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North by Northwest (1959)
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Storyline
North by Northwest is one of Alfred Hitchcock's greatest works. The master of suspense is at it again as we follow the protagonist Roger Thornhill from Manhattan to Mount Rushmore Memorial Park. |
Backdrops
The Director
 Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an Anglo-American director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in his native United Kingdom in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood. In 1956 he became an American citizen while remaining a British subject.
Over a career spanning more than half a century, Hitchcock fashioned for himself a distinctive and recognizable directorial style. He pioneered the use of a camera made to move in a way that mimics a person's gaze, forcing viewers to engage in a form of voyeurism. He framed shots to maximize anxiety, fear, or empathy, and used innovative film editing. His stories frequently feature fugitives on the run from the law alongside "icy blonde" female characters. Many of Hitchcock's films have twist endings and thrilling plots featuring depictions of violence, murder, and crime, although many of the mysteries function as decoys or "MacGuffins" meant only to serve thematic elements in the film and the extremely complex psychological examinations of the characters. Hitchcock's films also borrow many themes from psychoanalysis and feature strong sexual undertones. Through his cameo appearances in his own films, interviews, film trailers, and the television program Alfred Hitchcock Presents, he became a cultural icon.
Hitchcock directed more than fifty feature films in a career spanning six decades. Often regarded as the greatest British filmmaker, he came first in a 2007 poll of film critics in Britain's Daily Telegraph, which said: "Unquestionably the greatest filmmaker to emerge from these islands, Hitchcock did more than any director to shape modern cinema, which would be utterly different without him. His flair was for narrative, cruelly withholding crucial information (from his characters and from us) and engaging the emotions of the audience like no one else." The magazine MovieMaker has described him as the most influential filmmaker of all-time, and he is widely regarded as one of cinema's most significant artists.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Alfred Hitchcock, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
News Stories
User Reviews
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Revisiting North by Northwest for the AFI Project
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From December 30, 2008:
What's the AFI project, you ask? For more information, or if you just enjoy my bemused ramblings, read here: http://www.spout.com/blogs/pippin06/archive/2008/3/1/25756.aspx
North by Northwest is on the following AFI lists:
The Original Top 100 (#40)
100 Most Heart-Pounding Movies (#4)
The Revised Top 100 (#55)
10 Top 10's (#7 Mystery)
I bought North by Northwest on DVD for this project, but I already owned it on videocassette (the test was passed long ago). For me, so far, this and Rear Window are my two favorite Hitchcock movies (and are ranked very closely on the Original AFI list, so stay tuned). I don't know if I can say I'm still "thrilled" by this film in the traditional sense of the word - I already know the twists and turns and what to expect, as I've seen it a few times at least. Thus, I suppose North by Northwest loses some of its luster on too many repeat viewings. Still, as expected from Hitchcock, this film is constructed quite masterfully, and even if my heart doesn't pound quite as fervently as it did when I first watched it, the film still plays out as a tight, subtle romantic comedy/drama as well as a mystery that makes one laugh, cringe, stew, jump, and ultimately swoon with the best of them.
Cary Grant plays Roger Thornhill, an innocuous advertising executive in New York City, who plans to meet some clients at a the Plaza Hotel and the famous Oak Room for business and then take his mother to the theater. The trouble is, after coincidentally being in the wrong place at the wrong time when the hotel page calls for a "George Kaplan," some thugs surreptitiously kidnap Roger at gunpoint and take him to the mans...
View full review
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reviewed by Pippin2010 (Filmaster.com) on the 2nd of March 2010
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Grant's swagger sells his performance, and in so doing draws you into a compelling adventure with tight reveals and cinematic settings. Hitchcock recognizes and embraces the scale of the story without losing track of its participants, switching smoothly between grand vistas and character scenes. The pacing is perfect as the plot widens its scope gradually, working its way outward and personalizing the journey.