a big collection of classic Hitchcock sequences, strung together by red herrings, plus Cary Grant

Rating: 10/10 (24 February 2007)

Although I wouldn't rank North by Northwest in the highest pantheon of Hitchcock's masterpieces- it won't ever get as deep or revelatory or demanding of repeat viewings as Psycho or Vertigo or Rope- it's got enough crackling, dry-sharp wit and incorrigible suspense sequences for an excellent time. One can tell that Hitchcock might be reaching at times to get commercial appeal, even more than usual with his films of the 50s (and after Vertigo and before Psycho, he's trying to make up for what he thought of as lost ground at the box office frankly). But it's all the same a ballsy commercial entertainment that still hails high above the ranks of today's proficient but soulless demonstrations of panache with archetypal heroes and villains in double-cross moves.
Thornhill (Cary Grant) is an advertising man who gets the typical-Hitchcock 'wrong-man' scenario, and as typical too involving a) spies, b) government espionage with the all-popular 'MacGuffin', and c) a blonde leading lady with her own issues to deal with in the middle of the men. The villains in this case are the very calm and collected James Mason and his leering henchman Martin Landau, as a quasi-chase develops across the country all over George Kaplan- who, by the way, doesn't really exist.
The plot, to be sure, is cobbled together under Ernest Lehman's attempts to put together something that Hitchcock would respond to and, more crucially, afford him his two favorite pastimes: first is the witty, very knowing, practically self-conscious dialog meant exclusively to lighten potentially clichéd territory and give grins to others; the scenes with Grant and Saint in the train car, trading off innuendo, is one scene that over-steps the problematic territory, in general their chemistry is elevated thanks to Lehamn's snappy, amusing words. There's even a great bit provided by Thornhill's mother, played by Jessie Royce Landis, as one of Hitchcock's older who smirk things like "You gentlemen aren't REALLY trying to kill my son, are you?"
The other pastime are absurd but completely wonderful sequences where a character or characters get pitted against larger-than-life odds. The hallmark crop-duster scene was the one I had seen even before the whole film, in a class where the sequence was broken down; this, along with Psycho's shower scene, make up some of the most accomplished executions of storyboarding, and how timing and details of the figures in a shot, and the intensity or lack thereof, that Hitchcock's ever done. The Mount Rushmore climax- save for what happens to Grant and Saint following the cliffhanger moment, which is my least favorite part of the movie- is also stellar, including what precedes it in the hideout.
North by Northwest is essential viewing, but is it really a completely devastating triumph like Hitchcock at the peak of his powers? Not exactly, as there's some moments where it feels like Hitchcock on auto-pilot with some of the twists and preposterous turns, and he's really more into his suspense scenes and getting Grant perfect in these scenes more than anything else. There's also not much depth to the whole process, yet that's part of its appeal as a yarn of an adventure story. But as a suspense-comedy, it's a work of big-studio success, as Grant comes off on note in every scene he's in, and helps make even the smaller, supporting actors seem important in the grand scheme of the story. In a way it's a great Hitchcock film in the sense that you can just curb the usual logic at the door and just hop along for the ride, and it's in this that North by Northwest should always be remembered (alongside the Bernard Herrmann score, one of his best).