North by Northwest - wikipedia North by Northwest For other uses, see North by Northwest ( disambiguation ). North by Northwest Theatrical release poster Directed by Alfred Hitchcock Produced by Alfred Hitchcock Written by Ernest Lehman Starring Cary Grant Eva Marie Saint James Mason Jessie Royce Landis Music by Bernard Herrmann Cinematography Robert Burks Edited by George Tomasini Production company Metro - Goldwyn - Mayer Distributed by Metro - Goldwyn - Mayer Release date July 28, 1959 ( 1959 - 07 - 28 ) Running time 136 minutes Country United States Language English Budget $4,326,000 Box office $9.8 million North by Northwest is a 1959 American thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint and James Mason. The screenplay was by Ernest Lehman, who wanted to write `` the Hitchcock picture to end all Hitchcock pictures ''. North by Northwest is a tale of mistaken identity, with an innocent man pursued across the United States by agents of a mysterious organization trying to prevent him from blocking their plan to smuggle out microfilm that contains government secrets. This is one of several Hitchcock films that features a music score by Bernard Herrmann and an opening title sequence by graphic designer Saul Bass. This film is generally cited as the first to feature extended use of kinetic typography in its opening credits. North by Northwest is listed among the canonical Hitchcock films of the 1950s and is often listed as being among the greatest films of all time. It was selected in 1995 for preservation in the National Film Registry by the United States Library of Congress, as being `` culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant ''. Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Production 3.1 Filming 3.2 Set design 3.3 Costuming 3.4 Editing and post-production 4 Release 4.1 Home media 5 Reception 5.1 Box office 5.2 Critical reception 5.3 Awards reception 6 Themes and motifs 7 Influences 8 Adaptations 9 See also 10 References 11 External links Plot At a New York City hotel bar in 1958, two thugs looking for a `` George Kaplan '' see a waiter calling out for him at the same time advertising executive Roger Thornhill summons the waiter. Thornhill is then mistaken for `` George Kaplan '' and is kidnapped. Thornhill is brought to the Long Island estate of Lester Townsend and is interrogated by spy Phillip Vandamm. Despite Thornhill denying he is George Kaplan, Vandamm thinks he is lying and has his henchman Leonard arrange Thornhill 's death in a staged drunken driving accident. Thornhill manages to miraculously steer away from danger but is soon arrested for driving under the influence. The next morning, Thornhill tries but fails to convince his mother and the police that he had been kidnapped and forcibly inebriated. Journeying to the scene of the crime with police, a woman at Townsend 's home, presumed to be Mrs. Townsend, says he showed up drunk at her dinner party. She also informs them that Townsend is a United Nations diplomat. While searching Kaplan 's hotel room with his mother, Thornhill answers a phone call from the thugs who are in the hotel lobby. He escapes and visits the U.N. General Assembly building to meet Townsend. He discovers that Townsend is not the man he met on Long Island, and that Townsend is a widower. As Thornhill questions Townsend, one of the thugs throws a knife, hitting Townsend in the back, killing him. Thornhill catches Townsend as he falls and grabs the knife, giving the appearance that he murdered Townsend. Thornhill flees and attempts to find the real Kaplan. Meanwhile, a government intelligence agency in Washington, D.C. read the news and realize that Thornhill has been mistaken for `` George Kaplan '', a fictional persona created by the agency to thwart Vandamm. However, Thornhill is not rescued for fear of compromising their operation. Thornhill stopping a truck while being attacked by the crop duster, from the film trailer Thornhill sneaks onto the 20th Century Limited train. He meets Eve Kendall, who hides him from the police. Kendall and Thornhill begin to establish a relationship but Kendall, unbeknownst to Thornhill, is actually working with Vandamm and his thugs. In Chicago, Kendall tells Thornhill she has arranged a meeting with Kaplan at an isolated bus stop. Thornhill waits at the bus stop, but Kaplan never shows up. He is then attacked by a crop duster plane. After unsuccessfully trying to hide in the fields, he steps in front of a speeding tank truck and the airplane crashes into it, leaving Thornhill to escape in a stolen pickup truck when traffic stops. When he reaches Kaplan 's hotel in Chicago, he discovers that Kaplan had checked