The reasons are simple. From Saul Bass’s opening titles superimposed on the UN building with a reflected First Avenue gradually coming into view to the oh! so suggestive closing shot of the train entering the tunnel, this is the perfect thriller. Bernard Herrmann’s score of yearning beauty complements two equally beautiful leads, Cary Grant and an extraordinarily beautiful Eva Marie Saint.<\/p>\n
But it’s Hitchcock’s love for the vastness and variety of America, perfectly realized in Robert Burks’s cinematography, which is the real reason to see this outstanding movie. Some examples:<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.pindelski.org\/Blog\/NNW_01.jpg\")
\nA perfectly poised Eva Marie-Saint in the railway sleeper.<\/i><\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.pindelski.org\/Blog\/NNW_02.jpg\")
\nCary Grant runs from the United Nations building.<\/i><\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.pindelski.org\/Blog\/NNW_03.jpg\")
\nGrant at Prairie Stop 41 in the middle of nowhere.<\/i><\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.pindelski.org\/Blog\/NNW_04.jpg\")
\n“Are you Mr. Kaplan?”
\n“Cain’t say I am ‘cos I ain’t.”<\/i><\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.pindelski.org\/Blog\/NNW_05.jpg\")
\nOne of the most famous images in the cinema.
\nGrant is chased by the crop dusting plane.<\/i><\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.pindelski.org\/Blog\/NNW_06.jpg\")
\nAt Chicago’s Union Station the cops try to
\nfind a disguised Grant in a sea of Redcaps.<\/i><\/center><\/p>\n
The extended train scene in the first third of the movie is the finest ever made. It takes place on the Twentieth Century Limited<\/a> which ran between New York and Chicago back when train travel was glamorous. At that time this meant magnificent Art Deco design by Henry Dreyfuss; watch and you will agree that travel was never finer.<\/p>\n <\/center><\/p>\n The Blu-Ray version improves markedly on both video and sound compared with the regular DVD; maybe not as much as Lawrence of Arabia does, but enough to make it worth the very modest outlay.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The best thriller ever. In mentioning some essential Blu-Ray DVDs the other day, Hitchcock’s North by Northwest was naturally in the list. The reasons are simple. From Saul Bass’s opening titles superimposed on the UN building with a reflected First Avenue gradually coming into view to the oh! so suggestive closing shot of the train … Continue reading North by Northwest<\/span> ![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.pindelski.org\/Blog\/NNW_07.jpg\")
\nAn image worthy of a latter day Edvard Munch.
\nGrant now doubting Saint’s motives is torn between
\ncaressing and throttling her.<\/i><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.pindelski.org\/Blog\/NNW_08.jpg\")
\nSaint shoots Grant. Owing to the many takes,
\nthe little boy at the right got tired of the
\nnoise and wisely stuck his fingers in his ears.<\/i><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.pindelski.org\/Blog\/NNW_09.jpg\")
\nGrant climbs Mount Rushmore to avoid the bad guys.<\/i><\/p>\n