The Cool Channel Blu-Ray Review: North by Northwest (50th Anniversary Edition) Posted by J.D. Dunn on 11.10.2009
Hitchcock's seminal thriller receives a proper restoration.
North by Northwest (1959)
D:Alfred Hitchcock W:Ernest Lehman StarringCary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason and Martin Landau. MPAA: [NR] Runtime: 136m.
The Film
Screenwriter Ernest Lehman once pitched the idea of doing "the Hitchcock movie to end all Hitchcock movies." Hitchcock, who had hit a bit of a creative lull, loved the idea, and the two went to work building a story out of a patchwork of ideas. That story eventually became "North by Northwest."
The result of all those meetings is one of Hitch's most overtly entertaining films. It's action-packed. It's funny. It's highly erotic for the time. Deep down, though, there is much to be said about the flighty concepts of identity, ends justifying means, and the duality of good and evil.
Roger Thornhill is a victim of mistaken identity. In one of those cosmic coincidences that only happens in film like these, Thornhill inadvertently answers a page for a "George Kaplan" and finds himself mistaken for an international spy. Thornhill is kidnapped at gunpoint and taken to a posh mansion with the name "Townshend" engraved on the wrought-iron railing.
Once there, he is interrogated by the droll, charming Philip Vandamm (Mason) and his henchman Leonard (Landau, in a chilling performance). Of course, Thornhill has no information to give them. The Hitchcockian irony of the scene is that Vandamm thinks he's talking to Townshend, and Vandamm thinks he's talking to Kaplan. Both men are under false pretenses based solely on small assumptions.
Thornhill escapes his captors and winds up in the hands of the police, but no one will believe him. In the hopes of curtailing a drunken-driving charge, Thornhill tracks down Townshend at the United Nations building and finds out that he's not at all connected with the man who kidnapped him. Unfortunately, Thornhill's problems escalate when Townshend is murdered and circumstantial evidence points to Thornhill.
With Thornhill a wanted fugitive, he gets on a train hoping to find evidence to clear his name. It's there where he meets Eve Kendall (Saint). She's beautiful, flirtatious, and of course, not at all what she seems. Thornhill lays on the charm, and the two spend the night together in one of the more erotic moments allowed on celluloid prior to the inception of the MPAA's ratings. Hitchcock is able to get away with it by having the actors keep all there clothes on and staging the scene so that they're standing upright. It's a brilliant piece of direction that enables Hitch to do what he wants while not offending more conservative sensibilities.
What follows is Thornhill being treated like a metaphorical pinball, being double-crossed and sent on wild goose chases that include him being buzzed by a cropduster in one famous scene. Of course, through sheer tenacity and inventiveness, Thornhill does discover the truth about Kaplan, Eve, and Vandamm, as well as some truths about our government's tactics in fighting the Cold War.
*******In-Depth: Contains Spoilers********
Identity
This is one of the more obvious themes of "North by Northwest," but few people realize just how pervasive it is throughout the story. It begins with the opening scene where we get to know Thornhill as a character. He's an ad executive, someone who gets paid to distort the truth for image's sake, yet he falls victim to many of the same slight-of-hand tricks he makes a living on. "There's no such thing as a lie. There is only expedient exaggeration," Thornhill tells his doting secretary. That seems to be our government's position as well.
When Thornhill accidentally answers a page for "George Kaplan," Vandamm's henchmen mistake him for a spy based on a common assumption — he answers to "Kaplan," he must be Kaplan. The theme is repeated when Thornhill is taken to the mansion and meets Vandamm. Because Vandamm is in a house marked "Townshend," Thornhill naturally assumes he's Townshend. This also lends itself to the duality of the film, which I'll get into.
Thornhill himself is a character of no real identity. Hitchcock and Wardrobe Manager Harry Kress are sure to dress Thornhill in grays, making him neither good nor bad, just sort of ambiguous. He doesn't figure in the world as black or white. He is simply one of the many unimportant gray specks of the world.
Names also play a role toward identity in the film. "What does the 'O' stand for?" Eve asks Thornhill, regarding his middle initial. "Nothing," he replies. That's indicative of the entire movie (including, obviously, Kaplan). It's something that seems to represent something larger, but in fact, it's just a façade designed to distract you.
