A Real Crowd Pleaser

Rating: 9/10 (21 August 2010)

"North By Northwest" is an exceptionally entertaining spy thriller with something for everyone. Its heady mixture of suspense, romance, humour and intrigue make it a real crowd pleaser and its action sequences are delivered at an exhilarating pace. The wonderful locations chosen for many of the scenes are stunning and add enormously to the visual impact of the whole movie and the original screenplay by Ernest Lehman is sophisticated and witty and contains numerous quotable lines.
This is a movie which undoubtedly appeals to a broader section of the public than any of Alfred Hitchcock's other offerings and also features one of his favourite themes i.e. a man who's falsely accused of something and then finds that his life descends into chaos as a consequence. Its story of mistaken and shifting identities is particularly engaging to audiences as it depicts how an ordinary man copes in a number of extraordinary circumstances and how he manages in a number of very dangerous predicaments from which there often appears to be no way out.
Cary Grant is superb as the suave, fast talking Roger Thornhill who's kidnapped, jailed, framed for murder and made the victim of a number of attempts on his life. His skills are so versatile that he's equally convincing whether he's involved in a dramatic scene, an action sequence, a comic episode or even the type of risquÃ© dialogue that he indulges in with Eva Marie Saint's character.
Eve Kendall (Eva Marie Saint) is an elegant looking woman who makes both Roger and Vandamm (James Mason) very suspicious of her and also on some occasions finds herself in extreme danger. Eva Marie Saint projects Eve's mixture of mystery, humour and vulnerability in precisely the right measure for each situation and in so doing provides a very creditable performance. James Mason is also great as the cultured but utterly ruthless Vandamm who has a marvellous capacity for remaining completely unruffled at all times.
The opening title sequence by Saul Bass is strikingly original and makes a great impact as does the use of the various high profile locations (e.g. the United Nations HQ, the Plaza Hotel in New York, Grand Central Station and Mount Rushmore) which contribute so strongly to making certain parts of the movie so memorable and so enjoyable.