"I didn't realize you were an art collector. I thought you just collected corpses."

North By Northwest
1959; USA; 136 mins.

Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Screenplay: Ernest Lehman
Music: Bernard Herrmann


(A Shorter Version of) The Cast
Cary Grant - Richard Thornhill
Eva Marie Saint - Eve Kendall
James Mason - Philip Vandamm
Jessie Royce Landis - Clara Thornhill

Currently in class, we have been watching Alfred Hitchcock's "North by Northwest," a film about Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant), an advertising businessman, who becomes engulfed in a world of police chases, murders, and mistaken identities. I haven't finished watching the last segment of the film, but so far, it's an intriguingly genius plot. A huge part of the success of the film's plot is not only the witty writing, especially between the coquettish Eve Kendall (Eva Marie Saint) and her sexual prey, Roger Thornhill, but also the directing by Hitchcock. He really knows how to craft "psychological terror" scenes, and by doing so, he makes the film enjoyable. My movie taste has previously not been extremely varied - I'm definitely one for romantic comedies. I'm hoping to get exposure to new genres that I wouldn't usually watch. While this movie does have moments of comedy and romance, the action and drama is certainly very thrilling. I thought a good way to start my first film post would be to a visual image that really struck me in the film (everyone likes pictures, right?):

"The Crop-Dusting Scene"

This scene occurs when Thornhill is sent by Eve Kendall to meet up with George Kaplan. Since I don't want to give too much away about the plot, I'll tell you about the cinematography during this scene. Hitchcock uses mostly long shots of the barren land to demonstrate just how alone Roger is during his quest for Kaplan. The area around Roger is eerily quiet, which is demonstrative of Hitchcock's nature to put make his audiencce uncomfortable and scared. Hitchcock also uses close up shots of Roger to portray how fearful he is while he is being chased by the crop-dusting plane. This scene is extremely suspenseful and shot impeccably. The sound in the scene is limited to that of the plane and other noises that one would encounter in nature. This scene is one of the most famous in American film, and rightfully so - it is wonderfully constructed.

"North by Northwest" is a fabulous story of Roger Thornhill's trek Northwest (coincidence? I think NOT) across the United States. One of my favorite aspects of the film is how it truly gives you a feel for that particular era in the past. I'm looking forward to seeing the ending of the film!

iRate (so far): 4.5/5 mistaken identities

Trailer: http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/35655/North-By-Northwest/trailers

*NOTE: My rating system is from 1 to 5, with 1 signifying an awful film, and 5 meaning an amazing film. I will be using different objects that relate to the film instead of the typical "star" ratings (hence, the "4.5/5 mistaken identities").