Alfred Hitchcock's Spies | North by Northwest Review
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- čas přidán 17. 05. 2019
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This is my all-time favourite film. I have set myself the goal of watching it once a year for the rest of my life. I have managed 18 years so far.
I'm the same with Psycho!!
In 1988, I wandered into the Egyptian Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard to escape the 95 degree weather and saw a double feature of Some Like it Hot and North by Northwest. How magical the experience was! I've been fans of both movies since.
It's cool to see other young people into older Hitchcock movies. Although I grew up in the 90s, I was often times exposed to Hitchcock and I have to say that North by Northwest holds up extremely well. While movies today have larger budgets, it's hard to match the artistic genius of Hitchcock.
James Mason is a GREAT villain in this movie. He and Cary Grant trade wisecracks like boxers trading punches in a prize fight. The dialogue during the auction scene is priceless. How is he a weak villain? Is it because he and Grant never have a violent confrontation? Is it because he doesn't have a bizarre physical characteristic? Screen villainy is not just about being violent or having a superfluous papilla (TMWTGG reference). Mason's elegant callousness is what makes him interesting. He so cold that he makes a wisecrack when his most loyal henchmen gets shot near the end of the movie. The style of this movie very much influenced the early bond movies. In fact, Albert Broccoli had said in an interview that he wanted the bond series to be a cross between North By Northwest and The Guns Of Navarone. Connery's portrayal of bond seems almost like a composite of the Grant and Mason characters (Grant's relative good guy with Mason's ruthless one). Another thing, Hitchcock's trope of not explaining in detail what the villain is really after is called the macguffin. He said in many interviews that it was the thing that the characters in the film are looking for or care about but the audience watching the movie doesn't. He used this trope in several of his movies. You should review The Manchurian Candidate. Angela Lansbury plays one of the greatest villains in screen history in that film. And does so without getting into one fist fight.
Yes, I've read a few comments disagreeing with me on Mason which is cool. Don't get me wrong, I really like the actor but I would have liked something a bit more. Manchurian Candidate is a good shoutout! I might have to revisit my blu ray...
This movie is great. Cary is just incredible. Hitchcock movies in the main just worked, and at their best were pure art. I even love the old Hitchcock series, of the 50's and 60's! What's there not too like!
Easily one of the best films ever made.
Why? I can see it being groundbreaking at the time, but the romance story os quite silly to be honest. And even that time of romance had been around since the medieval ages
Another Alfred Hitchcock review. Its been too long, Calvin.
My favorite Hitchcock of all time. Nice addition of the waistcoat, Cal!
Thanks, John :)
My 2nd favorite Hitchcock film just behind Rear Window. Excellent review Mr. Dyson!👍
I totally agree with you piller of hats 64.
I live in a part of the US where they still have signs on the highway warning about crop-dusting planes. I quote the movie every time I see them.
Terrific film. I loved Martin Landau as James Mason's chief henchman.
Henchman is such a thankless job. You can easily get killed by good guys day in day out. Any clever plans you make will always get foiled if your adversary is handsomer than you are and has been in a number of Hollywood blockbusters.
Hitch is my fave, too. What about To Catch A Thief? Was that up to Bond's location standards more?
Brilliant review Calvin!
This is without question a classic film in every way-beautifully crafted and directed with a perfect blend of intrigue,action and humor.
All done with great style and panache.
It is very obvious that it was an enormous influence on the early Bond films(especially Cary Grants performance)
Every 007 film would love this!
Thanks very much John! Yeah, the film is just stunning. Absolutely in love with it and I can't imagine Bond fans not liking it!
Calvin Dyson
You can also see that Cary Grant basically showed the Bond producers how 007 should be played in the series.
(They even offered him the role but he turned it down because he only wanted to do only one.)
Without that style and humor maybe the Bond actors would have played it too hard and serious and it would not have lasted as long as it has!
