Review of North by Northwest (1959) by Raffy John M — 28 Jan 2013

This is my favorite Alfred Hitchcock film, and one of the rare movies that I will give a rating of a 10/10 to. It is a suspense story that gets used a lot today, but was entirely original when it was first used. Cary Grant plays Roger Thornhill; a man who is being mistaken for another man named "George Kaplan," and kidnapped. He is brought to a house where he is interrogated, and is forced to drink burban so he can stage a drunk driving accident. When he gets released a man he is talking to gets stabbed in the back right in front of him, and he pulls the knife out of the mans back, and it looks like he murdered him. Now he is wanted for murder, and a manhunt begins. That starts an awesome chain of events that truly do prove that Alfred Hitchcock is the master of suspense. This type of suspense story gets used a lot today, but it had never been done before this. A man running from the law trying to prove himself innocent, and find the person who is setting him up. That is a formula that is clichéd now, but completely original back then.

Cary grant to me is the original Sean Connery. He sounds like him, acts like him, and even resembles him slightly. If Hitchcock made a Bond film it would be like this. When he talks with women he has the same charm that Sean Connery's James bond had. I find that a lot of the actors and actresses in old films were all-similar to each other. Now Hitchcock obviously loved blondes because all of the women in his films are blonde, and they do take on the same personality in each film. Grace Kelly is still my favorite actress in any of his films.

After he did this film he did Psycho, which may be his most famous movie, but is not his absolute best in my opinion. This film and Rear Window are his two bets films in my opinion. All of his films have something that stick out from the others. This one was much more of an adventure. It was a manhunt, and it had actions scenes at places like Mt. Rushmore. Rear Window was unique because it all took place in his house, and all you saw was inside his place and what he could see out the window. Psycho was much more of a scary flick, and it was creepier. Vertigo was unique for the dolly zoom. This film was the one that I felt like had more effects and action. The famous scene when he is getting chased by a crop dusting plane is awesome, because it is suspenseful. They give you little hints as to what is about to happen, and leave you guessing as to what will happen. You know something is going to happen but not sure what. Once it happens it looks really cool, and pretty realistic for a 1950's movie. The ending at Mt. Rushmore it all looked pretty fake, but it was still a great scene. Old films tend to be more reliant on story and suspense then effects, which is actually good.