Dir.
Alfred Hitchcock, US, 1959, 136 mins
Cast:
Cary Grant, James Mason, Eva Marie Saint
Review by Christopher Upton
This week sees the re-release of the classic Hitchcock thriller North by Northwest. The film stands alongside Psycho and Vertigo as one of the best examples of Hitchcock's thrilling oeuvre. It features all those traits established by the revered director that inspired the French new wave, mixed together to create a near perfect thriller, which blends glamour, intrigue and death with epic American locations.
The story follows Roger Thornhill (Grant) who, mistaken for wanted government man George Kaplan, is captured in a restaurant. He is then introduced to shady gentleman Vandamm (played by an extremely reserved James Mason) in his intimidating large country mansion, where his life is threatened. But thanks to an apparently botched murder attempt, Thornhill escapes and is free to track down the real George Kaplan and solve this case as quickly as possible. With Hitchcock though it's never that easy and soon Thornhill is thrown into a twisted conspiracy replete with a beautiful temptress (Marie Saint), a shady cabal of government officials and a homicidal crop duster.
The story stands up against any in the thriller genre with similar twists and turns to those still being used today in films such as the Coen Brother's Burn After Reading . It achieves its tension expertly by never allowing any of the characters safety. No one is ever entirely sure of who is who and who, if anyone, they can trust. This, along with a tight screenplay in which nothing is revealed until absolutely necessary, keeps the viewer in the dark throughout.
The performances in this film are outstanding, Grant as the self obsessed advertising agent in the wrong place at the wrong time is incredibly sharp. Eva Marie Saint's blonde femme fatale, a Hitchcock staple, brilliantly plays with Grant's Roger, seducing him but always leaving him needing a cold shower. The film also features a malevolent sidekick for James Mason in the form of the young Martin Landau as the deadly Leonard. Silent and composed, it is a chilling performance. And whether or not Leonard's interests in Vandamm go further than simple loyalty isn't important, as his conviction is beyond question.
The expansive backdrops against which Roger is pursued are beautiful. The cinematography is so im press ive that the backgrounds and settings look good enough to make their reality as questionable as the situations the characters find themselves in. Thanks to these epic settings the viewer is also offered the unique opportunity to decide which president's face they'd like to scale, should the eventuality present itself.
While the story can cut it with its modern counterparts, the films pacing hasn't aged so well. New audiences may find Hitchcock's use of long edits and the slower European pacing a chore rather than a thrill and in an age of quick edits and breathtaking action sequences in thrillers, Roger's daring escapes will seem positively pedestrian. However, the story remains watertight and contains more than enough to keep this film afloat fifty years after it's original appearance on the big screen.
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