A must-see masterpiece
I had forgotten how many classic sequences there were in this movie. Upon the mention of the movie, two great moments pop into mind; the crop duster scene and the Mt. Rushmore climax. Then while watching the movie, you rediscover the clever escape from the auction sequence, the U.N. scene and the Mt. Rushmore cafeteria scene (especially memorable thanks to a young extra who must have been scared during rehearsals), the drunken car ride (albeit with rear projection but still done very well). Add to that one excellent score and Cary Grant's charming, funny and serious character and this is easily my second favorite Alfred Hitchcock movie (with only Rear Window's fish in an aquarium aspect and top notch art direction and sound. Back to the classic crop duster scene, it is interesting to note how most other directors would get to the danger of the scene shortly after the main character steps off the bus at the deserted crossroads. But the movie adds to that scene that sick, uncertain feeling a person would have wondering when or if the person he was supposed to meet would be there. The tension and sense of isolation is keenly felt until the danger is introduced offhandedly after some minutes and the antagonist is once again alone and vulnerable. It's an excellent scene.
One can't help but be reminded of this movie's influence on 1976's Silver Streak. There's romance on a train and a character trying to slip by the authorities at a station terminal after his picture is printed in a newspaper as a murderer.
Every time I hear Bernard Hermann's music, I think, "Well, time to play a game of cat and mouse at Mt. Rushmore!"
Please keep doing these hitchkock film reviews
I love scenes that still make you feel tense and on edge even though you know whats going to happen. One scene that does that to great effect in my opinion is the laser table scene from Goldfinger. The music and the camera cuts are excellent in that scene, love it!
Completely agreed! The cropduster scene gets me everytime. Such a masterclass.
Just seeing that weird blue-green background to the M-G-M logo and hearing the first two seconds of Hermann's rising score is enough to give me goosebumps.
A Hitchcock review, as you can see from my avatar I highly approve.
First Hitchcock film I ever saw in any capacity. Your review has compelled me to finally buy the blu Ray, thank you sir.
You won't regret the blu ray purchase! The picture quality is absolutely stunning.
Just bought it today, the special features list alone is intriguing.
Great Review. I couldn't have agreed more or said it any better. When you think about it, this is indeed one of those rare films that not only has so may great aspects to it, but also has almost no faults: sensational acting from each of the 2 main stars and sizzling chemistry between them, great scenery, classic directing, heart-pulsing music, edge-of-your-seat suspense, head-spinning twists forming a great plot, memorably sharp and humorous dialogue, and several unforgettable scenes. How in the world this film did not even get a nomination for best picture or director is beyond me.
Return of the the Hitchcock reviews! Hot damn!
PLEASE REVIEW MGS: SNAKE EATER (Subsistence Version).
It's a 60's themed spy thriller videogame featuring a CIA spy infiltrating a Soviet jungle to find a rocket expert.
I highly recommend it and would love to see you play it. No need for the other games in the franchise, just do this one! PLEASE.
Seconded
It's basically Apocalypse Now.
I got the Alfred Hitchcock Masterpiece Collection which I am working my way through and have adored the majority of the ones I hadn't already seen, it is also beautifully packaged.
You should review in like flint and our man flint.
Great to see the Hitchcock Reviews return.
Thank you Calvin for doing another Hitchcock review!! I missed those!!
I liked the drunk Thornhill driving sequence, but you know, to each his own! The back projection did suck, though.
You owe it to yourself to view Hitchcock’s Notorious. A great spy film.
You hit on an important point about how what the bad guys are after is kept vague. That's what's known as the "MacGuffin" -an object that's not important other than it provides the impetus of the plot (the coded musical message in The Lady Vanishes is another MacGuffin. ). A contrast would be with Polansky's "Chinatown," where the goal of the villain is important in terms of story, theme, and revelation of his character.
Anyway, NbNW is my fave Hitchcock and in my top ten movies.
Mind blown with a young Martin Landau as the main henchman
Can you review psycho 1960 ?!
