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North By Northwest
review by Anthony D.
Not Rated
Running Time: 136 Minutes
Starring Cary Grant
Studio: Warner
Directed by Alferd Hitchcock
Retail Price: 24.99
Features: Theatrical Trailers, Audio Commentary by
Lehman, Stills Gallery, Documentary
Specs: 1.78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen, 5.1 Dolby
Digital English, English Captions, French Captions, Chapter
Search (22 Chapters)
It's a most unusual day when Roger O. Thornhill, Madison
Avenue advertising executive, decides to send a message from
the Oak Bar in The Plaza Hotel at the same time that a
Mister George Kaplan is being paged. Roger's synchronized
gesture catches the eye of two thugs, who thinking that he
is "Kaplan," promptly hustle him off to a mysterious mansion
on Long Island. Owing to that one, ill-timed gesture
Thornhill's life is thrown topsy-turvy into a web of
sinister spies, false identities, icy blondes and onto a
journey that ulitmately lead him to Rapid City, South Dakota
on top of Mount Rushmore.
Cary Grant headlines as Roger Thornhill in Alfred
Hitchcock's stunning spy thriller NORTH BY NORTHWEST, the
master's only film for M-G-M, and the film wedged in between
the visceral VERTIGO and his ultimate masterpiece PSYCHO.
This was Grant's final teaming with Hitchcock - - SUSPICION,
NOTORIOUS and TO CATCH A THIEF preceded - - and a zenith in
both of their illustrious careers.
Revisiting the past theme of a wrongly accused man,
Hitchcock leads a merry chase across half of the United
States, as Thornhill attempts to prove that he is NOT George
Kaplan, C.I.A. agent; but Roger Thornhill, adman. Following
a well-documented assassination in the United Nations,
Thornhill is forced to follow the path of the elusive George
Kaplan (he is able to track him down through forwarding
addresses left at hotels) eluding the authorities and the
bad guys each step of the way.
NORTH BY NORTHWEST has been described by screenwriter
Ernest Lehman as "the ultimate Hitchcock movie," and though
I fell that honor falls to VERTIGO, NORTH BY NORTHWEST does
contain many unforgettable Hitchcock set pieces: the murder
in the United Nations (which looks a lot like the murder in
THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH), the crop-dusting plane attacking
Cary Grant (unparalleled in the Hitchcock canon) and the
final moments atop of Mount Rushmore (in SABOTEUR, it was
the Statue of Liberty). If not "the ultimate Hitchcock
movie," NORTH BY NORTHWEST is held in high regard from
Hitchcock fans.
Warner Home Video has given us an anamorphically
enhanced, widescreen presentation of Alfred Hitchcock's 1959
thriller. Filmed in VistaVison for added width, depth and
clarity, NORTH BY NORTHWEST seems to be framed properly at
1.78:1, all the screen information is correct including the
wide vista shot in Chapter 24 containing Cary Grant, the bus
passenger, as well as the open plains on either side of them
- - previous widescreen versions of NORTH BY NORTHWEST has
cut off some information on the left and right hand sides of
the screen. The print itself is pristine, with no artifacts
to be seen.
On the other hand, I found the Technicolor to be
problematic. The film has that glossy look of 1950's films,
but the flesh tones rendered here often veer toward orange,
Cary Grant's "California Tan" notwithstanding. There is also
a softness to the picture which is also a result of that
glossy, big-studio look. The image, however, looks far
better in a completely darkened screening room. I have read
complaints that this recent remastering was grainy in the
first half, but, I found no traces of graininess.
Bearing all of this in mind, I did find this to be on the
whole, a very natural presentation, with blacks that never
go too deep, and a color scheme that works quite well. There
are no bleeding reds, and the contrast, though soft, is
above average. As for the color red: well, in the Chicago
train station, those porters known as "Red Caps," are all
sporting vermilion caps. In a later scene (Chapter 27),
leading lady Eva Marie Saint is clothed in a dress of red
floral design against a black silky fabric, and each hue of
red can be discerned. Aliasing is non-existent.
