USA 1959
While preparing “Vertigo”, Hitchcock was taken ill and
during his convalescence, he had read the book “The Wreck of Mary Deare”,
which impressed him to such a degree, that he decided for it to become his
next project. He subsequently made a one picture deal with MGM to film it. To
write the screenplay, Hitchcock took Ernest Lehman onboard, and while he
wasn’t that impressed with the book, actually thinking the book wouldn’t make
a good film, he wouldn’t miss the chance to work with Hitchcock. Lehman and
Hitchcock would meet and spend the day talking, but each time Lehman began
talking about the film, Hitchcock became distressed. It became obvious to
Lehman, that Hitchcock had no idea how to turn the book into a film, which
again stressed him more, as he was less than enthusiastic about writing it.
Eventually, Lehman told Hitchcock, that he wouldn’t write it, to which
Hitchcock relaxed said, “then we do something else.” Discussing what that
something else should be, Lehman eventually told Hitchcock, that he wanted to
make a Hitchcock film to end all Hitchcock films, and thus “North by
Northwest” was born.
During the following weeks, Hitchcock and Lehman would then sit and talk about
different story elements, which eventually turned into an idea, which then
took shape and finally became the script. The story is a concoction of various
ideas Hitchcock always wanted to make, of paraphrasing different Hitchcock
films and themes and so forth, for instance Hitchcock’s idea, to have a
speaker at the UN become more and more agitated about a member who was
sleeping during the speech, only to discover he actually was dead. Eventually,
it all began to take a shape and later on turned into a story.
Roger O. Thornhill is your everyday Madison Avenue advertising man, who gets
mistaken for the spy George Kaplan. Escaping a staged accident, he is
determined to find out what its all about, but instead of answers, he finds
himself on the run from the police, being a murder suspect, and from the those
who set him up and wants him dead. The problem is however, that George Kaplan
doesn’t exist, but is a phantom created by an intelligence agency, a decoy, so
that the real spy isn’t uncovered.
“North by Northwest” is the definitive Hitchcock film. It is a celebration of
everything that Hitchcock is about: stunning set pieces, seductive blondes,
espionage, double chase motif, mistaken identities, innocent accused,
macguffin’s, trains, Hitchcockian wit and Cary Grant. In short, all of
Hitchcock’s dreams and nightmares in overdrive.
As with all of Hitchcock’s films, it deals with loss of identity. Here even
more, as Roger O Thornhill really doesn’t have an identity to begin with. He
is still attached to his mother and the middle initial, “O”, stands for
nothing (except an in-joke about David O. Selznick). As Donald Spoto notes,
the film is about self-realization. Once he unwillingly becomes George Kaplan,
he becomes a man of action, rather than a man of excuses, thereby gaining a
personality, an identity and realizing himself.
It is no coincidence that Cary Grant became the lead. He was Hitchcock’s
favourite actor, more than that, he was Hitchcock’s dream projection of
himself. “North by Northwest” can thus be seen as a homage, not only to
himself, but also to Grant and to acting.
A key motif is make-believe and Hitchcock even creates somewhat of a
parallelism between advertising and espionage, as “in advertising, there is no
such thing as a lie”, which one might as well say about the world of
espionage. Both worlds live by deceiving others, in fact their survival
depends upon it.
“North by Northwest” became Hitchcock’s greatest box office success, only
beaten by Wyler's “Ben Hur”, and today it is the most seen and most celebrated of his
films. It is a film made by one of the greatest masters of cinema at the
height of his career, it is a declaration of love to everything his art was
about and thus the definitive Hitchcock film. A timeless masterpiece.
Posters
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Theatrical Release: July 17, 1959
Reviews More Reviews DVD Reviews
DVD Comparison:
Warner Home Entertainment - Region 1 - NTSC vs. Warner Home Entertainment ((UK)) - Region 2 - PAL
NOTE: * The DVD of "North by Northwest" in "The Alfred Hitchcock Signature Collection" is the same 04/08/2000 R1 edition.
Big thanks to Henrik Sylow and Guillaume Mareri for the Screen Caps!
