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North by Northwest -- The Special Edition

© David Macdonald

North by Northwest is one of the great screen action entertainments; a fine precursor to such similar pictures as Speed, The Fugitive, and even the Bond series. It may be even fair to say that North by Northwest is something of a much more down to earth Bond flick, as it, too, contains the right amount of action, wild chases, romance with beautiful women, and the sinister bad guy and his henchmen - and a suave, sophisticated hero who can charm his way through almost everything. Recently, Warner Brothers has done a great thing by finally releasing the film in a newly remastered format, on VHS and DVD. The VHS tape in my possession also includes a lengthy documentary on the making of the film, as well as two original trailers. But I am sorely disappointed that the film is not in wide-screen format..... oh, well, better luck next time!

The film is nothing short of Alfred Hitchcock`s most purely entertaining. It is not creepy and heavy like Vertigo, is not shocking like Psycho, and is not claustrophobic like Rear Window, but is sheer thrill-a-minute film making, done in the best possible way. Cary Grant stars as an ad executive, twice divorced and still dependant on his mother, who is suddenly kidnapped by two thugs who believe he is a man named George Kaplan. He is taken to a large house, where he is interrogated by whom appears to be its owner, played by James Mason, the leader of an underground crime syndicate. Grant manages to escape with his life, but this is only the beginning, as he soon becomes involved in a complicated mess that has him framed for the murder of an UN official and involved in a nationwide chase. He also has an unlikely romance with a beautiful blonde (Eva Marie Saint), who may not be whom she appears to be.

While I won't get into the story in extreme detail, I can certainly reveal some of the themes. The film gives us a situation of an innocent man who is forced into a diabolical plan, and, even worse, is unable to convince anyone that he is so affected. At every turn, he is denied the right to be believed. His first scene with the leader of the criminal organization is frustrating, because over and over again, Grant says "I'm not George Kaplan, whoever he is!", and yet he is not believed, and is nearly killed for it. Later, he cannot convince anyone, including the authorities, that he was nearly killed, and of course, when the UN ambassador is killed, Grant is the immediate suspect. This material is quite obvious, but it is even more frustrating when Grant, in an attempt to find out whom Kaplan is, stupidly puts himself into a bigger trap: if he is not Kaplan, as one of the bad guys points out, then why is he in his hotel room, why is he answering the phone, and so on. All the cards are stacked against Grant, and only a miracle will get him out of it, but not before many, many close calls.

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