North By Northwest (1959)
Last Watch Date - December 23, 2024
Total Times Watched - a bunch
Comments
The 50s were such an odd time for movies because they were still in the highly censored era of Hollywood but coming into the 60s that bucks a lot of those trends. This movie has aspects of that old Hollywood that feel almost anachronistic simply because I know they were never real. Cary Grant probably helps add to that since he was such a major part of the films of the 30s and 40s. I still think of him from Bringing Up Baby and that movie's from 1938.
But this movie isn't really a Cary Grant movie as such, it's a Hitchcock movie. I think this might be one of his more fondly-remembered movies because while it does have a thriller element, it also has a bunch of comedic elements and some fun spy games. The "femme fatale" (of sorts) in this movie isn't particularly good. Eva Marie Saint plays a mysterious woman who seems to find her way around Cary Grant more often than she should. I don't buy her character, though. I'm not sure what it is about her that throws me. James Mason is great in this movie as the villain. He's calm and cool, but calculated in how he devises his plans. I really enjoy watching things unfold in this movie, even knowing what is going to happen.
What this movie has going for it more than anything else is setting. It's filmed in NYC, Chicago, and Mount Rushmore. Even the fake sets are great, like Vandamm's house. It's SO 50s. I love seeing old NY and Chicago. I'm sure it's mostly that Hollywood polish to them, but they looked so sophisticated and nice.
Back to this movie: it's kind of long at 136 minutes, but it doesn't feel it. There are sections to it that help things feel like you're constantly moving along even when not too much happens. The search for George Kaplan takes on maybe just a bit too much time from the whole movie, but the surrounding events are interesting enough that it doesn't really matter. Obviously if I've seen this movie this many times, I must be good with the pacing.
Recommended?
Yeah. You'll have to like a bit of Old Hollywood to enjoy it, but it's probably my favorite Hitchcock movie. It's also like a precursor to the James Bond spy genre in some ways.