out and left before Kendall said she talked to him on the phone. Thornhill goes to her room and confronts her, but she leaves. He tracks her to an art auction, where he finds Vandamm and his thugs. Vandamm purchases a Mexican Purépecha statue and leaves his thugs to deal with Thornhill. To engineer an escape from the thugs, Thornhill disrupts the auction by acting erratically ; the police are summoned and take him away. When he tries to tell them he is the fugitive murderer, the police release him to the government agency 's chief Professor ( Leo G. Carroll ). The Professor reveals that Kaplan does not exist and was invented to distract Vandamm from the real government agent : Kendall. Thornhill agrees to help maintain her cover. At the Mount Rushmore visitor center, Thornhill ( as Kaplan ) negotiates Vandamm 's turnover of Kendall for her prosecution as a spy. When `` Kaplan '' confronts Kendall, she shoots him `` fatally '' with a handgun ( loaded with blanks ) and flees. Thornhill and Kendall meet in a forest. Thornhill discovers Kendall must depart with Vandamm and Leonard on a plane. When Thornhill tries to dissuade her from going, he is knocked unconscious and locked in a hospital room. Thornhill escapes the Professor 's custody, and goes to Vandamm 's house to rescue Kendall. The climax at Mount Rushmore At the house, Thornhill overhears that the sculpture holds microfilm, and that Leonard discovered that the gun used by Kendall to kill Thornhill was filled with blanks. Vandamm indicates that he will kill Kendall during the flight. Thornhill warns her with a surreptitious note. Vandamm, Leonard and Kendall depart the house to board the plane. Thornhill attempts to follow, but is stopped by Anna, the housekeeper, who holds him at bay with a gun -- until he realizes it is the one loaded only with blanks. As Vandamm is boarding the plane, Kendall takes the sculpture and runs to the pursuing Thornhill. They flee to the top of Mount Rushmore. As they begin to climb down the mountain, they are pursued by Vandamm 's two thugs, Leonard and Valerian. After a harrowing chase, Valerian falls to his death, while Leonard is fatally shot by a park ranger. Later, Thornhill invites Kendall, now the new Mrs. Thornhill, onto the upper berth of a train, which then, suggestively, enters a tunnel. Cast Cary Grant as Roger Thornhill Eva Marie Saint as Eve Kendall James Mason as Phillip Vandamm Jessie Royce Landis as Clara Thornhill Leo G. Carroll as The Professor Josephine Hutchinson as `` Mrs. Townsend '' Philip Ober as Lester Townsend Martin Landau as Leonard Adam Williams as Valerian Edward Platt as Victor Larrabee Robert Ellenstein as Licht Les Tremayne as Auctioneer Philip Coolidge as Dr. Cross Patrick McVey as Sergeant Flamm Edward Binns as Captain Junket Ken Lynch as Charlie Uncredited cast Maudie Prickett as Elsie the Maid Malcolm Atterbury as Man at the crossroads Tol Avery as State Police Detective John Beradino as Sergeant Emile Klinger Ned Glass as Ticket Seller Doreen Lang as Maggie, Roger 's Secretary Nora Marlowe as Anna Ralph Reed as Bellboy Olan Soule as Assistant Auctioneer Frank Wilcox as Herman Weitner Sara Berner as Telephone Operator ( voice ) Hitchcock 's cameo appearances are a signature occurrence in most of his films. In North by Northwest, he is seen getting a bus door slammed in his face, just as his credit is appearing on the screen. There has been some speculation as to whether he made one of his rare second appearances, this time at around the 44 - minute mark in drag as a woman in a turquoise dress on the train. In fact, the woman was played by Jesslyn Fax, who went on to appear in many episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. She had previously appeared in Rear Window. MGM wanted Cyd Charisse for the role of Eve Kendall. Hitchcock stood by his choice of Eva Marie Saint. Production John Russell Taylor 's official biography of Hitchcock, Hitch : The Life and Times of Alfred Hitchcock ( 1978 ), suggests that the story originated after a spell of writer 's block during the scripting of another film project : Alfred Hitchcock had agreed to do a film for MGM and they had chosen an adaptation of the novel The Wreck of the Mary Deare by Hammond Innes. Composer Bernard Herrmann had recommended that Hitchcock work with his friend Ernest Lehman. After a couple of weeks, Lehman offered to quit saying he did n't know what to do with the story. Hitchcock told him they got along great together and they would just write something else. Lehman said that he wanted to make the ultimate Hitchcock film. Hitchcock thought for a moment then said he had always wanted to do a chase across Mount Rushmore. Lehman