Alfred Hitchcock's North By Northwest: How do you rate it after all these years?

Famously, Hitchcock originally said that he wanted Cary Grant to hide in one of the stone faces' nostrils but then get discovered by the bad guys when he has a sneezing attack. For logistical reasons they opted not to do it.

 

Always liked this movie, I think it's genus just like all his movies.

 

It looks very good, especially the lavish interior of that mansion, but also seems kind of empty as a movie and not one of my favorites. The head of the US Supreme Court went on record as liking it though...

 

IMO, except for the cameraman in the Bad Boys movie, all of those were pretty obscure (but well known amongst fans of the particular movie). The article seems to state they these are major gaffs that take you out of the movie. That is laughable. Some of them I had to look twice or more to even catch. I have the same opinion of the kid in North by Northwest. I would have never seen it if it wasn't pointed out to me.

These film issues are very intesting and funny to watch and discuss, but they hardly affect my ability to enjoy the movie.

 

IIRC, his working title for the film was The Man in Lincoln's Nose.

 

It's a good film, but it's not part of the list of my favorite Hitch works.

 

If I remember right Thornhill has to repeat himself to they guy and raises his voice. This is what gets the attention of the henchmen who are scanning the room.

Several people have compared this movie to The 39 Steps. I saw that movie years ago but don't remember much about it. But are you sure you're not thinking of Saboteur? That's the movie where the storyline is similar to NxNW with a cross-country chase that winds up at the Statue of Liberty.

I actually had to watch North by Northwest several times to totally understand certain elements of it. The very first time was thrilling but there were a couple of things I didn't follow. Along with those repeat viewings I noticed the holes in the plot, but they really don't bother me. It is one of my favorites.

I had a nephew, in his mid 40's, who knew I was a fan of Hitchcock movies and he admitted several years ago that he had never seen one. On a weekend when he was visiting and staying at my house we watched North by Northwest. I told him before the movie started that it wasn't 'scary'. He seemed confused so I explained that most of his movies aren't really 'scary', per se, except possibly Psycho and The Birds. I used the word 'suspenseful'. He loved the movie and asked afterwords if all of his movies were so.... stylish. I said yeah, that's a good way of describing them. Stylish. Shortly after that he bought a blu-ray set of the classic movies (Psycho, Vertigo, Rear Window, NxNW, etc.).

 

On the set of North By Northwest: