A Timeless Adventure That Still Feels Fresh, Open and Exhilarating

Rating: 9/10 (27 August 2012)

Hitchcock's suspenseful mistaken-identity classic remains daring, original and vibrant enough to hang with the big boys of the modern age. Cary Grant may have been a few years too old for this leading role, but the fast-paced, ever-intensifying script that envelopes him never gives us the chance to sit and stew on it. The concept that powers the whole bag is astonishingly simple, and once it's knocked out of the way in the first act, the picture is then perfectly happy to gradually up the stakes and riff on the premise for the rest of its allotted time. It's a testament to the creativity of the filmmakers that it still feels so fresh and untainted today, in the era of the derivative knock-off, with only a few dated automobiles and touches of public etiquette reminding us it's actually closing in on sixty years of age. Classic, timeless action / adventure / suspense.