The audio presentation of NORTH BY NORTHWEST is a
re-mixed Dolby Digital 5.1, exclusive to this DVD. And what
a splendid mix this is! Dialogue is firmly placed, and the
surrounds used for effects and music. This mix has none of
the hokeyness that I associate with the recent 5.1 release
of VERTIGO. Paying well in the LFE channel is Bernard
Herrmann's serio-comic score, his first in this mode since
his first association with Hitchock,1955's THE TROUBLE WITH
HARRY. Basses are nicely rounded out, and directionality is
often employed to great effect: check out the crop-duster in
Chapter 25, or the truck in Chapter 23 - - all part of the
great Hitchcock set-piece in the cornfield. Dialogue is
wonderfully rendered here, with rare moments of ADR which
sound very studio-like. All in all, a very fine sound
design.
Warner offers up some very interesting Special Features
for NORTH BY NORTHWEST, taking their cue from the excellent
Universal Hitchcock Special Editions. Up front is the
made-for-video documentary, Destination Hitchcock: The
Making of North by Northwest. Hosted by female lead Eva
Marie Saint, the feature is a very cut-and-dry exploration
of what indeed go into the making of the film, with
appearances put in by screenwriter Ernest Lehman, production
designer Robert Boyle and Universal stalwart, as well as
director's daughter: Patricia Hitchcock. It is in this
documentary that the issues of script censorship are raised
concerning one line of dialogue ultimately re-looped: if you
watch closely during Chapter 17 ("It's a Nice Face."), Eva
Marie Saint's lips are clearly saying, "I never make love on
an empty stomach," while the quip is something completely
different.
Two audio-only Special Features are well worth
remembering. On one track we are given a cd quality
representation of Bernard Herrmann's wonderful score, and
watching the film with this function on, I was reminded of
how brilliant Hitchcock's visual story-telling is. But for
those initial moments of exposition, this is a very easy
film to follow without Lehman's scintillating scenario. Even
the major centerpiece of the film ( the corn field sequence)
is nearly eight minutes of soundtrack silence. The other
audio only feature is a feature length, running commentary
by Ernest Lehman. Lehman is relaxed and anecdotal
throughout, giving nice insights into his working
relationship with Hitch, and his unadulterated love of this
film.
Three very different trailers round out the Special
Features: M-G-M's re-issue trailer, a stunning black &
white letterboxed (!) television trailer and of course,
Hitchcock's very own personalized guided tour of NORTH BY
NORTHWEST. There is also a very appropriate production
stills gallery.
Warner has done a bang-up job on their first widescreen
Hitchcock release, but what a wonderful film they were
working with! NORTH BY NORTHWEST is one of those rare films
where everything works. Thanks to a droll script the early
expository scenes fly swiftly by setting up the role-playing
Thornhill, an advertiser ("In the world of advertising there
is no such thing as a lie...there is only expedient
exaggeration.") must go through when his very life depends
on living an expedient lie. This is a film fantasy of the
absurd, as attested to by its title: there is NO
north-by-northwest on the compass - -it's an impossibility.
Shakespeare buff's will instantly recall the source for the
film's title - - Hamlet to his companion," I am mad but
north-by-northwest; when the wind is southerly I know a hawk
from a handsaw." Roger Thornhill, on taking the identity of
George Kaplan, is still Roger Thornhill - - able to detect
the difference, hopefully, between his reality and Kaplan's
un-real universe.
A thrilling, sexy, spy versus spy story, told in the
hands of a suspense master has reached the digital domain
with marvelous transfer sure to please both Hitchcock fans,
as well as film lovers. Warner deserves every accolade
possible for making NORTH BY NORTHWEST available in such a
modestly priced package.
 (5/5, NOT included in
final score)
 (4.5/5)
(5/5)
(5/5)
(5/5,
NOT an average)
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