North By Northwest (1959) 136m. ***** D: Alfred Hitchcock. Hitchcock matched, but never topped this grand tale of mistaken identity and political intrigue. Cary Grant stars as Roger Thornhill, a Madison Avenue ad executive who is mistaken for a spy by the spies' rivals. After escaping an attempt at his life, Thornhill begins a cross-country chase in search of his alter-ego. Along the way he meets the mysterious Eve, who may be more invovled than she appears. While the film's final half hour can't match the frenetic pace of the beginning (what could?), the total package is extraordinary. Hitchcock utilizes familiar themes (mistaken identity, domineering mother, the icy blond woman), and crafts them into a film possibly equaled, but unsurpassed before or after in sheer entertainment value. Cary Grant is at his deadpan best as Thornhill, the harrowed yet poised everyman. He gets to deliver some of the bestlines in cinema: "These men , they poured a bottle of bourbon down my throat - no mother they didn't give me a chaser." Eve St. Marie is equally adept as the cold, sexy Eve. The rest of the cast, including Martin Landau and James Mason all do fine work in small roles. North By Northwest is a timeless film from a lost era of filmmaking. Time is taken to develop character, to give motivation and give the audience reason to care for or dislike them. Today's filmmakers would do well to study NBNW. The plot never drags, but time is taken to let Grant woo St. Marie on a train, or to let Grant ham it up while playing drunk. While not the deepest, or most disturbing of Hitchcock, NBNW might be the most fun.
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