Cary Grant was asked to play Bond in Dr No, but refused as he wouldn't commit to a multi-picture contract (despite being friends with Cubby). His character in North By Northwest is a charming playboy, but he's still a befuddled innocent to the world of spying. To get an indication of how he might have been as Bond, check him out in Hitchcock's Notorious, where he plays a pretty ruthless but dapper spy. Also Hitch's To Catch A Thief, where he plays a retired cat burglar living as a playboy. He nails the charm of course, but also looks great leaping around buildings. He has great chemistry with the gorgeous and charming Grace Kelly, among the beautiful French Rivera locations. And Charade, where again he plays a suarve spy, this time alongside the iconic Audrey Hepburn in photogenic Paris.
And one of the grumpy old man himself Walter Matthau playing the bad guy.
@@scottjo63 I love how he comes across initially as a douchebag, offering Audrey Hepburn some sandwiches he finds in a cupboard! It's a great cast, with James Coburn on especially menacing form. The bit where he flicks lit matches at Hepburn trapped in a phone booth is chilling, as is his grin.
Grant's first appearance in the film where he just appears in view is very Bondian. He looks iconic, like a spy.
@@davidjames579 and don't forget George Kennedy playing the disabled henchman with the claw arm.
Hitchcock told screenwriter Ernest Lehrman that they were playing a giant organ and the audience would follow the tune wherever it went. That sums up the movie perfectly. It's a theme park ride that takes you through all kinds of twist and turns, with action, dialogue, reveals, locations, music. So yeah the story doesn't really matter. Hitchcock had many times done The Innocent Man On The Run story and North is his perfecting of it.
It's weird to think that in an alternate universe, Hitchcock directed Dr No starring Cary Grant as Bond (both were approached). As it would have been so similar to North-By-Northwest. That aside, Broccoli did keep trying to get his mate Hitch to do a Bond, and the closest came with Thunderball, which he almost did. It would have been interesting to have a Bond in the franchise directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Would it have stood out too much from the others? Could the franchise have carried on from there? Would it have started a trend of hiring big name directors? As with the Mission: Impossible films, would each have imprinted each with a signature style?
It's interesting to think about isn't it? I only really find that it's with some of the latest Craig films that more "auteur" filmmakers have been trying to put their own print on the series. Otherwise, the man on the street who might have seen all the Bond's wouldn't be able to tell you there's even a difference in the direction. We fans of course can tell.
@@calvindyson I know you can tell a Terence Young Bond film, right Calvin? Not enough coverage! lol Yes you're right. Although Peter Hunt's direction is pretty unique, and has auteur flourishes (Bond 'remembering' Tracy being dragged away in the reflection of the window). John Glen's self-admitted 'signature' was Bond disturbing pigeons, and alerting the bad guys. Quantum is probably the most auteur-y. I hated it initially, but have grown to like it. Not sure what Fukanaga's direction will bring. I think he has a similar back catalog to Forster. But don't let that put you off. Forster was trying to ape Bourne more than his own style. At the very least, we should get well directed dialog scenes. As for action I'm not sure, but he did do Sin Nombre, which captures well the tension of being an illegal immigrant trying to get to America. Regardless of personal thoughts on the politics of that, it has to be admitted that pulling that off almost requires you to be like a secret agent.
One final nugget is that when Casino Royale (1967) was to have been made as a serious Bond film, it was apparently to have been helmed by legendary director, Howard Hawks. Considering he managed the sultry, innuendo-leaden dialogue in classics The Big Sleep and To Have And Have Not, this could have been very interesting. His style of films in fact created the term 'Hawk-sian', and the interplay between Indiana Jones and Marion Ravenwood is described as this. A universe where Bond films are directed by Hitchcock and Hawks, wow!
Les Tremayne plays an auctioneer in the film. He was the newsreader on the radio in Goldfinger's room. Nice link to Bond,there.
I did not know that! Thanks for this!