and Hitchcock spitballed more ideas : a murder at the United Nations Headquarters ; a murder at a car plant in Detroit ; a final showdown in Alaska. Eventually they settled on the U.N. murder for the opening and the chase across Mount Rushmore for the climax. For the central idea, Hitchcock remembered something an American journalist had told him about spies creating a fake agent as a decoy. Perhaps their hero could be mistaken for this fictitious agent and end up on the run. They bought the idea from the journalist for $10,000. Lehman would sometimes repeat this story himself, as in the documentary Destination Hitchcock that accompanied the 2001 DVD release of the film. In his 2000 book Which Lie Did I Tell ?, screenwriter William Goldman, commenting on the film, insists that it was Lehman who created North by Northwest and that many of Hitchcock 's ideas were not used. Hitchcock had the idea of the hero being stranded in the middle of nowhere, but suggested the villains try to kill him with a tornado. Lehman responded, `` but they 're trying to kill him. How are they going to work up a cyclone ? '' Then, as he told an interviewer ; `` I just ca n't tell you who said what to whom, but somewhere during that afternoon, the cyclone in the sky became the crop - duster plane. '' In fact, Hitchcock had been working on the story for nearly nine years prior to meeting Lehman. The `` American journalist '' who had the idea that influenced the director was Otis C. Guernsey, a respected reporter who was inspired by a true story during World War II when British Intelligence obtained a dead body, created a fictitious officer who was carrying secret papers and arranged for the body, carrying misleading papers, to be discovered by the Germans as a disinformation exercise ( Operation Mincemeat ). Guernsey turned his idea into a story about an American traveling salesman who travels to the Middle East and is mistaken for a fictitious agent, becoming `` saddled with a romantic and dangerous identity. '' Guernsey admitted that his treatment was full of `` corn '' and `` lacking logic. '' He urged Hitchcock to do what he liked with the story. Hitchcock bought the sixty pages for $10,000. Hitchcock often told journalists of an idea he had about Cary Grant hiding out from the villains inside Abraham Lincoln 's nose and being given away when he sneezes. He speculated that the film could be called `` The Man in Lincoln 's Nose '' ( Lehman 's version is that it was `` The Man on Lincoln 's Nose '' ) or even `` The Man who Sneezed in Lincoln 's Nose '', though he probably felt the latter was insulting to his adopted America. Hitchcock sat on the idea, waiting for the right screenwriter to develop it. At one stage `` The Man in Lincoln 's Nose '' was touted as a collaboration with John Michael Hayes. When Lehman came on board, the traveling salesman -- which had previously been suited to James Stewart -- was adapted to a Madison Avenue advertising executive, a position which Lehman had formerly held. In an interview in the book Screenwriters on Screenwriting ( 1995 ), Lehman stated that he had already written much of the screenplay before coming up with critical elements of the climax. This was the only Hitchcock film released by Metro - Goldwyn - Mayer. It is currently owned by Turner Entertainment -- since 1996 a division of Warner Bros. -- which owns the pre-1986 MGM film library. Production costs on North by Northwest were seriously escalated when a delay in filming put Cary Grant into the penalty phase of his contract, resulting in an additional $5,000 per day in fees for the actor, before shooting even began. Filming The United Nations Headquarters is the site of a scene in the film. At Hitchcock 's insistence, the film was made in Paramount 's VistaVision widescreen process, making it one of only two VistaVision films made at MGM ; the other was High Society. The scene of Cary Grant going to the United Nations in New York was filmed illicitly because UN authorities -- after reviewing the script -- denied filming on or near its property. After two failed attempts to get the required shots, Hitchcock had Grant pull up in taxicab right outside the general assembly building while a hidden camera crew filmed him exiting the vehicle and walking across the plaza. The car chase scene in which Thornhill is drunkenly careening along the edge of cliffs of Long Island, high above the ocean, was actually shot on the California coast, and in Griffith Park in Los Angeles, according to DVD audio commentary. The crop - duster sequence, meant to take place in northern Indiana, was shot on location on Garces Highway ( 155 ) near the towns of Wasco and