North By Northwest [M]

Armed with razor-like wit and charm, Roger Thornhill is a successful advertising executive. But his killer charms take a battering when he is mistaken for an FBI agent, abducted, and then framed for murder. Now, Thornhill is dashing all over the country trying to find the man whom his powerful pursuers, both good and bad, believe him to be. 

After discovering Hitchcock and watching some of his really amazing works such as The Birds, Vertigo, Marnie, and Psycho, I’ve been really eager to watch practically all the films he’s done. North By Northwest earns a place in The Book, but I honestly cannot understand why. Having watched other films from the Master of Suspense, North By Northwest just seemed to be more of an action romp and not something that could have come from the same director as Rear Window. Having said that, the film does harbour some iconic scenes such as the chase in the cornfields and the descent of Mount Rushmore, but I really do feel that the Master of Suspense has done cleverer things. 

Armed with razor-like wit and charm, Roger Thornhill is a successful advertising executive. But his killer charms take a battering when he is mistaken for an FBI agent, abducted, and then framed for the murder of a U.N agent. Now, Thornhill is dashing all over the country trying to find the man whom his powerful pursuers, both good and bad alike, believe him to be. 

This was the fourth, and I believe final, film that Carey Grant made for Alfred Hitchcock. As much as I love Carey Grant, I have to say that his performance in this was film as a little shaken and somewhat conflicted. I don’t know, he just seemed to struggle with playing the wrongly accused, and then his role is one that tends to change very frequently and abruptly throughout the movie, it’s amazing that he was able to perceive anything by the end of it. His performance struck me as being rather confused and shaky. 

Having bad-mouthed the film enough now, I cannot leave this review without saying something positive about the film. After all, every Hitchcock film is a masterpiece in its own way. North By Northwest, based on the typical thrilling story of the wrongly accused, harbours some of cinema’s most iconic action sequences. Two most recognisable and thrilling scenes are the chase through the cornfields where Carey Grant attempts to outrun a plane, and the treacherous descent of Carey Grant and Eva Marie Saint down the monument of Mount Rushmore. 

Starring Carey Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason, Leo G. Carroll, Edward Platt, and Martin Landau, North By Northwest was an engaging movie, but not a Hitchcock classic that I feel should be included in the collection. Filled with action, suspense, drama, romance, and the occasional bit of comedy, it’s earned its place in The Book and is definitely worth watching at least once.