NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959) - 18/10/2019

Rating: 8/10 (10 March 2020)

I don't know if the film is busy enough to be a real wild ride, but for its time, and even now, it really is really fun, and while you shouldn't really expect the dramatic weight found in many of Hitchcock's other thrillers, style, intrigue and entertainment value converge tightly enough to make this one of, if not the legendary filmmaker's crowning achievement. When the run is done, the final product goes worn down by dramatic limitations, as well as tonal unevenness, believability lapses and, of course, an overblown structure, but through excellent score work by Bernard Herrmann, sharp cinematography by Robert Burks, thoroughly clever writing by Ernest Lehman, an electrically charismatic lead performance by Cary Grant, and a lively directorial performance by Alfred Hitchcock, all behind a grandly adventurous and intriguing story concept, "North by Northwest" stands strong as a thoroughly entertaining affair that may be Hitchcock's most realized classic.

Mitchell Bulfin