Mark Llobrera
North by Northwest cover image

North by Northwest

Year
1959
Watched
Apr 02, 2024
Rewatch?
Yes

This review may contain spoilers.

Not unlike Notorious in that Cary Grant’s character has to grow up and accept that he’s in love with someone who uses sex in service of national security. Eve is depicted in very modern terms early on (she’s quite playful about sex and her desires) and I wish that carried through the whole movie—unfortunately in the final act she’s put in the tiresome position of helpless woman who has to be rescued.

Much funnier and ridiculous than I expected—there’s better ways to kill an ad exec than the two chosen here. “My initials are ROT.” Thornhill’s mother is a gas.

Always interesting to watch how Hitchcock shoots things—even if the results are sometimes clunky due to the limited tech of the day, his sense of what to show/what to hide still stands up. Wish that modern directors knew how to frame a scene with even a smidge of intent. That last sequence where Roger lifts Eve up, then the smash cut to the train entering a tunnel…cinema!