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: 375 reviews Recommend |
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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)
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Title: North By Northwest
Sales Rank: 13317 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 (Original Language), English (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), French (Dubbed)
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
- North By Northwest
- I have seen this movie several times and never get tired of seeing it again.
This is in my opinion one of the best Cary Grant, movies and the fact that it was directed by Alfred Hichcock, only makes it better. The "Blue-ray 50th Anniversary Edition", is well worth it's price.
The book form it comes in makes it an even more pleasant… More reviews
- Specatular film given very good blu-ray treatment
- 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).… More reviews
- One of the all time great thrillers...
- "North by Northwest"(1959) is one of the greatest chase pictures care of Alfred Hitchcock. This comedy/thriller rolls right along for its duration as Cary Grant's character is constantly on the run for his life. This blu-ray is beautifully remastered in 1080p with an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 in Dolby TrueHD 5.1. This blu-ray book set includes a new 2009 Documentary about Alfred Hitchcock… More reviews
- I Spy? A Hitchcock Classic of Murder & Intrigue!
- With a classy Bernard Hermann score, Hitchcock lets us in on the story of an advertising exec, Mr. Thornhill, who likes his job, considering advertising as exaggerating the facts for the public.
(Hitch makes one of his famous on screen appearances, and doesn't quite make the bus!)
Thornhill doesn't, either. After meeting some business associates he realizes that… More reviews
- 'North by Northwest' in Blu-ray is like a whole new release
- This classic movie has stunning textures... the carpets, drapes, clothing, hats, book bindings, the actors complexions. After "low-res" views of NxNW over the past years, watching it in Blu-ray is like seeing it for the first time... completely and delightfully captivating.… More reviews
