We’ve started the month of June at Matt Lynn Digital in dramatic style from the year 1959. Earlier this week, we shared our review of the Otto Preminger‘s Anatomy of a Murder, featuring James Stewart, Lee Remick and George C. Scott in starring roles. Today we turn our look at an Alfred Hitchock mystery of mistaken identity of an innocent man portrayed by Cary Grant pursued across the United States. Join us in this look into North by Northwest (1959).
(From left, Adam Williams as Valerian, Cary Grant as Roger Thornhill, Martin Landau as Leonard (standing) and Robert Ellenstein as Licht in the Alfred Hitchcock movie North by Northwest).
Intrigue takes us from the United Nations Headquarters in New York City to the Mount Rushmore National Memorial in Black Hills, South Dakota with North by Northwest. Before any of this intrigue, advertising executive Roger Thornhill, as portrayed by Carey Grant, is whisked away to the estate of Lester Townsend of Long Island, New York.
(Jessie Royce Landis as Clara Thornhill in the Alfred Hitchcock movie North by Northwest).
Spy Phillip Vandamm, as portrayed by James Mason, interrogates Thornhill, disbelieving everything Thornhill says. Using the coercion of Valerian, Licht and Leonard, Vandamm forces Roger Thornhill to consume a bottle of liquor and take a drive that Vandamm hopes will settle the matter. Adam Williams, Robert Ellenstein and Martin Landau portray Valerian, Licht and Leonard. Clara Thornhill, mother to Roger as portrayed by Jessie Royce Landis, aids her son in seeking to address the mystery she too disbelieves.
(From left, Cary Grant as Roger Thornhill and Philip Ober as Lester Townsend in the Alfred Hitchcock movie North by Northwest).
It is when Roger Thornhill gets to visit Lester Townsend, as portrayed by Philip Ober, that the mystery of the movie North by Northwest really captures multiple levels of depth. Intrigue including Eve Kendall, as portrayed by Eva Marie Saint, gains its feet with travel across country in pursuit of affection, truth, and the nature of what drives a conspiracy with foreign antagonists catches its feet.
(From left, Eva Marie Saint as Eve Kendall, James Mason as Phillip Vandamm and Martin Landau as Leonard in the Alfred Hitchcock movie North by Northwest).
There are echoes of the 1942 Alfred Hitchcock movie Saboteur in North by Northwest, with the interpersonal dynamics of the love interest taking a noticeably different and arguably more complex tone with North by Northwest. The relationship between Roger Thornhill and Eve Kendall are resonated better for me here than that of Barry Kane and Patricia (Pat) Martin in Saboteur. The service of this relationship in getting the story to outcome, too, was executed better here than in the film 17-years previous.
(From left, actor Cary Grant, actress Eva Marie Saint, director Alfred Hitchcock and actor James Mason of the Alfred Hitchcock movie North by Northwest).
My overall enjoyment of North by Northwest was not diminished by the use of a MacGuffin. Landing on a satisfying mystery with a romantic turn integral to the storyline really made the movie, especially given what felt like sudden yet legitimate feeling appropriate for the entertainment offered. I give North by Northwest as presented by Alfred Hitchcock 4.25-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.
Matt – Saturday, June 5, 2021
Matt Lynn Digital 