North by Northwest (1959)

Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Story: Ernest Lehman
Cast: Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason, Martin Landau
Music: Bernard Herrmann
Time: 130 minutes   
Bottom-line: This classic thriller is one of Hitchcock’s best and my most favourite one

One of Hitchcock’s greatest films, ‘North by Northwest’ has a mixture of all the elements of a good film: smart thrills, romance and comedy. Starring Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint and James Mason, this film is another of Hitchcock’s ‘wrong man’ films (few others being ‘Wrong Man’ and ‘Saboteur’). This film is 130 minutes of pure entertainment. This film is often said to have laid the foundation for countless action films, and there is no doubt about it either.
      
North by Northwest is the story of Roger Thornhill (Grant), who is a businessman. But his life changes

Cary Grant as Roger Thornhill

dramatically, when he is kidnapped by a mysterious ‘Lester Townsend’ (Mason), who apparently mistakes Thornhill for a certain George Kaplan. He tries to kill Thornhill by making him drunk and drive a car into the sea at night. However, Thornhill escapes, and so, the chase begins! Meanwhile, in a parallel track, the secret of George Kaplan is revealed to the audience. Soon, Thornhill is also caught for a murder which he didn’t commit: the murder of the real Lester Townsend. As his photo appears in every front page, Thornhill is forced to be on the run, with no place to stay. While on a train, Thornhill meets Eve Kendell (Eva), who helps him escape from the police, who are also searching for him in the train. A romance develops between the two. As the plot deepens, Thornhill finds that no one is who they appear to be. The story takes both Thornhill and the viewers across America, and ends in a thrilling climax in Mount Rushmore.       

James Mason as Philip Vandamm

Eva Marie Saint as Eve Kendell

As the thrills begin, Herrmann’s score adds to the suspense. Hitchcock uses unique camera angles to make the film more interesting. Despite being another cat-and-mouse chase, Hitchcock makes it different by providing lot of satisfying twists and a good storyline. This film is also the first to use kinetic typography i.e. moving text in the title sequence. The gray suit worn by Thornhill almost throughout the entire film has been regarded as the best suit in film history. (source Wikipedia)

Martin Landau as Leonard, Vandamm's right hand man

 Along with the thrills, there are comic scenes in between as well, which do not deter the plot. The scene Thornhill creates at the police station, after being drunk, is quite funny. But even funnier is the auction, which takes place later in the film. Thornhill goofs up at the auction by making crazy bids.
  
The crop duster scene is one of the most interesting action sequences of the film, which has inspired many action sequences in future films (like ‘From Russia with Love’). But to have thought of this way back in 1959 shows the creativity of Hitchcock. When Thornhill is waiting to meet Kaplan in an open field, a crop duster plane is seen dusting crops. Another man who comes to that road sees the plane and says that the plane is dusting crops where there are no crops. What happens in the next five minutes makes this sequence one of the best action scenes in Hollywood history. When the American Film Institute prepared their list of the top 100 thrillers in the past decade, North by Northwest took the fourth place, after Psycho, Jaws and The Exorcist. The crop duster scene may be unrealistic, but if you think all the action sequences in today's films are believable, then so is this.

A famous still from the film

The story unfolds at break-neck pace from the start, unlike some other Hitchcock films, where considerable time is given for building up the plot. With good thrills (not just with lots of blood and guns, I mean) and an apt score to accompany them and with some comic scenes along the way, North by Northwest will definitely be a great film experience. Go for it!

My Rating: 5/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 100%