Delano, north of Bakersfield in Kern County, California ( 35 ° 45 ′ 39 '' N 119 ° 33 ′ 41 '' W ﻿ / ﻿ 35.76083 ° N 119.56139 ° W ﻿ / 35.76083 ; - 119.56139 ). Years later, in a show at the Pompidou Centre called `` Hitchcock and Art : Fatal Coincidences '', an aerial shot of Grant in the cornfield, with a `` road cutting straight through the cornrows to the edge of the screen '', was said to draw on Léon Spilliaert 's `` Le Paquebot ou L'Estran '', which features `` alternating strips of sand and ocean blue bands stretch ( ed ) to the edge of the canvas. '' The aircraft seen flying in the scene is a Naval Aircraft Factory N3N Canary, better known as the `` Yellow Peril, '' a World War II Navy primary trainer sometimes converted for crop - dusting. The aircraft that hits the truck and explodes is a wartime Stearman ( Boeing Model 75 ) trainer. Like its N3N lookalike, many were used for agricultural purposes through the 1970s. The plane was piloted by Bob Coe, a local crop - duster from Wasco. Hitchcock placed replicas of square Indiana highway signs in the scene. In an extensive list of `` 1001 Greatest Movie Moments '' of all time, the British film magazine Empire in its August 2009 issue ranked the crop - duster scene as the best. Set design The house near the end of the film was not real. Hitchcock asked the set designers to make the set resemble a house by Frank Lloyd Wright, the most popular architect in America at the time, using the materials, form and interiors associated with him. The set was built in Culver City, California, where MGM 's studios were located. House exteriors were matte paintings. Costuming A panel of fashion experts convened by GQ in 2006 said the gray suit worn by Cary Grant throughout almost the entire film was the best suit in film history, and the most influential on men 's style, stating that it has since been copied for Tom Cruise 's character in Collateral and Ben Affleck 's character in Paycheck. This sentiment has been echoed by writer Todd McEwen, who called it `` gorgeous '', and wrote a short story `` Cary Grant 's Suit '' which recounts the film 's plot from the viewpoint of the suit. There is some disagreement as to who tailored the suit ; according to Vanity Fair magazine, it was Norton & Sons of London, although according to The Independent it was Quintino of Beverly Hills. Eva Marie Saint 's wardrobe for the film was originally entirely chosen by MGM. Hitchcock disliked MGM 's selections and the actress and director went to Bergdorf Goodman in New York to select what she would wear. Editing and post-production In François Truffaut 's book - length interview, Hitchcock / Truffaut ( 1967 ), Hitchcock said that MGM wanted North by Northwest cut by 15 minutes so the film 's length would run under two hours. Hitchcock had his agent check his contract, learned that he had absolute control over the final cut, and refused. One of Eva Marie Saint 's lines in the dining - car seduction scene was redubbed. She originally said `` I never make love on an empty stomach '', but it was changed in post-production to `` I never discuss love on an empty stomach '', as the censors considered the original version too risqué. Release The film opened in 1959 with a two - week run at Radio City Music Hall and the film had a successful gross of $404,056 for that period. One trailer for North by Northwest features Hitchcock presenting himself as the owner of Alfred Hitchcock Travel Agency and telling the viewer he has made a motion picture to advertise these wonderful vacation stops. Home media North by Northwest was released on the Blu - ray Disc format in the United States on November 3, 2009 by Warner Bros. with a 1080p VC - 1 encoding. This release is a special 50th - anniversary edition, restored and remastered from original VistaVision elements. A DVD edition was also released. Reception Box Office During its two - week run at Radio City Music Hall, the film grossed $404,056, setting a record in that theater 's non-holiday gross. According to MGM records the film earned $5,740,000 in the US and Canada and $4.1 million elsewhere, resulting in a profit of $837,000. Critical reception North by Northwest currently holds a 100 % approval rating on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, based on 64 reviews. The site states the critical consensus as, `` Gripping, suspenseful and visually iconic, this late - period Hitchcock classic laid the groundwork for countless action thrillers to follow. '' The film ranks at number 98 in Empire magazine 's list of the 500 Greatest Films of All Time. The Writers Guild of America ranked the screenplay No. 21 on its list of 101 Greatest Screenplays ever