A magnificent Hitchcock thriller with impressive set pieces and strong cast

Rating: 10/10 (10 November 2000)

Director Alfred Hitchcock made many first rate films during his long career both in England and in Hollywood and with "North by Northwest" reached the top of his form with an original story written specially for the screen by Ernest Lehman and a perfect cast including several Hitchcock regulars. The dramatic music by Bernard Herrmann greatly added to my overall enjoyment of the film. This is a fast moving witty thriller in magnificent Technicolor with Cary Grant as Roger O. Thornhill giving the performance of a lifetime. Grant is mistaken for government agent George Kaplan and is thrust into one life threatening situation after another on the run from both the police and the bad guys! It's a roller coaster ride of thrills, suspense, comedy and romance skilfully put together with the expert Hitchcock touch. There are some spectacular set pieces in unusual locations such as the United Nations Building, New York's Grand Central Station, Mount Rushmore and who can forget the famous crop dusting sequence at Prairie Stop on deserted Highway 41. Cary Grant wears the same suit throughout the film but stil manages to look as elegant as ever despite the many tricky and dangerous situations he finds himself in! James Mason has never been better as the sinister Phillip Vandamm intent on eliminating Cary with the help of his two menacing associates Adam Williams and Robert Ellestein who played their villainous parts very convincingly. Eva Marie Saint was the usual Hitchcock ice cool blonde heroine while Jessie Royce Landis was excellent as Cary Grant's mother although in reality she was only a few months older than Grant! (They were both born in 1904). This actress was also with Cary Grant in another Hitchcock film "to Catch a Thief" in which she played Grace Kelly's mother. Martin Landau was impressive in his first screen role as the vicious Leonard trying to get rid of Cary at every opportunity! Veteran actor Leo G. Carroll was making his sixth appearance in a Hitchcock film as the CIA/FBI Agent known only as the "Professor". One of my favourite actresses Doreen Lang had the small part of Grant's secretary Maggie and can also be seen in other Hitchcock films such as "The Wrong Man" and "The Birds". Surprisingly, "North by Northwest" did not win any Oscars and Hitchcock, Cary Grant and the film itself were not even nominated which in retrospect was a regrettable oversight. It was unfortunate that this was the year when "Ben Hur" scooped the awards and won an amazing total of 11 Oscars. The films nominated for Best Picture that year were "Ben Hur" (the winner), "Anatomy of a Murder", "Diary of Anne Frank", "The Nun's Story" and "Room at the Top". Looking at these titles today it is unbelievable to me that "North by Northwest" could not have been included in the nominations. The best actor Oscar went to Charlton Heston for "Ben Hur" and the other nominees were Laurence Harvey ("Room at the Top"), Jack Lemmon ("Some Like It Hot"), Paul Muni ("The Last Angry Man"), and James Stewart ("Anatomy of a Murder"). Ernest Lehman's Oscar nominated story and screenplay was full of gems including Jessie Royce Landis asking the would-be assassins: "You gentlemen aren't really trying to kill my son are you?". And Grant to Leo G. Carroll: "I'm an advertising man, not a red herring! I've got a job, a secretary, a mother, two ex wives and several bartenders dependent upon me and I don't intend to disappoint them all by getting myself slightly killed!". A Hitchcock masterpiece. 10/10. Not to be missed. Clive Roberts.