy at all, but Van Damme won't hear any of that and attempts to kill him.

Grant gets away, of course and then the fun begins. He tries to figure out what's going on and who the spy really is and Mason tries to get rid of him. The ride takes you from Manhattan on a 2,000 mile trip to the face of Mount Rushmore. Along the way, Grant meets a woman (Eva Marie Saint) who may not be who she seems to be, even when you think you have it figured out.

The film is littered with reliable supporting actors including the hilarious Jessie Royce Landis as Grant's mother. She absolutely steals her scenes early in the movie. Leo G. Carroll, a Hitchcock regular, shows up to provide the movie's most critical information, and finally, a very young Martin Landau is James Mason's second hand henchman.

The famous scenes from this movie are the crop dusting scene featured on the cover of the DVD and the final chase on the Mt Rushmore face. However, the whole movie is great to watch. The story is just unbelievable enough to laugh at, but realistic enough to take seriously as well. Grant is fabulous here, having lots of fun with the situations presented.

This movie is really atypical for Hitchcock, who was more about what happens in the mind than action on the screen. (See Notorious or Vertigo, possibly his most cerebral film) Even movies like Psycho were more inside the head than the physical action (save the two gruesome murders) But not North by Northwest. There really isn't anything to figure out, it's just great actors going at breakneck speed for two hours and 16 minutes to duke it out on the face of Mount Rushmore. What more can you ask for?

Rating:
Summary: Hitchcock really really knows how to build Suspense!
Review: This movie is frightfully good because it captures you into it. This happens with a good director, its like with a good book you don't want to put down. The movie is engrossing, even when you know the answers to questions you still get caught up in the mystery and allure of the film. The acting flows with the style of the film. The two actors fit well with the overall mood of the picture. It is a classic and provides adventure in a clever and stylish way. The films color is also top notch! Don't miss this great movie!
Lisa Nary

Rating:
Summary: Rambling , convoluted nonsense
Review: 'Fraid I have to toss a less than glowing review into this swirling , sticky mass of Hitchcock adulation .Many are going to find the following decidely unpalatable but it needs to be said

There's a strange tendency for movie buffs to blindly accept that a particular film is a "Masterpiece" year after year without asking any questions or daring to venture any opposing thoughts to the contrary.

I've just sat through "North By Northwest" . It did absolutely NOTHING for me . I think it's become a bit like some of those chat show celebrities who are "Famous for being Famous". Perhaps this picture is full on in - jokes and subtle "Arty Crafty" delights for Hitchcock fans to drool over after SOMEONE ELSE has explained it all to them .

To the uninitiated(and unimpressed), however, it simply comes across as being an extremely convoluted and confusing mess. Frankly , I couldn't make head nor tail of it and at least I'm honest enough to say so. This is an extremely sloppy film .

The so - called "Sophisticated Humour" is now absurdly dated and unfunny . Cary Grant goes to the closet to try on the pants which belong to the man he's been mistaken for .... they're too short .... I mean , it isn't exactly vintage Marx Brothers stuff . Cary Grant gets chased by a biplane on a dirt road .... SO WHAT ? Where's the "Genuis" in all this ? People walk out of a house in the dark. When they get outside they're standing in broad daylight .... what the hell's going on ? Again , if this drivel is meant to be funny or even remotely amusing you would really have to be "On" something to find it entertaining. From where I sit it's just bad film making . As for the sets .... I saw better examples of carpentry on "Gilligan's Island".

Perhaps all this was considered to be a marvelously witty academic feast in 1959 . In 2003 it's just a silly old heap of rambling nonsense.

Over the years a number of long and pedantic explanations have been written in order to unscramble the "Symbolism" of this film by Hitchcock apologists. Any script , story line and/or individual piece of dialogue which NEEDS to be EXPLAINED has failed miserably in it's primary function i.e. to articulate clearly and simply what the hell is happening on the screen .

Don't bother dusting off the video case - it isn't worth it !

Rating:
Summary: One of the best intrigue movies ever
Review: I first saw North by Northwest about three years ago, and I immediately put it among my top 50 favorites of all time. I recently got to see it again on DVD, and this time I then watched it with the running screenwriter's commentary and watched also the separate features.

I won't rehash the plot here, so I won't reveal anything to the newcomer to this film. The first time I saw it I wondered "What could possibly be going on here?" The extras on the DVD really explain how this all came about, and I am glad that director Alfred Hitchcock and screenwriter Ernest Lehman were able to brainstorm out this spellbinding thriller, based on a bunch of ideas they had thought up.

