North by Northwest (50th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray Book) [Blu-ray]
Starring: Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason, Martin LandauDirector: Alfred Hitchcock
Studio: Warner Home Video
MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Subtitled, Widescreen
Running Time: 131 minutes
DVD Release: November 3rd 2009
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DVD Review
A strong candidate for the most sheerly entertaining and enjoyable movie ever made by a Hollywood studio (with Citizen Kane, Only Angels Have Wings and Trouble in Paradise running neck and neck). Positioned between the much heavier and more profoundly disturbing Vertigo (1958) and the stark horror of Psycho (1960), North by Northwest (1959) is Alfred Hitchcock at his most effervescent in a romantic comedy-thriller that also features one of the definitive Cary Grant performances. Which is not to say that this is just "Hitchcock Lite"; seminal Hitchcock critic Robin Wood (in his book Hitchcock's Films Revisited) makes an airtight case for this glossy MGM production as one of The Master's "unbroken series of masterpieces from Vertigo to Marnie." It's a classic Hitchcock Wrong Man scenario: Grant is Roger O. Thornhill (initials ROT), an advertising executive who is mistaken by enemy spies for a U.S. undercover agent named George Kaplan. Convinced these sinister fellows (James Mason as the boss, and Martin Landau as his henchman) are trying to kill him, Roger flees and meets a sexy Stranger on a Train (Eva Marie Saint), with whom he engages in one of the longest, most convolutedly choreographed kisses in screen history. And, of course, there are the famous set pieces: the stabbing at the United Nations, the crop-duster plane attack in the cornfield (where a pedestrian has no place to hide), and the cliffhanger finale atop the stone faces of Mount Rushmore. Plus a sparkling Ernest Lehman script and that pulse-quickening Bernard Herrmann score. What more could a moviegoer possibly desire? --Jim Emerson
User Reviews
Hitch at His Most Enjoyable! - Rating: 5/5
This is one of those pictures you can watch again and again--totally delightful -- like eating a big dish of ice-cream. Wonderful photography, Hitchcock's great directing skills and a superb cast. James Mason is the perfect "nice" villain--just what Hitchcock always said a villain should be. The picture has many memorable Hitchcock set-pieces that are now movie legend -- the kidnapping of Grant in the Plaza hotel, the assassination in the U.N., the crop-dusting sequence, the chase across the Mount Rushmore monument. Add to this a good deal of humor and Bernard Hermann's brilliant score. How can it miss?
Sorry to see so many reviews that complain of defective discs. It's a dual-layer disc and apparently the place in the picture being described is the layer transition point, where the player must switch from layer one to layer two. It sounds like a run of defective discs. I got my disc in 2000 which I believe was the original release and it plays OK. I plan to buy the Blu-Ray version when the price drops a little. Incidentally, some Blu-Ray players, when playing standard DVDs, take a little longer to negotiate the layer transition point than many late-model standard DVD players. My original release by Warner of this MGM classic, which is anamorphic, looks wonderful on a Blu-Ray player and a large screen. I can just imagine what the Blu-Ray will look like.
An All Time Masterpiece - Rating: 5/5
Alfred Hitchcock was one the best if not THE best directors ever and certainly the best suspense director. Here we have him telling one of his favorite plots- the wrong man plot. Very early on in the movie, Grant's character Roger Thornhill gets mistaken for spy George Kaplan and from there, the plot takes off. We're taken to the UN building, a lonely prairie road, Chicago and finally to Mt. Rushmore and the plot moves at a very crisp pace.
Hitchcock cast all the parts expertly and all the leads are outstanding- Grant, Mason, saint, Carroll and Landau. Mason's character doesn't have that much screen time but it is hard to notice this as he is so memorable in his role. This is certainly of all the All Time Great Movies and is deserving of all the many praises it has received over the years. A movie that must be seen!
moviemars - Rating: 5/5
This is not a good place to order any DVD. I ordered North by Northwest and was sent a German copy. I don't speak or understand German so I sent it back. Unfortunately, shipping is not refunded and so a person ends up paying for shipping to get it and shipping to return an item when it was the wrong item sent to me.\ I will not order from this place again
North by Northwest - Rating: 5/5
A very exciting Alfred Hitchcock movie. It has you on the edge of your seat.
DVD stops working 1/2 way through - Rating: 1/5
This is one of my favorite Hitchcock films. Unfortunately the DVD that I bought from Amazon marketplace is defective. I didn't try to watch this until after the return period (so money spent was lost). Midway through the film, when Cary Grant is at the auction house, the DVD starts showing just pixels, skips, and nothing further can be seen even when trying to advance to other scenes. The DVD disc itself was brand new, no scratches, so there must have been something wrong with this batch. I hope Warner re-releases this soon.
