North by Northwest

North by Northwest is a 1959 MGM thriller by Alfred Hitchcock and is generally considered one of his best works. The film stars Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason, Leo G. Carroll, and Martin Landau. The screenplay was written by Ernest Lehman, who wanted to write "the Hitchcock picture to end all Hitchcock pictures"http://alt.tcm.turner.com/essentials/essential/fea_north.html. It is one of several Hitchcock movies with a film score by Bernard Herrmann. The film also features a famous title sequence by the graphic designer Saul Bass.

Analysis

Alfred Hitchcock planned the film as a change of pace after his dark romantic thriller Vertigo a year earlier. In an interview with François Truffaut ("Hitchcock / Truffaut"), Hitchcock said that he wanted to do something fun, light-hearted, and generally free of the symbolism permeating his other movies. Hitchcock, however, was not above inserting a Freudian joke as the last shot (which, notably, made it past contemporary censors). Despite its frothy appearance, the movie carries a number of underlying themes, the most important being that of theater and play-acting, wherein everyone is playing a part; no one is who they seem; and identity is in flux. This is reflected by Thornhill's line: "The only performance that will satisfy you is when I play dead."

Related Topics:
Alfred Hitchcock - Vertigo - François Truffaut

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Grant was distressed with the way the plot seemed to wander aimlessly, and he actually approached Hitchcock to complain about the script. "I can't make heads or tails of it," he said, without realizing that he was quoting the very words he would speak when playing the role of Thornhill. In fact, even the title North by Northwest refers to a compass direction that does not exist (the correct term is "North-northwest"), thereby adding to the fantasy of the film, as Hitchcock noted in an interview with Peter Bogdanovich in 1963. (The title does make sense in reference to when Thornhill travels north via Northwest Airlines.)

Related Topics:
Compass direction - Peter Bogdanovich - Northwest Airlines

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There are similarities between this movie and Hitchcock's earlier film Saboteur (1942), whose final scene on top of the Statue of Liberty foreshadows the Mount Rushmore scene in the later film. In fact, North by Northwest can be seen as the last and best in a long line of "wrong man" films that Hitchcock made according to the pattern he established in The 39 Steps (1935).

Related Topics:
Saboteur - 1942 - Statue of Liberty - The 39 Steps - 1935

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North By Northwest has been referenced and parodied in many works, mostly for the crop duster scene. The Simpsons parodied the scene in three episodes (one with a young Marge Simpson, one with Elton John, and another with Dr. Hibbert pursuing Bart Simpson). The film is also used as a plot engine in the Family Guy episode "North by North Quahog."

Related Topics:
Crop duster - The Simpsons - Marge Simpson - Elton John - Dr. Hibbert - Bart Simpson - Family Guy - North by North Quahog

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