I notice they call it a comedy. I still don't really get that feeling about it as a whole, but it doesn't really matter. If Fargo and Pulp Fiction are comedies, then I suppose this can be one too.

Rating:
Summary: Amazing Movie!
Review: This is a great chase movie! Cary Grant and Eva Marrie Saint sizzle on the screen! You must own this movie!

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Summary: THE classic Hitchcock "mistaken identity" movie...
Review: Recently the American Film Institute rated the 100 greatest "thrillers" of all time, and legendary director Alfred Hitchcock placed more of his films into the 100 than any other filmmaker. Of the Top 10 thrillers, two - "Psycho" (which finished in first place) and "North by Northwest" - were made by Hitchcock. "North by Northwest" was Hitchcock's last film with Cary Grant, and as always they work perfectly together. Grant plays Roger O. Thornhill (in one of this film's many small jokes, Thornhill's initials are "ROT"), a clever and sophisticated, but also self-absorbed New York advertising executive. In a classic Hitchcockian case of mistaken identity, he is mistaken for George Kaplan, an American intelligence agent who's hot on the trail of a suave-but-deadly spy for the Soviet Union (James Mason). He is promptly kidnapped by Mason's goons and barely survives a murder attempt by Mason's twisted assistant (played to creepy perfection by Martin Landau). After the American ambassador to the United Nations is murdered - with Thornhill holding the knife and assumed to be the killer - he is forced to run for his life. He sneaks aboard a passenger train bound for Chicago, where he meets a cool and mysterious blonde (Eva Marie Saint, in one of her best roles), who may or may not be working for the Soviet spy ring. I won't give away anymore of the plot, but it is worth mentioning that several of Hitchcock's most famous scenes are in this movie: the chilling chase sequence in which Thornhill, standing next to a cornfield along a nearly deserted rural highway in the Midwest, is suddenly attacked from the air by a crop-duster plane equipped with a machine gun; Thornhill's hilarious escape from the spy's henchmen while drunkenly driving a car down a road which winds along a seaside cliff; and the famous climax atop Mt. Rushmore, in which our heroes are forced to climb around on the faces of the Presidents while being chased by the villains (The original name for this movie was "The Man in Lincoln's Nose", luckily it was dropped). The performances are all superb - Saint as the cool but sexy blonde with a shadowy past; Mason as the gentlemanly-but-sinister leader of the spy ring; and Grant as the superficial and self-centered businessman who learns to care for something - and someone - besides himself. It is said that the producers of the first James Bond movie ("Dr. No") a few years later wanted Cary Grant to play Bond, and while it would be hard to top Sean Connery, this film certainly shows that Grant would have been a great "substitute"! Bottom line: "North by Northwest" remains just as fresh, witty, and sophisticated today as it was when it was first released in 1959. This is a truly memorable film and it is easily one of Hitchcock's best. Highly recommended!

Rating:
Summary: "Paging George Kaplan...."
Review: It's difficult to believe that a film which includes the knifing of a United Nations ambassador as well as several different attempts to murder an innocent man could be described as delightful entertainment...but that is true of this film, directed by Alfred Hitchcock and featuring Cary Grant in the lead role. Roger O. Thornhill (Grant) is the aforementioned innocent man. Hitchcock delineates consequences of mistaken identity, misplaced trust, being somewhere "at the wrong time," acting on assumptions that later prove false, etc. These are devices which Hitchcock uses skillfully throughout many of his films. Who is "George Kaplan"? Whom does he threaten? Why? No brief commentary such as this can possibly do full justice to this film's immensely complicated plot. The acting is superb. Grant and Saint develop a unique on-screen chemistry which seems natural. I especially appreciate several of the scenes, notably when Thornhill is attacked by a crop-duster plane in a rural area in which there are no crops, and, the film's conclusion among (of all places) the faces of the Presidents on Mount Rushmore. The plot's pace is brisk but unhurried as Thornhill pursues understanding while fleeing from real or imagined dangers. Hitchcock allows Thornhill little of the self-assurance we associate with Grant's characters in other films. We share his confusion and frustration as he muddles through in one of Hitchcock's most entertaining films. Given the circumstances, perhaps survival is the best Thornhill can hope for.