What I love about Hitchcock films is that they give us a slightly warped world from the one we know. They have a distinct feel. A heightened reality. And when you settle down to watch one you are on Planet Hitchcock for the duration. I get the same feel with 007 pictures, especially the early classics.
can't go wrong with a Alfred Hitchcock movie
Never! :D
@@calvindyson one of the greatest
Probably the best film to introduce newbies to Hitchcock followed by Rear Window then go from there
Very much agreed!
The crop dusting sequence was shot out side of Bakersfield, Ca.
Also, Les Treymayne, the auctioneer, did a voice over as a radio newsman in Goldfinger.
With North by Northwest is Truly a all time great movie
Love the film, just saw it again in the cinema last year.! Thanks for the great review!
Thanks, Michael! Much appreciated. It's a great film for the big screen. I saw it at the cinema when I was about 16 and it's so great watching the film with an audience reacting and laughing and such.
Did anyone notice how Bernard Herrmann recycled parts of his score from "On Dangerous Ground" (1951) into some of the iconic scenes in this film?
Great review. Got to agree about Topaz, the one Hitchcock film I find unwatchable.
I saw this movie when I was 7, and it always stuck with me. Still one of the best movies ever made over 60 years later.
What are the bad guys after?
The Mcguffin.
What's a Mcguffin?
To quote Hitchcock, "It's the thing that characters in the movie care about that the audience doesn't care about."
In this movie he drowns our the description, as a joke, the audience doesn't need to know, because they don't care anyways.
Excellent review. It’s a classic in ever way.
This is my favourite Hitchcock film that I have seen.
There are others I prefer I think but this is still such a cracking film
Calvin - Bond Reviewer fair enough psycho and dial m for murder are great too.
The reason they raised the sound of the engines as they walked past the aeroplane was nothing to do with not caring about the plot, it was a playful way of not having the agent repeat what's the government's plan is in the story (which we already know about at that point). Most modern films just skip to the end of the explanation.
My favourite movie, still remember that when im first time watched the movie i drink Pepsi and eating pizza ;)) also hello from Russia!
Lovely review and great video, Calvin. I also think the waistcoat and tie combo really suits you!
Thanks, Sam! Though I should dress up seeing as it's Hitchcock and everything!
A classic movie review, wonderful! I must watch his movies but i've always been putting them off. I even own a box set... Also perhaps a war movie as an idea? I just watched Schindler's List for the first time.
That was an incredible movie!!!
Rope is hands down Hitch’s most underrated film. Frenzy doesn’t get enough appreciation either.
I adore Rope, and Marnie gets nowhere near enough love for me. I remember watching the latter around 02:00 on ITV one random Wednesday night when I was 18. I can't exactly say why, but it hit me more than most movies ever have.
@@liquidgeorge Marnie is a film that would DEF Not get made today. It has its moments, though the end is kind of rushed. I imagine Calvin will do eventually cause of the Bond connection.
always good to see another Hitchcock AND Bond fan. Two of my faves of all time. Hitch created the spy thriller.
You look great in that waistcoat and necktie
Great review - rewatched the film yesterday. Surprised how funny it is! I like the artificial studio-filmed style, I think it gives the film a sort of self-aware quality which matches the parody in the dialogue
Although Bond wasn't a Hitchcock creation, I gotta admit that the plane crashing into the oil tanker is worthy of any spectacular death scene where 007 & some innocent bystanders narrowly escape their own demise while the bad guys get what's coming to them. 6:44 I love it when Mother takes the $50 bribe from Roger after scolding him for wasting time chasing down those silly assassins.
Besides Martin Landau on Mission: Impossible, two other cast members were in 1960s spy shows -- Leo G. Carroll on The Man From UNCLE (his Mr. Waverly is very similar to The Professor here) and Edward Platt (Thornhill's lawyer), who ended up playing the Chief on Get Smart.
Great review. You should do also do the great Hitchcovk spy film Foreign Correspondent from 1940. It has many Bondian elements and was co-written by regular Bond scribe Richard Maibaum.
Ive seen this movie over 40xs in my life.. and it never gets old.. Cary grant is the perfect Roger Thornhill. Love the music and the scenes..