Of course, there are also the aspects of good vs. evil in the names of the characters. Roger Thornhill is accused of a crime he didn't commit, much like someone else you might associate with thorns. Eve Kendall is seemingly innocent, but she tempts Roger into going down the wrong path. Vandamm should need no further explanation. Even "Kaplan" is significant in that it is one of the first occasions of a Jewish name appearing in a mainstream Hollywood without any overt political meaning behind it (and, btw, the Polish translation of "Kaplan" is "priest" which goes right back to the images of good and evil).
Hitchcock even has a little fun with the idea, casting Jesse Royce Landis as Thornhill's mother, Clara, even though she's the same age as Cary Grant!
Duality
As with "Shadow of a Doubt," there are a number of instances of duality creeping into the film (although nowhere near as prevalent as in that film). Thornhill and Vandamm are presented as two sides of the same coin. Both Grant and Mason were considered suave sex symbols at the time, and both had the same refined British air (Grant was from Bristol, Mason from Yorkshire). When we first meet them, Vandamm and Thornhill circle each other silently, trying to size the other up. Hitchcock wisely frames them in virtually the same setup with the same camera movements only from inverted sides.
Eve and Leonard also have a bit of a duality battle going. Although Eve is Vandamm's love interest, there is an undeniable homoerotic vibe between Vandamm and Leonard (which Landau later confessed was intentional on his part). Leonard is always mistrustful of Eve (rightly so), and he behaves toward her like a jealous schoolgirl. At one point, he even says, "Call it my 'women's intuition.'"
North by Northwest is a film that's quite familiar and yet like no other. Hitchcock borrows liberally from his past films, and yet it all feels fresh. Maybe that's because his tongue is firmly planted in cheek the whole time. After all, what kind of serious director climaxes a film with a man hiding in Lincoln's nostril? Film: 9.5/10
Video
When I watched the 2000 DVD release, the first thought that went through my head was how clean it looked. In fact, it was *too* clean. What it gained in clarity and sharpness, it lost in depth. The same thing happened with the transfer on Vertigo. In removing the graininess of the transfers that existed for 40-plus years, the people responsible for the remaster smoothed things to the point of flatness. It *felt* synthetic and digital.
Thankfully, while the Blu-Ray release takes most of its cues from that transfer, the new master (rumored to cost $1 million to produce) comes across beautifully in Hi-Def. All of the positives of the 2000 remastered edition are there – the colors are vibrant where they need to be; tones are handled with a nice mix (Cary Grant's orange skin must give cinematographers fits). The Blu-Ray is able to handle the high-contrast darks, though, and that's where the format really shines.
Of course, the downside of remastering any classic film is that its flaws become readily apparent. North by Northwest is no different in that regard as Hitchcock's overreliance on rear projection becomes quickly apparent on an HD screen. Most viewers will be able to shrug off details like that, though, and enjoy the film's new crisp look. Purists may balk, but this is as good as North by Northwest has ever looked. Video: 9.5/10
Audio
The sound, which was less impressive in the 2000 DVD, also gets a boost here to True 5.1 Surround. It's a little difficult to balance the soft dialogue with the bombastic action sequences, but don't be afraid to crank up the sound system (neighbor-permitting, of course). Audio: 9.0/10
Extras
Audio commentary by screenwriter Ernest Lehman
Music-only track (surprisingly effective)
A number of new documentaries (Cary Grant: A Class Apart, The Master's Touch: Hitchcock's Signature Style, Destination Hitchcock: The Making of North by Northwest, North by Northwest: One for the Ages)
Production still gallery
Theatrical & TV spots.
A Guided Tour with Alfred Hitchcock (a teaser trailer with Hitch acting as a maniacal tour guide).
Good stuff. Particularly from Lehman, who is one of the few surviving Hitchcock collaborators and has plenty of stories about how The Master worked. The new documentaries provide a cornucopia of information, even if some of the content has been recycled. Extras: 8.5/10
The 411: One of Hitchcock's most overtly entertaining films thankfully got a facelift in the late 2000's, and you really owe it to yourself to check out the new version if you've only ever seen those moldy old light prints. North by Northwest is a forbearer to those later broad, sweeping action flicks like Die Hard that came nearly 40 years later. It combines humor, sex, and most of all action to become one of the most honored of Hitchcock's thrillers.
