Review of North by Northwest (1959) by Harry W — 22 Feb 2015

Considered by many to be Alfred Hitchcock's ultimate masterpiece, North by Northwest sounded like an exciting thriller.

The spy thriller genre is one which has evoked mixed feelings for me in the way that Alfred Hitchcock has handled it, mainly because his political thriller Torn Curtain and espionage thriller Topaz failed to really make an impact on me. I expected a bit of that to happen in North by Northwest, but the overwhelming critical acclaim for the film set it up to be a high quality feature. And although I couldn't set my standards too high, I just knew that it would be difficult to walk away from North by Northwest having not embraced the film for its Hitchcockian elements.

By comparison to Torn Curtain and Topaz, North by Northwest is far better as a spy themed thriller. While the thrills in the film are mostly as subtle, there are some more intense scenes such as the iconic one depicting protagonist Roger Thornhill is pursued by a cropduster. This is the most memorable moment of the film, and the large scale reality of the stunt makes it one of the most memorable things that Alfred Hitchcock has ever filmed. But even then, North by Northwest maintains a small scale. The thrills in the film are based on subtle politics, but the dialogue is so engaging that it captures the premise extremely well. It may be slow and long, but the pace is expected of an Alfred Hitchcock film due to the fact that his features tend to use this to build up a tense atmosphere before unleashing it on the audience. In north by Northwest, he does just that, and he does it with a very interesting story.

The premise in North by Northwest is a very character driven one, but at the same time it has a much larger scale at heart regarding conspiracies and identity. The journey in the film goes across America without going too far, and so it feels like a very serious and complicated story. Yet it is not difficult to keep up with. Unlike in Alfred Hitchcock's later spy thrillers, North by Northwest has dialogue which is intelligent and a clever premise which is easy to keep up with and not weighed down by an abundance of boring and confusing dialogue. The dialogue in North by Northwest is always key and never overdone, but it is Alfred Hitchcock that really brings it to life.

Easily capturing the intended legitimacy of the setting in North by Northwest, Alfred Hitchcock uses as strong production design and powerful scenery to establish the setting of the tale. With the use of Mount Rushmore and empty fields among other places as the basis for the story, there is a lot of effective imagery in the film. It is all captured with perfectly atmospheric cinematography which is able to capture the intricate nature of the more intense scenes as well as the larger scale of some of the more open settings. There are some creative styles used, and a lot of the time viewers are given the perspective of the protagonist so that it feels all the more realistic. Frankly, for one of his more larger scale stories, Alfred Hitchcock proves that he still has no problem depicting how much of a brilliant filmmaker he is and that he is easily able to take on a challenge. Not a stranger to manipulating his low budget, Alfred Hitchcock manages to take a small amount of money a long way in North by Northwest. It is a low budget film, and it cleverly works around that by relying more on a good screenplay which cleverly makes use of its settings and not demanding it to be a spectacle first, but actually just a good thriller first.

The music in North by Northwest is excellent. With Bernard Herrmann once again teaming up with Alfred Hitchcock, he is able to deliver his best. The music in the film is intense in an eerie sense, but it also has a good sense of energy to it so that it is not too subtle. The music is key to the atmosphere in North by Northwest, and it is also moderated very well over the course of the film so that the majority of the feature uses silence while the music only comes along when it is an absolute necessity. It is unforgettable work, and it is edited into the feature extremely well.

And to ensure that the North by Northwest has a sense of character, Cary Grant gives it his all.

Cary Grant delives an incredibly dedicated performance in North by Northwest. Never stepping out of his role for a second, Cary Grant puts his natural sense of sophisticated charm into his role which makes him a likable character, and as the story progresses he finds a way to develop himself really well. While the charm and emotion is always in his line delivery, the more impressive aspects of his performance fall into the category of his physical acting. He is always on a tense edge in his performance, standing with a slight shake in him and making use of facial expressions. For a man of 55 to be leading such a tense thriller with such physical dedication is thoroughly impressive, and it just goes to show that he never really lost touch with his acting skills. His performance is a nostalgic one because it is a reminder of the distinctive charm that leading men of the Hollywood golden era maintained carried into the context of an edgy thriller, and Alfred Hitchcock manages to really get the best out of him. Cary Grant adds the human touch to North by Northwest extremely well.

So due to a strong leading performance from Cary Grant and predictably brilliant directorial work from Alfred Hitchcock, it is not a challenge to see why North by Northwest is considered a masterpiece, even if some of the dated aspects of the story aren't perfect.