Features: Magazine | Literary Review | Life | Metro Plus | Open Page | Education Plus | Book Review | Business | SciTech | Friday Review | Young World | Property Plus | Quest | Folio |

Video Watch

This fortnight at fabmall.com

North by North West

MGM, 1959

Starring Gary Grant, Eva

Marie Saint, James Mason

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock

VCD, Rs. 199

There's a certain pleasure that has been denied to anyone born after the '80s — the joy of watching a Hitchcock thriller. Gen Y knows more about the machinations of the CIA than we did about our next-door neighbours. To a child of the '90s growing up with films like Spy Game, Clear and Present Danger and Sum of All Fears and receiving a more complex understanding of the intrigues of espionage organisations, the simpler plot line of North by Northwest might seem too easy. But that doesn't stop this classic comic thriller from hooking you in at scene one and never really letting you go.

Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant), a Madison Avenue advertising man, has been mistaken for an FBI agent, George Kaplan. Facing a police force that believes he has murdered a U.N. diplomat and chased by an espionage gang that won't let him live at any cost, Thornhill dives headlong into the adventure of a lifetime, armed only with a bravado that no one but Grant could ever hope to reproduce.

Along for the ride is gorgeous femme fatale Eve Kendall (Eva Marie Saint). The plot hinges entirely on the question of identity. Mistaken identity leads an innocent man into situations of life and death, and as he struggles to find his way through the ordeals, he finds that none are what they appear to be.

Thornhill himself is an enigmatic entity, with the monogram R.O.T. on his handkerchief. "What does the `O' stand for," Eve asks, and he dismisses the question with a simple "Nothing". And the man that has caused all of the chaos is fictional; he is a made-up spy to hide the identity of the real undercover agent. One of the probable origins of the title is this sense of loss of identity and direction. Moreover, north by northwest is not clearly marked out on a compass, and is thus somewhat unclear and amorphous, much like Thornhill's life and fate.

But don't let the weight of that explanation get to you. This film is anything but a heavy affair. A wonderful melange of comic timing, unabashed double entendre, heart-in-mouth moments and intrigue and excitement, this is the perfect entertainer.

The death-defying drunken run down the hill at the start of the film symbolises Thornhill's journey throughout the film. You know he'll get away by the skin his teeth, but that doesn't let you get off the edge of your seat. There are a couple of seminal, defining scenes that you should watch out for. The sexual tension between Thornhill and Kendall comes almost immediately to mind. There are few lines I can remember that set the stage for a one-night than their train encounter. Kendall propositions Thornhill with a classy insolence that modern writers could little hope to achieve.

Thornhill's tomfoolery during the auction is another sequence to watch out for. It is hard to believe that such an incredibly straight face could pull off such delicious comic timing. The movie also has the classic scene where Thornhill is chased by a cropduster plane. And the cliffhanging finale on Mount Rushmore is the icing.

And all of this is perfectly heightened by a rousing, thunderous score by Bernard Herrman that's gung ho from the word go.

Don't go by the Oscars on this one. The film received three nominations and no wins.

And none of the nominations came for best actor, director or score. This is just one of the many films that an often-unreliable Academy has passed up over the years. The cheeky shot of a train entering a tunnel says it all about this film. And for the Hitchcock fan, there the master of suspense reveals his witty side too.

RAKESH MEHAR

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail