climb The 39 Steps, meet The Man Who Knew Too Much....

Rating: 10/10 (5 March 2005)

Endlessly entertaining and almost perfectly created in its Hollywood way NBNW is as smooth, sly and 'beautifully 50s' as a romantic thriller can be. I urge readers to get the sensational DVD recently released, it is fish tank clear and almost 3D visually. Also released in stores now is a superb "Bernard Hermann Plays Hitchcock" CD on the market which has 'The North By NorthWest Symphony". This music track when played LOUD when you are by yourself at home allows you to 'do a Risky Business' and whilst wearing your underpants like Tom Cruise, throw yourself about the lounge room conducting the orchestra. Make sure nobody can see you! Hermann's score is possibly one of the top three for a glossy thriller. However, some parts of can be heard previously in the 1952 RKO thriller ON DANGEROUS GROUND, as can bits used from that film later in TAXI DRIVER. Everyone has their person favorite Hitchcock thrillers and mine certainly those from the 50s like THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH and VERTIGO as well as NBNW. Finally, after 228 comments for this film, why are people telling the story of this film as their comment? If I read one more entry that states; Cary Grant plays Roger Thornhill, an advertising executive who..." I will scream again. It says COMMENT not SYNOPSIS. People do the same thing for SINGIN IN THE RAIN and GONE WITH THE WIND too! As if nobody knows what these films are about already! Yeesh.