North by Northwest

Worth watching

A must watch classic

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This is one of my all time favorite movies, every aspect of this movie is great! The acting is superb, excellent cinematography, just a great story presentation by Hitchcock! The 4K version of this movie is outstanding, well worth the upgrade from 1080p in my opinion.

This is probably in my top 3 for Hitchcock films for many reasons. The best that I can think if is that it is perhaps the best example of cinematic drama. For those not familiar with the plot, the story is a gripping mistaken-identity thriller: advertising executive Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant) is mistaken as a government agent by the sinister Philip Vandamm (the ever-amazing James Mason). Vandamm is convinced Thornhill is after him, and tries to dispose of the strawman. Thornill eventually finds himself at the center of a complicated espionage plot which takes him across the country, ending with a spectacular climax atop the Mt. Rushmore. What makes this film nearly perfect for me is the way it's paced. It's a study in economy, since we're told very little at the beginning (parallel to Thornhill's ignorance), and more is revealed slowly over time. Hitchcock and screenwriter Ernst Lehman weave a carefully crafted tale, and Hitch's fluid direction is superb as Thornhill is placed in increasingly dangerous situations. Punctuating this danger is Bernard Hermann's tense and frightful score, and the blu-ray audio mix does it justice. The film may very well be Grant's best performance -- certainly his best in a Hitchcock film (his 3rd or 4th collaboration w/ Hitchcock, I believe.) He is his rakish, humorous self, but in N/NW he displays a certain physicality (Grant was a circus performer before becoming an actor) that makes him somewhat of an action hero. (Grant also has the greatest business suit of all time, which somehow survives all his encounters with little more than a dusty lapel.) I appreciated how well the film was transferred to blu-ray, with very rich colors, nice deep blacks and sharp images. Some flaws are to be expected since the film is over 50 years old. My only complaint is the cardboard keep-case -- I really wish studios would dispense with "fancy" cases and just put use good old plastic snap cases instead. The supplements seem fairly well rounded, but are in standard def. I'm looking forward to hearing the commentary by Lehmann, although I wish there were more commentary tracks available, perhaps from a learned critic such as Roger Ebert. (Ebert's commentary on "Citizen Kane", for instance, is excellent.) In all, this is an exceptional classic film that deserves to be in any collection, and now in a blu-ray format that doesn't disappoint.

Una de las mejores películas de Alfred Hitchcock, ahora en 4K.

movie kept you guessing, a good Alfred Hitchcock movie. very good color.

One of the best films by Hitchcock, and one of the most popular films ever, North By Northwest is also one of those rare films that is even loved by people who are normally sticklers for detail. No matter that most of the incidents, most of the situations, and of course Hitchcock's beloved "MacGuffin" plot device do not make sense. Every element, however unbelievable, is so well done and so entertaining that we forgive the nonsense. Cary Grant is New York advertizing executive Roger O. Thornhill, or ROT as it says on his personalized matchbooks. He is mistaken for a government agent by foreign spies and kidnapped with the intent of murder. He narrowly escapes, and in an attempt to find out why he was targeted he goes to the U. N. building to question the owner of the house where he was held captive, only to have the man murdered before his eyes by a thrown knife, a knife that naturally ends up in Thornhill's hand. Now on the run, he heads north by northwest for Chicago, then Rapid City South Dakota, following clues to clear his name. Eventually Thornhill and Eve Kendall (Eva Marie Saint), a member of the spy ring, end up running for their lives atop Mt. Rushmore, leading to the famous scene where they are chased across the face of George Washington while Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt and Lincoln look on. This is a marvelous film, mixing murder and humor as only Hitchcock could do it. The musical score by Bernard Herrmann is a classic, and fits Hitchcock's implausibly clockwork plot like a glove. A tiny aside: watch the little boy at the table in the background of the Mt. Rushmore cafeteria scene, as pistol-packing Eve Kendall confronts Roger Thornhill. Obviously they had rehearsed this scene a few times, and this kid was prepared. And you should be prepared too, prepared to enjoy a fine evening of entertainment with the Master of Suspense and his talented crew: Cary Grant, Eve Marie Saint, James Mason as Vandamm the spy master, Leo G. Carroll as "the Professor" at the CIA, and Martin Landau as a spy henchman. Pure entertainment, and now available in high definition on Blu-ray. And all those things you don't know about the top of Mount Rushmore, like the road, the luxury home and the airstrip? The film will reveal them all to you. Who could ask for more?