Movies From the Hat IV #9 – Mark’s Pick – North By Northwest (1959)

This is my 2468th Review

Thanks to Mark of FastFilm for this recommendation.

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“In the world of advertising, there’s no such thing as a lie. There’s only expedient exaggeration. ” – Roger

Number of Times Seen – 2 (sometime in the 90’s and 31 Aug 2016)

Brief Synopsis – An Ad Executive is mistaken for a  secret agent and is pursued across the country by foreign agents

My Take on it – Once again, I was recommended another Hitchcock thriller to watch that I haven’t seen in years.

This is probably one of his best thrillers dealing with mistaken identity.

Cary Grant is great in the lead role despite feeling a bit too old for the part.

Eva Marie Saint is also good in her role but the two of them lack the right amount of chemistry needed for it to work 100%.

Hitchcock is able to weave a thrilling and fun tale that works well the entire time.

Besides the two leads, the supporting cast is quite good and it was nice to see James Mason and Martin Landau as two of the villains.

The tension is built up quite well throughout the film and the twists and turn along the way are quite fun to watch as they unfold.

The characters are all quite cleverly written and interesting to watch as things play out.

Bottom Line – Grant is great here despite being slightly too old for his role. Saint is also very good in her role, but the two lack a bit of chemistry that was needed here. Hitchcock once again weaves a thrilling and fun tale of mistaken identity and it might actually be his best effort in that genre. The tension is built up really well as things play out and it’s nice to see all the twists and turns along the way. Great supporting cast. Highly Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – While filming Vertigo (1958), Alfred Hitchcock described some of the plot of this project to frequent Hitchcock leading man and “Vertigo” star James Stewart, who naturally assumed that Hitchcock meant to cast him in the Roger Thornhill role, and was eager to play it. Actually, Hitchcock wanted Cary Grant to play the role. By the time Hitchcock realized the misunderstanding, Stewart was so anxious to play Thornhill that rejecting him would have caused a great deal of disappointment. So Hitchcock delayed production on this film until Stewart was already safely committed to filming Otto Preminger’s Anatomy of a Murder (1959) before “officially” offering him the North by Northwest (1959) role. Stewart had no choice; he had to turn down the offer, allowing Hitchcock to cast Grant, the actor he had wanted all along. (From IMDB)

Rating – Oscar Worthy

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