THE master director's master-work

Rating: 10/10 (7 February 2016)

Alfred Hitchcock was, in my opinion, the greatest director of all time and this is my favorite of all of his films. It's hard to argue against anyone who wants to claim either "Vertigo," "Rear Window," "Psycho," "Rebecca," "Strangers on a Train" or "Foreign Correspondent" as their favorite, but for sheer escapist entertainment, this film is hard to beat. It is the perfect example of the director's favorite plot - that of an innocent man wrongly accused who seems to dig himself into a deeper hole when he desperately tries to exonerate himself. The film has everything - mystery, suspense, adventure, international intrigue, romance and comedy.
In their fourth film together, Cary Grant perfectly exemplifies why he was one of Hitchcock's favorite leading men. He is wonderful in the role and is at times funny (his drunken scenes and the scenes with his mother at the beginning of the film are as hilarious as any scenes in a screwball comedy), romantic (sparks fly in his scenes with Eva Marie Saint) and a man of action (this film, along with "Notorious," To Catch a Thief" and Stanley Donens's "Charade" demonstrate why he would've made a great James Bond).
The supporting cast is wonderful, with Eva Marie Saint excellent and alluring as the femme fa-tale, if you will. Her sexual innuendo with Grant practically melts the celluloid. James Mason and Martin Landau make great villains, with Mason's smooth urbanity masking his devious nature. Leo G. Carroll (another of the director's favorites) is good as the officious government agent and Jessie Royce Landis is a howl as Grant's archly disapproving mother.
Ernest Lehman's script is witty and clever with crackling dialogue and Bernard Herrmann's score is among his best. They both add so much to the excitement of the film. The art direction-set decoration is also exemplary, with a mock Mt. Rushmore set built inside the studio.
Many scenes in the film are memorable, including Grant's drunken arrest, the killing at the United Nations, the iconic chase scene with the crop dusting plane in the cornfield (check out the brilliant editing here) and, of course, the literal cliffhanger atop Mt. Rushmore.
It all adds up to being one of the director's most enjoyable and fun films. It's also amusing to try and figure out why Hitch considered this his most "pornographic" film. (hint - it has to do with the film's final scene).