If anyone ever tries to tell you that they didn’t make exciting and fun movies in the 1950s, North by Northwest should be your exhibit ‘A’ in countering such a dopey claim. Here’s a film from the ‘50s that’s exciting. It’s fun. It’s smart. It’s even sexy. Add all this together, and you have a truly enjoyable film – one of the all-time greats and one of those rare films you can watch over and over again without getting bored.
Cary Grant plays Roger Thornhill, a sophisticated version of Alfred Hitchcock’s staple – the average guy in trouble. Eva Marie Saint plays another Hitchcock regular – the beautiful woman, Eve Kendall. James Mason is the villain, Phillip Vandamm. This might all seem like a formula, and to some extent it is, but it’s one that worked for Hitchcock and continues to work for audiences of his memorable films.
What makes the Hitchcock formula especially interesting in North by Northwest is that the beautiful woman is strong, smart and unpredictable. And the entire film is a roller coaster ride of action from New York to Chicago to the top of Mount Rushmore.
It all starts with a case of mistaken identity, and once poor Roger figures this out, he’s already in big trouble – chased by cops and gangsters across the eastern half of the United States. He’s chased on trains, he’s chased by planes, and he’s chased on foot. And worst of all, Roger can’t tell who’s on his side and who’s the enemy.
This great action film features some of American cinema’s most memorable scenes – the crime at the U.N., Thornhill’s brush with a crop-duster, and the climactic struggle on Mount Rushmore. These are brilliantly realized, often belying the limitations of 1950s filmmaking technology.
Grant is priceless as the New York sophisticate who tries hard to remain unruffled despite the craziest of situations. His combination of cool, humour and the ability to handle the film’s action is perfect. Eva Marie Saint is cool and mysterious as the woman Thornhill has so much trouble figuring out – her performance confirmed what some people already knew after her success in On the Waterfront five years earlier – she’s a strong leading woman. And James Mason is appropriately menacing yet restrained as the leader of an international gangster operation. He’s a cultured thug who doesn’t need to show his violent side all the time. The supporting cast is also strong. Martin Landau is spooky as Vandamm’s right hand man, while Jessie Royce Landis is hilarious as Thornhill’s mother.
North by Northwest works because the action never stops and it doesn’t take itself too seriously. Hitchcock’s practice of meticulously planning out every scene long in advance pays off big-time here, as the pieces of this large and colourful puzzle come together brilliantly. This isn’t one of Hitchcock’s deeper films, but it’s certainly one of his most entertaining.
