North by Northwest
ALFRED HITCHCOCK, 1959
2 STARS OUT OF 5
A case of mistaken identity turns a free life into a confusing prison. North by Northwest is a thriller, and it seems to be nothing more than that if you ask its creators. If Rear Window was a full meal, this plays like desert, and there’s certainly nothing wrong with that, but the lead with all the snappy lines and a twisty plot with a focus on thrills doesn’t get me high.
I rolled my eyes more than a prissy 13 year old during the course of this film. Grant, as the businessman Richard Thornhill, is a walking one-line machine. Some got a giggle out of me, but more often than not, it left me frustrated. Then, there’s the romance with Eve Kendall, who is also caught in the hell of a double identity, though for her it’s all in the job. The Thornhill-Kendall affair is complicated, but also contains so many cringey romantic lines and moments, I felt like a little kid believing in cooties again.
The Scene of the Film is, of course, the crop duster assault on Grant when he’s followed directions to the middle of Indiana to meet the real spy, George Kaplan. Here, Grant doesn’t get to talk, and the action is edge-of-your-seat stuff. Too bad this wasn’t the final scene, which takes place in a neat location, Mt. Rushmore(!), but is a lengthy mess. Runner up for best scene: The auction scene, where Thornhill has to get creative to keep himself from falling in the hands of the baddies, which is genuinely funny and doesn’t rely on witticisms to delight the audience.
I admit I was intrigued when we started learning more about the mess Thornhill is involved in, as he discovers who is really who in this story. I don’t necessarily think the pacing or rate of reveals is all that great, but I cared about what was happening because there is a lager spy/espionage story beyond just the plot. Unfortunately, there is a large focus on snappy dialogue and cheesy romance with yet another blonde, all getting in the way of the story. When I get to the bigger question stuff, What does this all amount to? I come away blank; North by Northwest is a film I ultimately can’t find a reason to care about.
I’m going with the theory that I’m in a it’s-not-me-it’s-you stretch of films in the Sight and Sound 100. Maybe I’m worse off for not being crazy about the two Hitchcocks, disliking the Welles, feeling a bit underwhelmed by Lang’s talkie breakthrough, not being onboard with Visconti’s lavish story of reluctant social change, but I think this is a series of films that don’t really jibe with why I love the movies. I’m finding that unsympathetic leads, especially the traditionally masculine unsympathetic male leads, definitely hold me back. This applies to the last six in the series minus Rear Window, which has a great lead in James’ Stewart’s Jeff, but too much filler for me, and M, whose only real lead would be the villain, who is unsympathetic by default, and stars in a feature without any real people.
La Jetee, Ugetsu, and City Lights are up next. I’m much more hopeful of these. Then, Histoire(s) du cinema. Am I ready for that?