written. It is ranked the 40th - greatest American film by the American Film Institute. Time magazine called the film `` smoothly troweled and thoroughly entertaining. '' A.H. Weiler of The New York Times made it a `` Critic 's Pick '' and said it was the `` year 's most scenic, intriguing and merriest chase '' ; Weiler complimented the two leads : Cary Grant, a veteran member of the Hitchcock acting varsity, was never more at home than in this role of the advertising - man - on - the - lam. He handles the grimaces, the surprised look, the quick smile,... and all the derring - do with professional aplomb and grace, In casting Eva Marie Saint as his romantic vis - à - vis, Mr. Hitchcock has plumbed some talents not shown by the actress heretofore. Although she is seemingly a hard, designing type, she also emerges both the sweet heroine and a glamorous charmer. Film critic Charles Champlin saw the film as an `` anthology of typical Hitchcockian situations '', and was particularly taken by the scene and suspense in which Grant 's character avoids death when attacked by a crop - dusting plane in the cornfields, which he believed was representative of Hitchcock 's finest work. The London edition of Time Out magazine, reviewing the film nearly a half - century after its initial release, commented : Fifty years on, you could say that Hitchcock 's sleek, wry, paranoid thriller caught the zeitgeist perfectly : Cold War shadiness, secret agents of power, urbane modernism, the ant - like bustle of city life, and a hint of dread behind the sharp suits of affluence. Cary Grant 's Roger Thornhill, the film 's sharply dressed ad exec who is sucked into a vortex of mistaken identity, certainly would n't be out of place in Mad Men. But there 's nothing dated about this perfect storm of talent, from Hitchcock and Grant to writer Ernest Lehman ( Sweet Smell of Success ), co-stars James Mason and Eva Marie Saint, composer Bernard Herrmann and even designer Saul Bass, whose opening - credits sequence still manages to send a shiver down the spine. Author and journalist Nick Clooney praised Lehman 's original story and sophisticated dialogue, calling the film `` certainly Alfred Hitchcock 's most stylish thriller, if not his best ''. Awards reception North by Northwest was nominated for three Academy Awards -- for Best Film Editing ( George Tomasini ), Best Art Direction -- Set Decoration, Color ( William A. Horning, Robert F. Boyle, Merrill Pye, Henry Grace, Frank McKelvy ), and Best Original Screenplay ( Ernest Lehman ) -- at the 32nd Academy Awards ceremony. Two of the three awards went instead to Ben - Hur, and the other went to Pillow Talk. The film also won a 1960 Edgar Award for Best Motion Picture Screenplay, for Lehman. In 1995, North by Northwest was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the United States Library of Congress as being `` culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant. '' In June 2008, the American Film Institute revealed its `` 10 Top 10 '' -- the best ten films in ten `` classic '' American film genres -- after polling over 1,500 people from the creative community. North by Northwest was acknowledged as the seventh - best film in the mystery genre. It was also listed as No. 40 in AFI 's 100 Years... 100 Movies, No. 4 in AFI 's 100 Years... 100 Thrills, and No. 55 in AFI 's 100 Years... 100 Movies ( 10th Anniversary Edition ). Themes and motifs James Mason, Eva Marie Saint and Cary Grant at Mount Rushmore during filming. Studio mockups were intercut with actual monument footage for the climactic scene. Sign near Mt. Rushmore Hitchcock planned the film as a change of pace after his dark romantic thriller Vertigo a year earlier. In his book - length interview Hitchcock / Truffaut ( 1967 ) with François Truffaut, Hitchcock said that he wanted to do `` something fun, light - hearted, and generally free of the symbolism permeating his other movies. '' Writer Ernest Lehman has also mocked those who look for symbolism in the film. Despite its popular appeal, the film is considered to be a masterpiece for its themes of deception, mistaken identity, and moral relativism in the Cold War era. The title North by Northwest is a subject of debate. Many have seen it as having been taken from a line ( `` I am but mad north - north - west : when the wind is southerly I know a hawk from a handsaw '' ) in Hamlet, a work also concerned with the shifty nature of reality. Hitchcock noted, in an interview with Peter Bogdanovich in 1963, `` It 's a fantasy. The whole film is epitomized in the title -- there is no such thing as north - by - northwest on the compass. '' ( `` Northwest by north '', however, is one of 32 