NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959, USA, 136m, PG) *****
Action, Adventure, Crime, Mystery, Thriller
dist. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM); pr co. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM); d. Alfred Hitchcock; w. Ernest Lehman; pr. Alfred Hitchcock (uncredited); ph. Robert Burks (Technicolor | 1.66:1 (Eurpoe); 1.85:1 (USA)); m. Bernard Herrmann; ed. George Tomasini; pd. Robert F. Boyle; ad. William A. Horning, Merrill Pye.
cast: Cary Grant (Roger Thornhill), Eva Marie Saint (Eve Kendall), James Mason (Phillip Vandamm), Jessie Royce Landis (Clara Thornhill), Leo G. Carroll (The Professor), Josephine Hutchinson (Mrs. Townsend), Philip Ober (Lester Townsend), Martin Landau (Leonard), Adam Williams (Valerian), Edward Platt (Victor Larrabee), Robert Ellenstein (Licht), Les Tremayne (Auctioneer), Philip Coolidge (Dr. Cross), Patrick McVey (Sergeant Flamm), Edward Binns (Captain Junket), Ken Lynch (Charley).
Quintessential Hitchcock mixing thrills, humour and intrigue. New York City ad executive Roger O. Thornhill (Grant) is pursued by ruthless spy Phillip Vandamm (Mason) after Thornhill is mistaken for a government agent. Hunted relentlessly by Vandamm’s associates, the harried Thornhill ends up on a cross-country journey, meeting the beautiful and mysterious Eve Kendall (Saint) along the way. Soon Vandamm’s henchmen begin to close in on Thornhill. Supreme cinematic entertainment is full of invention and memorable set-pieces, including the iconic crop duster sequence and the tense finale on Mount Rushmore. Grant is perfect as the flippant and hapless stooge. The rest of the cast is note-perfect from the allure of Saint to the charm and menace of Mason. Landis too is a delight as Grant’s disapproving mother. All this is dramatically underpinned by Herrmann’s urgent score to make this an enduring masterpiece.
AAN: Best Writing, Story and Screenplay – Written Directly for the Screen (Ernest Lehman); Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color (William A. Horning, Robert F. Boyle, Merrill Pye, Henry Grace, Frank R. McKelvy); Best Film Editing (George Tomasini).
