Directed by:
Alfred HitchcockScreenplay:
Ernest LehmanCinematography:
Robert BurksComposer:
Bernard HerrmannCast:
Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason, Jessie Royce Landis, Leo G. Carroll, Josephine Hutchinson, Philip Ober, Martin Landau, Adam Williams, Les Tremayne (more)VOD (1)
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While having lunch at the Plaza Hotel, advertising executive Roger O. Thornhill (Cary Grant) has the bad luck to stand up just as a "George Kaplan" is being paged. From this point on, Thornhill's life is turned upsode down. He is abducted by three mysterious men and whisked away to a palatial home of enemy spy Phillip Vandamm (James Mason). Denying that his name is Kaplan, Thornhill is at a complete loss when Vandamm begins grilling him for information. Finally, Thornhill is drugged, tossed into a car and sent careening down a treacheras mountain road. (Roadshow Entertainment)
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Reviews (7)
Some of the scenes almost radiate naivety, the script twists logic beyond recognition, and the technical execution of certain shots looks ridiculous from today’s perspective. On the other hand, even today, the film is still entertaining and witty, Cary Grant is brilliant as the unfortunate Roger Tornhill and the whole film is extremely watchable.
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All of Alfred Hitchcock's films, including his most famous ones, naturally need to be judged in the context of the era in which they were made, because the ravages of time have logically left their mark on them. Nevertheless, in my opinion, many of them are a cinematic treat and contemporary filmmakers rarely come close to matching their quality. His films are usually a safe bet for me. Therefore, I was even more disappointed with this particular one because, in my eyes, it just didn't work at all and I had a hard time even finishing it. The incredibly naive and predictable script is to blame, and it is as if it had been written 20 years earlier. The direction is still reliable and the cast is stellar, but that doesn't change the fact that in the scenes that were supposed to be suspenseful, I could barely hold back laughter. Hitchcock certainly didn't intend to write a parody, just a slightly lighter thriller. He ended up making more of those later on. Overall impression: 40%.
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The best Hitchcock I’ve seen so far! It only took ten minutes for me to be overcome by that feeling I get whenever I’m watching something exceptional, the joy that after so many films I can still come across one capable of thrilling me like a child. North by Northwest did that from the get go, and I followed the events on the screen almost without breathing until the end. 100%
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You don’t often see such an elaborate and still entertaining film, in which there is suspense, humor, romance, action and who know what else, without it getting in the way. Hitchcock doesn't wait for anything, he gets things right at the beginning and, with the help of the actors and Herrmann's predatory music, does whatever he wants with us for more than two hours. And we don't mind one bit.
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Alfred Hitchcock as usual constructs the atmosphere perfectly, but even so, I was disappointed this time around. Roger's paranoia in the introduction meets all expectations (and clearly inspired David Fincher in The Game), but the premature climax comes with the cult scene of the crop-dusting plane. Afterwards, it just kinda weaves and weaves its webs until it finally reaches a characteristically suspenseful finale, which – after two hours of intrigue – simply isn't compelling enough.
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