points of the compass. ) Lehman states that he used a working title for the film of `` In a Northwesterly Direction '', because the film 's action was to begin in New York and climax in Alaska. Then the head of the story department at MGM suggested `` North by Northwest '', but this was still to be a working title. Other titles were considered, including `` The Man on Lincoln 's Nose '', but `` North by Northwest '' was kept because, according to Lehman, `` We never did find a ( better ) title. '' The Northwest Airlines reference in the film plays on the title. The film 's plot involves a `` MacGuffin '', a term popularized by Hitchcock : a physical object that everyone in the film is chasing but which has no deep relationship to the plot. Late in North by Northwest, it emerges that the spies are attempting to smuggle microfilm containing government secrets out of the country. They have been trying to kill Thornhill, whom they believe to be the agent on their trail, ' George Kaplan '. North by Northwest has been referred to as `` the first James Bond film '' due to its similarities with splashily colorful settings, secret agents, and an elegant, daring, wisecracking leading man opposite a sinister yet strangely charming villain. The crop - duster scene inspired the helicopter chase in From Russia with Love. The film 's final shot -- that of the train speeding into a tunnel during a romantic embrace onboard -- is a famous bit of self - conscious Freudian symbolism reflecting Hitchcock 's mischievous sense of humor. In the book Hitchcock / Truffaut ( p. 107 -- 108 ), Hitchcock called it a `` phallic symbol... probably one of the most impudent shots I ever made. '' Influences The film 's title is reported to have been the influence for the name of the popular annual live - music festival South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, started in 1987, with the name idea coming from Louis Black, editor and co-founder of the local alternative weekly The Austin Chronicle, as a play on the Hitchcock film title. The third episode of the Doctor Who serial `` The Deadly Assassin '' includes an homage to North by Northwest, when the Doctor, who like Hitchcock 's hero is falsely accused of a politically motivated murder, is attacked by gunfire from a biplane piloted by one of his enemy 's henchmen. Adaptations North by Northwest was adapted as a stage play by Carolyn Burns. The adaptation premiered at the Melbourne Theatre Company in 2015. See also List of films considered the best List of films with a 100 % rating on Rotten Tomatoes, a film review aggregator website References ^ Jump up to : The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles : Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study. Jump up ^ `` North by Northwest ''. Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved April 24, 2016. Jump up ^ Jaynes, Barbara Grant ; Trachtenberg, Robert ( 2004 ). `` Cary Grant : A Class Apart ''. Burbank, California : Turner Classic Movies. Jump up ^ `` The Kinetic Typography Engine '' ( PDF ). Jump up ^ `` AFI 's 100 Years... 100 Movies ''. www.afi.com. Jump up ^ `` 100 Greatest Films ''. www.filmsite.org. Jump up ^ `` Top 100 Movies by Rank ''. www.films101.com. Jump up ^ See `` Malcolm Atterbury '' entry at Turner Classic Movies website : http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/6746%7C104140/Malcolm-Atterbury/. Jump up ^ See `` John Berardino '' entry at Turner Classic Movies website : http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/730781%7C85154/John-Berardino/filmography-with-synopsis.html. Jump up ^ `` Alfred Hitchcock 's Movie Cameos : North by Northwest ( 1959 ) ''. Empire magazine. Retrieved February 17, 2013. Jump up ^ Moore, Matthew ( August 15, 2008 ). `` Did Alfred Hitchcock make a secret cameo appearance in drag ? ''. The Daily Telegraph. Jump up ^ Spoto, Donald ( 1999 ). The Dark Side of Genius : The Life of Alfred Hitchcock. Da Capo. p. 405. ISBN 0 - 306 - 80932 - X. Jump up ^ John Brady, `` The craft of the screenwriter '', 1981. Page 202 ^ Jump up to : John Brady, `` The craft of the screenwriter '', 1981. Page 201 Jump up ^ Engel, Joel ( 1995 ). Screenwriters on Screen - Writing : The Best in the Business Discuss Their Craft. New York : Hyperion. ISBN 978 - 0786880577. Jump up ^ Spoto, Donald. The Dark Side of Genius : The Life of Alfred Hitchcock. p. 405. ISBN 0 - 316 - 80723 - 0 Jump up ^ Hart, Martin. `` The Development of VistaVision : Paramount Marches to a Different Drummer ''. The American WideScreen Museum. Retrieved December 4, 2012. Jump up ^ Coleman, Herbert ( 2007 ). The Man Who Knew Hitchcock : A Hollywood Memoir. Scarecrow Press. pp. 282 - 