Edge of the seat thriller. Review on North By Northwest Movie

Recently, I was fortunate to lay my hands on a DVD collection of Alfred Hitchcock’s movies. Any film goer faintly conversant with the Master will concede that he was a genius par excellence, none matching him for his cinematic brilliance. The most striking feature of his movies is the element of heightening suspense which enhances viewing pleasure.

North by Northwest is a movie, full of classical Hitchcockian elements- an innocent man caught in a conspiracy, a heroine who is not what she seems to be, mistaken identity, symbolism etc. Amongst all his movies North by Northwest, would be his most accomplished effort. The screen play has the intelligent viewer guessing by littering clues throughout; he can solve the mystery by observation and deductions of his own. These techniques make Hitchcock unique as “thrillers “of this age sadly lack intellectual participation by the viewer since the screen plays are usually uni-dimensional.

One of the recurring motif’s in Hitchcock movies is that he fashions the hero as the only character in film who is in the know of the truth and whose explanations are so incredible that no one believes him with any conviction. North by Northwest is probably the best movie of Hitchcock which fleshes out this motif fabulously. It is also notable for its realistic use of sets and attention to detail. The final scenes shot in a recreated Mount Rushmore are so natural; it is hard to believe that the movie was made in 1959. The iconic crop-dusting sequence has become one of the most well-known in film history.

The dashing Cary Grant essays the role of Roger Thornhill, a twice divorced advertising executive is mistakenly taken to be George Kaplan, a Government agent. The opening minutes of the film show him to be kidnapped by a pair of sinister men who take him to a country mansion where he is interrogated. Roger Thornhill breaks free but not before he has been forced to drink brandy. A thrilling car chase ensues which ends in Thornhill crashing into a police car. He fails to convince the police of his bona fides who arrest him for drunken driving. Subsequent to his release he founds himself nicely framed in a murder rap and is forced to be on run, away from the long arm of law. Thorn hill is forced to go for a cross country trek, starting from his kidnap in New York to Mount Rushmore where the movie ends.

His escape from the arms of law using trains, planes and automobiles increases the suspense to a crescendo is the highlight of the movie. There are very subtle innuendos spread throughout the movie-the final scene is clearly the best among them all and which shows the director’s sense of wicked humour.

The movie has a nice blend of suspense, romance, mystery and subtle comedy which has a universal appeal. It should be seen as a work of an artistic genius and for that reason alone, I strongly recommend North by Northwest for viewing on a rainy Saturday evening.