Many ways to enjoy

Rating: 9/10 (14 June 2013)

North By North West was made in 1959. You can enjoy it many ways. Let me enumerate: 1. It a predecessor to the James bond films with oily villains with interesting accents, and questionable sexuality out to kill in imaginative ways, always toying with their victims rather that simply shooting them outright. Cary Grant plays a character who likes brave clever repartee with his captors, though he has none of Bond's lethality, just his confidence.
2. it is a love story, with lots of clever repartee.
3. it is a comedy. Grant's cleverness and unrestrained originality at getting out of scrapes is amusing as is the existential strangeness of the predicaments.
4. It is a period drama. It was filmed in 1959 with a cast of tens of thousands, all in accurate 1959 period costumes, and accurate period cars, in accurate period hotels, restaurants, streets and taxis. All this was much cheaper to do then. It is a treat for the eye.
5. It is an adventure story with a car chase, explosions and the famous crop dusting scene, but because the special effects are somewhat dated, this aspect would not have the punch it would originally.
6. It is a mystery with all manner twists and terms making you guess who is working for whom. It would probably take at least three viewings to begin to figure out the motives for each character at each point in the film.
It is an oldie but goodie.