I’ve always considered Alfred Hitchcock one of the greatest directors in the history of cinema. As such, I find it impossible to say which of his more the fifty films is the best. However, I can say that 1959’s North by Northwest ranks somewhere near the top. Both entertaining and suspenseful, the film marked Hitchcock’s fourth and final pairing with his favorite actor, Cary Grant. In the included audio commentary, screenwriter Ernest Lehman says, he “wanted to write the Hitchcock picture to end all Hitchcock pictures.” Fans can debate whether Lehman’s script is the best of all Hitchcock’s films, but few will deny he wrote a great one; the script moves Cary Grant’s character from one dangerous situation to another, all the while the dialogue is sharp, the action superb and the cast is excellent.
Roger O. Thornhill (Grant) is a Madison Avenue advertising executive who, on a typically busy day, is understandably surprised and confused when he’s abducted at gunpoint by a pair of mysterious strangers (Adam Williams & Robert Ellenstein). He’s taken to a beautiful Long Island estate where a sleek, smooth man, Vandamm (James Mason) refers to Roger as George Kaplan.
When Thornhill repeatedly denies he is Kaplan, the two thugs and a quieter fellow who’s at the house (Martin Landau), pour an entire bottle of liquor down his throat and put him in a sports car, intending to dump him off a cliff side road. However, after a car chase on a perilous road, he manages to rear-end a police patrol car and get apprehended. He is charged with drunken driving. No one, not even his mother (Jessie Royce Landis, who was a year older than Grant), buys his story about being kidnapped. Roger can’t catch a break—next thing he knows he’s being framed for murder and must go on the lam—which puts him into contact with the requisite Hitchcock Blonde, in this case Eva Marie Saint.
At the same time, we learn Vandamm is a spy, we also find out there is no George Kaplan. The Professor (Leo G. Carroll) and his agents, all working for an unidentified American spy organization, have led Vandamm to think Kaplan is real to distract him from the real agent in his midst. Thornhill has simply been a victim of this carefully constructed plot.
Some movies are referred to as classics and we’re hard pressed to know why; others get the label because there the first of their kind; then there’s a movie like North by Northwest—watch it once and you understand why it’s a classic—it’s a story that has it all. Humor, action, suspense, and a gorgeous blonde; Top it off with the iconic crop-dusting scene, and you have an undeniable classic.
Originally photographed on 35mm film in the VistaVision process, North by Northwest is presented in the 1.85:1 aspect ratio. Warner Brothers 4K release presents the film looking better than it ever has. From the opening titles, you’ll notice incredibly sharp detail without the use of any filters. Robert Burks excellent cinematography looks brilliant throughout. The detail is astounding; you can see strands of gray hair on the sides of Cary Grant’s head, I could even see that his nails were perfectly manicured when he put his hands around Eva Maria Saint’s back to kiss her. You will notice small details you’ve likely never seen before, even if you’ve seen North by Northwest more than a dozen times, as I have. There is also a pleasant level of grain that gives the transfer a true filmic look.
Colors pop like never before. Blacks are inky throughout. Contrast is excellent, offering inky blacks, whites that never bloom and strong shadow detail. There are no scratches, dirt, or other anomalies.
The audio is presented in a new Dolby Atmos. While North by Northwest offers a decidedly subtle construction, Bernard Herrmann’s score sounds better than ever. Enveloping throughout, you’ll feel like you’re in the middle of the action. Dialogue is delivered primarily through the center channel, with some presence in the right and front channels. The sound effects—the rolling of the train, the crop duster, the shooting in the cafeteria etc.—also have newfound life.
English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles are included:
- Screenwriter Audio Commentary: Ernest Lehman offers some interesting thoughts, but there are several silences and occasions where he says, “I don’t know why Hitchcock did that.”
- NEW! North by Northwest: Cinematography, Score, and the Art of the Edit – Film historians Jonathan Kuntz and Julie Kirgo, film critic Pete Hammond, film scholar Richard Edwards, and author Steven C. Smith, and others, discuss the technical merits of North by Northwest.
- Destination Hitchcock: The Making of North by Northwest – Standard making of, that was filmed in 2000.
- The Master’s Touch: Hitchcock’s Signature Style – A look at the director and his method of filmmaking. This includes interviews Martin Scorseese, John Carpenter, Guillermo del Toro and various others.
- North by Northwest: One for the Ages – Features interviews with most of the same screenwriters and directors from the previously mentioned documentary.
- A Guided Tour with Alfred Hitchcock – The director offers a tongue-in-cheek overview of the film. This was presented as a travel promotion for the movie’s locations.