284. Jump up ^ `` North by Northwest Cropdusting scene ''. Google. August 29, 2009. Jump up ^ `` The Fine Art of Fear ''. Time. July 9, 2001. Retrieved 2012 - 02 - 19. Jump up ^ The Yellow Peril : N3N, Laverne Hoestenbach, `` The Dispatch '', Winter 1992 Jump up ^ The Bakersfield Californian, Wasco man had Hitchcock movie role, October 11, 2007 Archived January 13, 2009, at the Wayback Machine. Jump up ^ `` 1001 Greatest Movie Moments ''. Empire. London, England : 89 -- 113. The cropduster scene was ranked number one with a full - page explanation and stills from the movie. Jump up ^ `` People & Events : Mount Rushmore and Hitchcock 's North by Northwest ''. The American Experience. PBS. Retrieved December 4, 2012. Jump up ^ `` ALFRED HITCHCOCK 'S North by Northwest ( 1959 ; 136 mins. ) ''. Looking at Movies : An Introduction to Film. W.W, Norton. Archived from the original on February 17, 2010. Retrieved December 4, 2012. Jump up ^ `` Cary Grant 's gray suit tops movie clothing list. GQ rates the most chic men 's clothing on film ''. MSNBC. Reuters. October 16, 2006. Jump up ^ Cary Grant 's Suit, Todd McEwen, Granta, Summer 2006 Jump up ^ It 's the Hitch in Hitchcock, Jim Windolf, Vanity Fair, March 2008 Jump up ^ Fashion : Suits they are a-changin, Glenn Waldron, The Independent, January 28, 2008 Jump up ^ McGee, Scott ; Stafford, Jeff ; Thompson, Lang. `` Why North by Northwest Is Essential ''. Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved 2017 - 10 - 03. Jump up ^ Truffaut, François ( 1985 ). Hitchcock ( Revised Edition ). New York : Simon & Schuster. p. 251. ISBN 0 - 671 - 52601 - 4. Jump up ^ Roman, James ( 2009 ). Bigger than Blockbusters : Movies That Defined America. Westport, Connecticut : Greenwood. p. 93. ISBN 978 - 0 - 313 - 33995 - 0. ^ Jump up to : `` Box Office : For the Books ''. Time. August 31, 1959. Retrieved 2010 - 08 - 25. Manhattan 's Radio City Music Hall, riding the crest of the boom, reported its own record, a two - week non-holiday gross of $404,056, for Alfred Hitchcock 's North by Northwest, well over the total of runner - up High Society. Jump up ^ DVD Extras -- Original Trailer Jump up ^ `` Release date from IGN.com ''. Retrieved July 30, 2010. Jump up ^ Thill, Scott ( December 6, 2009 ). `` Blu - ray Disc and DVD details from Wired.com ''. Wired. Jump up ^ `` North by Northwest ''. Jump up ^ `` The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time ''. Empire. Archived from the original on August 17, 2011. Retrieved August 17, 2011. Jump up ^ Savage, Sophia ( February 27, 2013 ). `` WGA Lists Greatest Screenplays, From ' Casablanca ' and ' Godfather ' to ' Memento ' and ' Notorious ' ''. Retrieved February 28, 2013. Jump up ^ `` America 's Greatest movies '' ( PDF ). afi.com. American Film Institute. Jump up ^ `` Cinema : The New Pictures ''. Time. August 17, 1959. Retrieved 2010 - 08 - 25. Jump up ^ A.H. Weiler ( August 7, 1959 ). `` Hitchcock Takes Suspenseful Cook 's Tour : North by Northwest Opens at Music Hall ''. The New York Times. Retrieved 2010 - 08 - 25. Jump up ^ Deschner, Donald ( 1973 ). The Complete Films of Cary Grant. Citadel Press. pp. 22 -- 23. ISBN 0 - 8065 - 0376 - 9. Jump up ^ Dave Calhoun ( June 18 -- 24, 2008 ). `` North by Northwest ( 1959 ) ''. Time Out. Archived from the original on January 13, 2009. Retrieved 2010 - 08 - 25. Jump up ^ Clooney, Nick ( November 2002 ). The Movies That Changed Us : Reflections on the Screen. New York : Atria Books, a trademark of Simon & Schuster. p. 85. ISBN 0 - 7434 - 1043 - 2. Jump up ^ `` NY Times : North by Northwest ''. The New York Times. Retrieved 2008 - 12 - 23. Jump up ^ `` AFI 's 10 Top 10 ''. American Film Institute. June 17, 2008. Retrieved 2008 - 06 - 18. Jump up ^ Hitchcock was not above inserting a Freudian joke as the last shot ( which, notably, made it past contemporary censors ). Jump up ^ John Brady ( 1981 ). The craft of the screenwriter. p. 199 / 200. ISBN 0 - 671 - 25230 - 5. Jump up ^ Act II, Scene ii. Hamlet thus hints to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, his friends, that his madness is only an act to protect himself while he gathers information on his father 's murder. Jump up ^ Bogdanovich, Peter ( 1963 ), Peter Bogdanovich Interviews Alfred Hitchcock, archived from the original on September 20, 2013, retrieved August 26, 2013 Jump up ^ Patterson, John ( June 13, 2009 ). `` Hitching a ride with the Master of Suspense ''. The Guardian. Retrieved 2013 - 02 - 18. Jump up ^ Rubin, Steven Jay ( 1990 ). The James Bond Movie Encyclopedia. Contemporary Books, Inc. p. 309. ISBN 0 - 8092 - 3966 - 3. Jump up ^ SXSW stays course, continues growth, Alex Geiser, The Daily Texan, March 