North by Northwest is my second favorite Hitchcock film. My very favorite is Rear Window. Both are such great films.
Alfred Hitchcock would have wanted to shoot on location at Mount Rushmore but the U.S. National Park Service but like the idea of an action sequence happening on the monument so Hitchcock was forced to use a set. The United Nations also refused to allow filming so Hitchcock went rogue and had a hidden camera take the live shot of Cary Grant walking into the real UN Building then used a set for the inside.
I think the problem is he didn't find outdoor substitutes, or real interior locations. He was well known for not liking to work outside the sound stage, as there he had full control over lighting and the mise-en-scene and nothing could affect it. Calvin points out in his Torn Curtain review that a simple outdoor cafe scene looks painfully fake with it's obvious studio set and lighting, and back projection. As he says, couldn't they have set it up in the Universal Studios car park?
Finally watched this on the big screen, fantastic movie, it is a bit longer than I expected but was never dull and glad I got to see it on the big screen instead of a monitor/tv.
Review Vertigo next!
For this series, you should say, 'hello Alfriends'
I'd like to see you do The 39 Steps, the Hitch version obviously.
The crop dusting scene was filmed near my city!
I put NBNW on whenever I want to escape from the World. Vertigo rates high with me as well.
It's my favourite Hitchcock film, what's not to like? It's very entertaining and in my top 10. The 12 years between Connery and Ford in Last Crusade is beaten by the 7 years between Grant and Landis; their scenes are good and the fact she could be his sister makes it all the more humorous. Watching this review reminded me that the overhead bed on the train scene, where it gets opened up with someone in it is the same as the scene in Live and Let Die.
Calvin, Always loved your vids!! You always have a positive attitude;)
Thanks for that! I get some comments every now and then about how negative I am sometimes for pointing out flaws in the films and such but it all comes from a good place and the vast majority of things I review on this channel I have much fondness for!
Thanks for that! I get some comments every now and then about how negative I am sometimes for pointing out flaws in the films and such but it all comes from a good place and the vast majority of things I review on this channel I have much fondness for!
Great review. I like how you are starting to Branch out. As for the other Hitchcock movies you mentioned, if they are anything like this one I'll have to check them out.
Excellent review man! I need to rewatch this film when I can. *gets distracted trying to work out whats in your blu ray collection*
Matthew Harkin thanks mate! I had to use the Hitchcock boxset to cover up my Disney collection 😂
Top 3 of my favourite films of all time, occasionally being my number 1. Great to see you cover it so well.
+CalvinDyson, what did you think of the ending? While not a Hitchcock film, what did you think of The Manchurian Candidate?
Just watched this film for the first time (currently working my way through the AFI 100) and it’s amazing!! I love how you know very little about the plot, that way you are just as confused as Thornhill is as to why everything is happening and it adds to the suspense. The tiny bit of information your given at the end helps mount the tension for the finale. Thought the ending was slightly abrupt though.
Also, I know it’s not a spy film but I’d love to hear what you think of double indemnity.
Besides Leo G. Carroll playing nearly the same character as on U.N.C.L.E. (Martin Landau was a guest star as well), forgot Edward Platt, the Chief from Get Smart, is in this as well. Also did not know till fairly recently that Landau's henchman is supposed to be gay.
Great to see you returning to Hitchcock on this channel Calvin. He is one of my three favourite directors and I enjoyed your earlier Hitchcock review videos. North by Northwest certainly is a great movie, one of Hitchcock's most entertaining. Oddly though, I really get into it when I first saw it. I think I had heard the comparisons to Bond so many times that I expected it to be more like a Bond film. It was only as I explored more of Hitchcock's work that I started to really like it for what it is...a Hitchcock film.
Have you considered reviewing the Bourne Identity? It seems very pivotal in shaping the Daniel Craig Bond.
It is? I did not know that. Very interesting.
