Better than most, but not Hitchcock's best

Rating: 9/10 (21 April 2001)

This is acclaimed by many as one of Hitchcock's best films, but it is also known as one of his biggest blunders. It is generally agreed that `The Master of Suspense' stumbled badly by revealing the identity of George Kaplan early in the film, in the scene where the CIA members discuss what to do about Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant).
Thornhill is a heady advertising executive who is abducted at gunpoint and taken to a man named Vandamm (James Mason) who asks him cryptic questions and keeps calling him George Kaplan. Thornhill responds that he doesn't know George Kaplan and that they are confusing him with someone else. Through this entire sequence, we are never sure whether he is Thornhill or Kaplan. The film would have been far more intriguing if this were left a mystery until the end, rather than having it cleared up twenty minutes into the plot.
It is thought that Hitchcock believed that the introduction of Eve Kendall (Eva Marie Saint) would replace one mystery with an even better one. However, Eve's motivations are too transparent and even of the dullest of viewers can discern that their meeting on the train is no chance encounter. Eve is far too forward and obvious, especially for the 1950's. It is hard to believe there is anyone who wouldn't be a tad suspicious at her behavior. Though we are left with more than a few questions about Eve after the love scene, imagine how wonderfully confused we would have been if Kaplan's identity weren't revealed so early in the film. We would know only what Thornhill knew about why he was being pursued and seduced, which is next to nothing.
Despite these flaws, the film is still intriguing, with a number of unpredictable twists. The second half of the film is much tighter, and the chase scene on the face of Mount Rushmore is one the classic suspense scenes in the history of film. Hitchcock tried to get permission to shoot the scene on the real Rushmore, but he was refused. Not to be deterred, he had his own Mount Rushmore set built that was indistinguishable from the original earning an Oscar nomination for set decoration.
The acting is excellent. Cary Grant is at his debonair best as the acerbic ad executive who is beguiled by Eve's beauty and charm. Eva Marie Saint is best known for her movie debut as Edie in `On The Waterfront', but she is every bit as good in this film. Hers is a very complex character, duplicitous and devious, yet vulnerable and torn, and she handles it with facility. James Mason is enigmatic and elusive as VanDamm and a youthful Martin Landau does a nice job as VanDamm's tough lieutenant.
I enjoyed this film, but I don't believe it attains the level of excellence of Hitchcock's other renowned films (`Psycho', `Vertigo' and `Rear Window'). I rated it 9/10 with a point deducted for blowing the Kaplan question. Even so, a bad day for Hitchcock is like the best day for most directors.