doesn't entirely hold up today.....

Rating: 9/10 (22 June 2002)

Most of this film holds up entirely well by today's standards. There is excellent suspense and some extremely memorable scenes, specifically the one of the plane chasing Cary Grant. The only real problem with the movie is the famous Mount Rushmore sequence. Most of the time Hitchcock never relied on special effects to create suspense, and it doesn't stand the test of time here. We've been treated to some amazing looking things as of late, and its hard to believe that the characters are in any real danger while they are supposedly on the face(no pun intended)of the mountain. Its a shame, because up until that point the film was perfect. Cary Grant plays his part well, a very suave man, and his usual fast talking self. Eva Marie Saint is a great partner for Grant. Of Grant's Hitchcock movies (including 'Notorious' and 'To Catch a Thief') I feel that this was the best chemistry he had with the lead actress, and I mean no disrespect to Ingrid Bergman or Grace Kelly, who are both brilliant. Hitchcock's direction is superb, which should come as no surprise. The beauty of this film is that it is Hitchcock on autopilot. 'Vertigo', made the year before this film, was a movie that you really had to pay attention to to get all the details. It's nice to see that he made complex movies as well as great suspense movies that are extremely well paced and very entertaining. It was what Hitch liked the best I think, a wrongly accused man involved in an international plot he knows nothing about. Would have been perfect if not for the Mount Rushmore scene. 9.5 out of 10.