18, 2010 Archived April 13, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. Jump up ^ `` Doctor Who Classic Episode Guide -- The Deadly Assassin -- Details ''. BBC. Retrieved April 19, 2013. Jump up ^ Woodhead, Cameron ( June 5, 2015 ). `` North by Northwest review : Slick and entertaining adaptation of Hitchcock 's iconic film ''. The Age. Retrieved 2017 - 05 - 07. External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to North by Northwest ( 1959 film ). Wikiquote has quotations related to : North by Northwest North by Northwest at the American Film Institute Catalog North by Northwest on IMDb North by Northwest at Rotten Tomatoes North by Northwest at AllMovie North by Northwest at the TCM Movie Database Pauline Kael ( July 14, 1975 ). `` American Masters. Cary Grant ''. The New Yorker. p. 3. Archived from the original on May 25, 2005. Christopher D. Morris ( 1997 ). `` The Direction of North by Northwest ''. Cinema Journal. 36 : 43 -- 56. doi : 10.2307 / 1225612. JSTOR 1225612. Alfred Hitchcock Filmography Unproduced projects Themes and plot devices Cameos Awards and honors Feature films Silent films The Pleasure Garden ( 1925 ) The Mountain Eagle ( 1926 ) The Lodger : A Story of the London Fog ( 1927 ) The Ring ( 1927 ) Downhill ( 1927 ) The Farmer 's Wife ( 1928 ) Easy Virtue ( 1928 ) Champagne ( 1928 ) The Manxman ( 1929 ) British sound films Blackmail ( 1929 ) Juno and the Paycock ( 1930 ) Murder ! ( 1930 ) Elstree Calling ( 1930 ) The Skin Game ( 1931 ) Mary ( 1931 ) Rich and Strange ( 1931 ) Number Seventeen ( 1932 ) Waltzes from Vienna ( 1934 ) The Man Who Knew Too Much ( 1934 ) The 39 Steps ( 1935 ) Secret Agent ( 1936 ) Sabotage ( 1936 ) Young and Innocent ( 1937 ) The Lady Vanishes ( 1938 ) Jamaica Inn ( 1939 ) Hollywood and later Rebecca ( 1940 ) Foreign Correspondent ( 1940 ) Mr. & Mrs. Smith ( 1941 ) Suspicion ( 1941 ) Saboteur ( 1942 ) Shadow of a Doubt ( 1943 ) Lifeboat ( 1944 ) Spellbound ( 1945 ) Notorious ( 1946 ) The Paradine Case ( 1947 ) Rope ( 1948 ) Under Capricorn ( 1949 ) Stage Fright ( 1950 ) Strangers on a Train ( 1951 ) I Confess ( 1953 ) Dial M for Murder ( 1954 ) Rear Window ( 1954 ) To Catch a Thief ( 1955 ) The Trouble with Harry ( 1955 ) The Man Who Knew Too Much ( 1956 ) The Wrong Man ( 1956 ) Vertigo ( 1958 ) North by Northwest ( 1959 ) Psycho ( 1960 ) The Birds ( 1963 ) Marnie ( 1964 ) Torn Curtain ( 1966 ) Topaz ( 1969 ) Frenzy ( 1972 ) Family Plot ( 1976 ) Short films Always Tell Your Wife ( 1923 ) An Elastic Affair ( 1930 ) Aventure Malgache ( 1944 ) Bon Voyage ( 1944 ) The Fighting Generation ( 1944 ) Television Alfred Hitchcock Presents episodes List of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour episodes Alfred Hitchcock Presents ( 1985 TV series ) Related Hitchcockian Number 13 The Blackguard Lord Camber 's Ladies German Concentration Camps Factual Survey Alfred Hitchcock Edition Clue Alfred Hitchcock 's Mystery Magazine Alfred Hitchcock 's Anthology Three Investigators Transatlantic Pictures High Anxiety Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho Hitchcock The Girl Hitchcock / Truffaut film Family Alma Reville Pat Hitchcock Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=North_by_Northwest&oldid=851647951 '' Categories : 1959 films English - language films 1950s action films 1950s thriller films American action thriller films American adventure thriller films American films American chase films American road movies American spy films Cold War spy films Edgar Award - winning works Films scored by Bernard Herrmann Films directed by Alfred Hitchcock Films produced by Alfred Hitchcock Films set in Chicago Films set in Long Island Films set in New York City Films set in South Dakota Metro - Goldwyn - Mayer films Mystery thriller films Rail transport films United States National Film Registry films Films about the United Nations 1950s chase films Hidden categories : Webarchive template wayback links Use mdy dates from March 2018 All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from February 2014 Talk Contents About Wikipedia Wikiquote বাংলা Български Català Čeština Dansk Deutsch Eesti Ελληνικά Emiliàn e rumagnòl Español Esperanto Euskara فارسی Français 한국어 Hrvatski Bahasa Indonesia Íslenska Italiano עברית Latviešu Lëtzebuergesch Magyar Македонски Bahasa Melayu Nederlands 日本 語 Norsk Plattdüütsch Polski Português Română Русский Scots Simple English Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Suomi Svenska Türkçe Українська 中文 33 more Edit links This page was last edited on 23 July 2018, at 17 : 46 ( UTC ). 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Question: when was the movie north by northwest made
Answer: 1959