One of the most visually stunning, action packed, clever and suspenseful of all Alfred Hitchcock movies, his 1959 masterpiece North By Northwest finally gets the Blu-ray treatment it deserves. Featuring a terrific remastering with lots of great supplemental material and beautiful packaging the movie really shines and Warner Bros. has clearly pulled out all the tops to bring this classic film to a new generation of audiences.
Just in case you’re not familiar with this Hitchcock masterpiece, it stars Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason and a young Martin Landau in a story featuring one of Hitchcock’s signature conceits: the wrong man. Grant’s Roger Thornhill, mistaken for superspy George Kaplan by a group of sinister agents led by James Mason’s Phillip Vandamm, is taken to a county house, forceably intoxicated and almost murdered. He barely manages to escape with his life, mostly due to his high tolerance for alcohol after years in the advertising business, but this sets in motion a series of events culminating in one of the most exciting and visually stunning climaxes ever filmed, at least up to that time.
Cary Grant is funny and cool as Thornhill and the rest of the cast take on their roles brilliantly. The script by Ernest Lehman is funny, action packed, dramatic and tight as a drum and, of course, the direction by the “master of suspense” Alfred Hitchcock is outstanding, making this, if not his best work, at least in the top three right along with Psycho and Rear Window.
Mention must also be made of the stunningly exciting action sequence involving Cary Grant, a deserted county road and a crop dusting plane. For the times, this action sequence was considered the pinnacle of cinematic achievement and even today, due to its quality and innovative direction and editing, its still ranks high. Of course, now that filmmakers have almost anything imaginable at their fingertips through the use of CGI, this action sequence may seem tame to some.
However, knowing when it was filmed and how, and also taking into consideration when it appears in the film, you have already been drawn into the world of this amazing film and completely go along with whatever happens. In short, it just works. And works exceptionally well.
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