North By Northwest
 | Directed by Alfred Hitchcock Starring: Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason, Martin Landau, Leo G. Carroll Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), 1959, DVD Customer Rating: 385 reviews Recommend |
|---|
Cary Grant teams with director Alfred Hitchcock for the fourth and final time in this superlative espionage caper judged one of the American Film Institute's Top-100 American Films and spruced up with a new digital transfer and remixed Dolby Digital Stereo. Grant plays a Manhattan advertising executive plunged into a realm of spy (James Mason) and counterspy (Eva Marie Saint) and variously abducted framed for murder chased and in another signature set piece crop-dusted. He also holds on for dear life from the facial features of the Presidents on Mount Rushmore (backlot sets were used). But don't expect the Master of Suspense to leave star or audience hanging.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA UPC: 012569670990
A strong candidate for the most sheerly entertaining and enjoyable movie ever made by a Hollywood studio (with Citizen Kane, Only Angels Have Wings and Trouble in Paradise running neck and neck). Positioned between the much heavier and more profoundly disturbing Vertigo (1958) and the stark horror of Psycho (1960), North by Northwest (1959) is Alfred Hitchcock at his most effervescent in a romantic comedy-thriller that also features one of the definitive Cary Grant performances. Which is not to say that this is just "Hitchcock Lite"; seminal Hitchcock critic Robin Wood (in his book Hitchcock's Films Revisited) makes an airtight case for this glossy MGM production as one of The Master's "unbroken series of masterpieces from Vertigo to Marnie." It's a classic Hitchcock Wrong Man scenario: Grant is Roger O. Thornhill (initials ROT), an advertising executive who is mistaken by enemy spies for a U.S. undercover agent named George Kaplan. Convinced these sinister fellows (James Mason as the boss, and Martin Landau as his henchman) are trying to kill him, Roger flees and meets a sexy Stranger on a Train (Eva Marie Saint), with whom he engages in one of the longest, most convolutedly choreographed kisses in screen history. And, of course, there are the famous set pieces: the stabbing at the United Nations, the crop-duster plane attack in the cornfield (where a pedestrian has no place to hide), and the cliffhanger finale atop the stone faces of Mount Rushmore. Plus a sparkling Ernest Lehman script and that pulse-quickening Bernard Herrmann score. What more could a moviegoer possibly desire? — Jim Emerson
Stills from North by Northwest (Click for larger image)
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
Title: North By Northwest
Sales Rank: 6677 in DVD
Actor: Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason, Martin Landau, Leo G. Carroll
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Studio: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), 2004-09-07, Theatrical Release: 1959
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Full Screen, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC, Acpect Ratio 1.66:1
Languages: English (Subtitled), French (Subtitled)
Region Code: 1
Running Time: 136 minutes
Item Dimensions: 0.2 pounds
Package Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches, 0.15 pounds
- The Definitive Hitchcock
- I wont go so far as to say that North By Northwest is Alfred Hitchcock's best film. Many,myself included, think that honor belongs to Vertigo. But I do believe that I've come to consider it my favorite, after many viewings going back almost three decades. If I had to recommend one Hitchcock film to some poor unfortunate that had never been privledged to see one, this would be it.… More reviews
- Best Transfer of old Movie
- Now this is the classic thriller and I think that because of this adventure they started the James Bond series. I have always enjoyed this movie but the think about it was I was worried that it would not be much different on Blu-ray. Boy was I wrong I don't know how they got the classic copy of this film but even… More reviews
- Best ever made even better
- Cary Grant and Alfred Hitchcock's masterpiece collaboration is well preserved and beautifully remastered in this Blu-ray release.
Highly recommend for your BD library. The story is pure Hitchcock formula: mistaken identity, being chased by spys and police, and of
course a blond heroine. Especially enjoy James Mason's cool, evil under-toned role.… More reviews
- North By Northwest
- I have no idea if the disk worked or not, because I'm from region 1 and the disk was from region 2 More reviews
- There's a good reason why there's high praise for this film
- A superb film by Alfred Hitchcock! This has to be one of the most suspenseful films of the 20th Century. Even though it was made back in 1959, it still has high tension all over it even today. It's an interesting premise: a man is wrongfully accused and is being pursued all around the country. It might be simple enough, but it's much more complicated than… More reviews
