The Living Room theaters show throwback films from time to time. A couple of weeks ago they had Casablanca, and right now they have North by Northwest. Premiering in 1959, North by Northwest is considered a classic. I saw the old-timey movie and liked it.
The film was directed by legendary filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock, using a script by Ernest Lehmen. Spies selling American secrets have picked up carefree ad executive Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant) who they have mistaken for a government agent on their tail. They try to murder him, then they frame him for murder, then they try to murder him again. If you’ve seen a thriller in the last 60 years, the plot is going to sound familiar to you. Along the way Thornhill meets a dangerous blonde (Eva Marie Saint) and uncovers the global conspiracy.
Some of the big scenes hold up well today. About halfway into the movie, an assassin tries to kill Thornhill, only he does it in the most ridiculous way possible, by stalking him in an open field with a biplane. The premise is completely stupid, but the shots are composed really well by Hitchcock. The director sells you on the fear coursing through Thornhill as he runs for his life and a plane gets larger and larger over his shoulder.
The special effects may have been cutting edge in those days, but are silly now. For car chases, the film uses stationary cars in front of projection screens, and when the chases end the collisions are low-speed and cause wimpy explosions. My favorite scene has nothing to do with special effects. Here, Hitchcock creates a sense of terror by utilizing a well tossed book of matches.
I’m taking a minute to acknowledge the coolness of Cary Grant. By today’s standards he is too old and too lean, but I don’t think people got big in those days. Grant is just a little bit taller, tanner and smoother than the other guys in the film. Dude wears one suit the entire movie, rocking the grey on grey. He makes it work and I want me one of those.
When he is seducing his blonde, Grant delivers all kinds of sexual innuendo that must have pushed the boundaries of decency back then. This is hot stuff, and set before free love and the 1960’s. The girl is saying all the right things and I’m thinking they are about to do nasty things in their train cabin, until, the dialogue suddenly whips around to marriage and the man sleeping on the floor. Ridiculous. I would have thrown that lady off the train right there for playing around too much.
“How does a girl like you grow up to be a girl like you?” Thornhill asks his blonde. Too funny, man. I’m going to try to drop that one next time I’m trying to seduce my blonde.
I have to give props to Hitchcock and his team for coming hard with something so polished and influential. I can see why it is considered a classic, mostly because the filmmaking is so bold for its time. Everything is big here, the musical score, the twists in the plot, the dialogue, the love scenes and the special effect scenes. Unfortunately, movies have evolved substantially since 1959. North by Northwest holds up, but isn’t very jaw-dropping by today’s standards. I give it a B-.
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