(Warner Home Entertainment - Region 1 - NTSC - LEFT vs. Warner Home Entertainment (UK) - Region 2 - PAL - RIGHT)
| DVD Box Covers |
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Also comes in The Alfred Hitchcock Signature Collection
which includes -
Strangers on a Train Two-Disc Edition /
North by
Northwest /
Dial M for Murder /
Foreign Correspondent /
Suspicion /
The
Wrong Man /
Stage Fright /
I Confess /
Mr. and Mrs. Smith
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| Distribution |
Warner Home Entertainment Region 1 - NTSC |
Warner
Home Entertainment Region 2 - PAL |
| Runtime | 2:16:15 | 2:10:44 (4% PAL speedup) |
| Video |
1.78:1 Aspect Ratio
16X9 enhanced |
1.78:1 Aspect Ratio
16X9 enhanced |
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NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes. |
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Bitrate:
Warner Home Entertainment
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Bitrate:
Warner Home Entertainment ((UK))
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| Audio | 5.1 Dolby Digital English, 1.0 Dolby Digital Mono French, 2.0 Dolby Digital (score only) |
5.1 Dolby Digital English, 1.0 Dolby Digital Mono French, 2.0 Dolby Digital (score only) |
| Subtitles | English, French and None | English, French, Italian, Dutch, Arabic, Spanish, German, English CC |
| Features |
Release Information: Studio: Warner Home Entertainment Aspect Ratio:
Edition Details:
Chapters 46 |
Release Information: Studio: Warner Home Entertainment Aspect Ratio:
Edition Details:
DVD
Release Date: April 9th, 2001 Chapters 46 |
| Comments |
This is a stunning DVD. The
picture is crisp, sharp and has saturated balanced colours. Every detail
is clear and the soft focus scenes are smooth. It has never looked better.
Except for the framing (see below), there are minute differences. In the cornfield scenes the R2 is slightly more blue than the R1. Likewise elsewhere involving solid colours, the R2 is more vivid, as well as being lesser "grainy". While both look amazing, the R2 is a notch better. The sound has been updated from mono to 5.1 Dolby Digital. While purists would prefer the presence of the original mono track, the 5.1 DD supports the film very well, without being intrusive, and as its very center speaker sound to begin with, it really only makes the viewing experience better. The additional material is superb. Starting out with an audio commentary by writer Ernest Lehman, he shares valuable insight knowledge. However, this is not a full frontal historical commentary and there are long pauses. Following comes a very well produced 40 minutes documentary about the production. Rounding up comes three trailers. An added bonus is the isolated score by Herrmann. One could wish that Warner had gotten permission to use the story boards and the Hitchcock interview, which are to be found on the Criterion Laser, as these are very valuable and insightful. About the Original Aspect Ratio: There are several different framings of “North by Northwest”. The MGM laserdisc had the AR of 1.66:1, the Criterion had 1.75:1, the DVD is in 1.78:1. “North by Northwest” was shot in VistaVision, basic aspect ratio of 1.66:1, but it was the property of MGM, who framed their widescreen releases into 1.75:1. This was before 1.85:1 became a standard widescreen format and when each studio had their own unique widescreen format. One can thus think of the 1.66:1 VistaVision ratio as open matte, while the MGM ratio of 1.75:1 was the Original Theatrical Aspect Ratio. It remains to be said, that during the 60s, re-releases of “North by Northwest” was reformatted into 1.85:1, as this format became the standard. Please note, that this is my guess, in order to answer for the various aspect ratios. About the DVD Aspect Ratio: While both the R1 and the R2 DVD have the aspect ratio of 1.78:1 (16x9), they are not the same. Using the 800px frame as base, the R2 DVD has 5px black space on the left side, where the R1 has none, but is missing about 10px of frame material, visible on the R2. Additional, the R1 has two distinct green miscolorations running along the left side, both approx. 10px wide. On the top, the R1 is missing 5px of frame material, visible on the R2. This suggests, that the R2 image is the OAR of 1.75:1 stretched to fit the 1.78:1 frame, while the R1 image is cropped (or scanned) down to 1.78:1. * The DVD of "North by Northwest" in "The Alfred Hitchcock Signature Collection" is the 04/08/2000 R1 edition. |
DVD Menus
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Same form Both editions!
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Screen Captures
(Warner Home Entertainment - Region 1 - NTSC - TOP vs. Warner Home Entertainment ((UK)) - Region 2 - PAL - BOTTOM)
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(Warner Home Entertainment - Region 1 - NTSC - TOP vs. Warner Home Entertainment ((UK)) - Region 2 - PAL - BOTTOM)
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(Warner Home Entertainment - Region 1 - NTSC - TOP vs. Warner Home Entertainment ((UK)) - Region 2 - PAL - BOTTOM)
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(Warner Home Entertainment - Region 1 - NTSC - TOP vs. Warner Home Entertainment ((UK)) - Region 2 - PAL - BOTTOM)
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(Warner Home Entertainment - Region 1 - NTSC - TOP vs. Warner Home Entertainment ((UK)) - Region 2 - PAL - BOTTOM)
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(Warner Home Entertainment - Region 1 - NTSC - TOP vs. Warner Home Entertainment ((UK)) - Region 2 - PAL - BOTTOM)
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| DVD Box Covers |
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Also comes in The Alfred Hitchcock Signature Collection
which includes -
Strangers on a Train Two-Disc Edition /
North by
Northwest /
Dial M for Murder /
Foreign Correspondent /
Suspicion /
The
Wrong Man /
Stage Fright /
I Confess /
Mr. and Mrs. Smith
|
|
| Distribution |
Warner Home Entertainment Region 1 - NTSC |
Warner
Home Entertainment Region 2 - PAL |
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