I’ve seen four Hitchcock films: Vertigo, Strangers on a Train, The 39 Steps, and most recently North By Northwest. It was ok, but didn’t stand out much for me. It drags on a bit but is pretty interesting. The best scene was the iconic plane chase. The atmosphere of the empty desert building up to the plane was very nice.
I watched this on the big screen at The Tyneside Cinema yesterday and absolutely loved it!
Please can you do a few more Hitchcock reviews, they are great for example
Dial M For Murder
Vertigo
The Birds
Strangers On A Train
Psycho
The Wrong Man
Definitely review Topaz please! I look forward to your Austin Powers review
My review of Topaz may interest you? twains-random-reviews.blogspot.com/2018/10/topaz.html
The back projection in Hitchcock films when they are clearly in location had annoyed me for years. In to catch a thief Cary Grant and Grace Kelly are in the south of france at various lovely locations and then suddenly they are in a studio with the same view on a projection behind them ! It makes no sense now but I guess they thought it looked as realistic back then,,,
I completely agree with this. There’s a shot in The Birds that bothers me when Rod Taylor is walking Tippi Hedren into the restaurant and they’re on the location clearly and then there’s one shot in there with back projection and it’s very distracting. I believe the reasoning was because of sound though. On a studio it’s easier to record the on set dialogue whereas if it’s on location it’s often looped in after and Hitchcock didn’t like dialogue looping apparently.
@@calvindyson it is a shame that some will mark the films down due to what looks amateurish now but yeah I know he preferred to film in studios, just so odd when you can see they are there .
You can’t kidnap me I have three bar tenders and two ex wives who depend on me
Still waiting for a Manchurian Candidate (1962) review. I would love to here your opinion of it.
Great Video. What is the chance Calvin though that these reviews become more alike to your review on Johnny English 2 and O.K Connery? While I like these, I do prefer that style, (though I know that must be harder to get done.)
Nice unintentional connection the spy world, this film stars Martin Landau as Leonard, who is perhaps best known for portraying the character Rollin Hand on the TV series Mission Impossible beginning in 1966, a show which served as the inspiration for the movie series of the same name beginning in 1996.
Is it just me or the music during the first few seconds of the video reminds me of the music when Oddjob knocks Bond out in "Goldfinger"?
It's similar. I don't know if it was deliberate by John Barry, as the shadow of Oddjob resembles the rotund shadow of Hitchcock.
You're completely wrong about James Mason. He was perfect. The part they could have cut out most of was the making out scene on the train. And, committing heresy, although I don't dislike Eva Marie Saint, I think someone else could have done just as well.
Yeah, Mason is purringly villainous: "You make this very room a theatre". He's chilling, and sophisticated. I could listen to his speeches for hours. He would have made a great Bond villain, and was actually considered to play Drax in Moonraker.
@@davidjames579 He would have made a great Bond villain. In fact, he was briefly considered for Bond himself. I would love to have seen him as Saruman in LOTR. But if you can't Mason, get Christopher Lee.
@@fredloeper8579 Yes, he would have been great as Saruman!
Can we have more Hitchcock reviews please. You do a great job of them.
The set design in NxNW is in my top 5.
Eve Kendall might be considered the precursor to James Bond. Actually, she does portray an intelligence operative (far) more realistically than that world-famous spy!
Is the airplane in the crash with the fuel truck radio controlled that what I would like to know
Calvin. Would you say that North by Northwest is better than all of the Bond Films individually?
THE INTROOOOO. YESSSSSSSSSS
Films like this show that Hitchcock really could have made a great Bond film, in particular the Terence Young kinds of films like From Russia With Love or Thunderball. Heck, Cary Grant does like he could have been a Bond.
Carey Grant was also offered the Bond role, but turned it down as it was 4 picture deal.
Mr. Calvin sir, I noticed you have a collection in the background. Out of curiosity, will you go over it someday :)
I may well do! I have a very eclectic movie taste!
@@calvindyson Nice Picture, Love birds and whatnot.
So good! When will you review Carry on Spying