After his intensely personal psychological thriller, Vertigo received mixed reviews due to its length and obsessive attention to detail, Hitchcock set out to follow it up with a fast-paced, action-packed, graceful, comedic chase image to finish off all of the footage from persecution. Screenwriter Ernest Lehman wonderfully parodies and surpasses all previous Hitch films from the 1950s, making North by Northwest the quintessential tongue-in-cheek comedy thriller.
The film’s success is due in large part to Cary Grant’s effortless, charming, and hilarious star performance as the hapless Madison Avenue advertising executive Roger Thornhill, a bachelor approaching middle age and stuck in a rut. , juggling a routine job between lunch dates with her sweetie. mother and the concern of gaining a few extra pounds each year, he is traveling through life free of real responsibilities or commitments; That is until he is mistaken for a government agent by a gang of foreign spies led by the mildly sinister Phillip Vandamm played by James Mason.
What follows is the prototype Hollywood action comedy in which we see the reluctant hero Thornhill’s comfortable life turned upside down as he is hunted by America. Cary Grant plays the role with such bewilderment that he totally identifies with his situation, yet he is also able to subtly send his own personality on screen, which enhances the comedy. The scene where the bad guys force him to drink a whole bottle of whiskey and then put him behind the wheel of a car is a case in point, as is Thornhill’s attempt to sober up and try to explain what is happening to police.
Eva Marie Saint provides the love interest as Eve Kendall, an undercover agent who appears to be Vandamm’s mistress but seduces Thornhill on a Chicago-bound train in a scene filled with double meaning and suppressed sexuality. Eve’s true loyalties help drive the narrative when we realize that Thornhill fell in love with her and finally found someone to commit to and take responsibility for, but then inadvertently blows her cover on Vandamm and puts her in danger by setting the final chase up Mount Rushmore and specifically President Lincoln’s nose, a piece that Hitchcock had been dying to film for many years.
North by Northwest looks incredibly good for its 50 years on Blu-ray with a vibrant 1080p / VC-1 encoded image flawless and a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 soundtrack which, surprisingly for a movie of its time, has demo quality especially in the iconic Crop. Duster sequence. The film’s appeal will endure for a long time due to the universal themes of mistaken identity, innocence to overcome evil, and love that prevails in the face of adversity, delivered with plenty of good humor and genuine wit; It may not be Hitchcock’s most complex thriller, but it’s certainly one of his most entertaining.