North by north west - A critical analysis.

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C.T.I.F.S

FILM REVIEW – 28th FEBRUARY

NORTH BY NORTH WEST

A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

By

STEPHEN DE VILLIERS

This film arguably called Hitchcock’s greatest work holds a place, again debatably, amongst the top twenty films ever made. It indeed has timeless elements and its influence can be seen through the Bond series’, to Indiana Jones, right up till today’s mistaken identity action chase thrillers, like The Matrix and Minority Report. In breaking it apart, its many strengths and fewer weaknesses do become prevalent. This paper will examine the major theme and tone of the film; assessing what part they play in turning this movie into the classic masterpiece it has become today.

North by Northwest draws its name from the classic line in Hamlet when, speaking to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern he tells them he is “mad but north northwest: when the wind is southerly I can tell a hawk from a handsaw.” Meaning, Hamlet is giving the gullible Ros and Guil a clue to his feigned madness, and hi-jink antics. The screenwriter, Ernie Lehman, and Hitchcock could be giving the audience some taste of the film’s overall tone and mood, whilst playing on the ideas presented by the films major themes.

Essentially the film is about a successful advertising executive, Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant) who gets mistaken for a secret agent called Kaplin. He is then kidnapped by Phillip Van Damn, wanted by the state for mysterious reasons, who then attempts to kill him. After escaping he gets wrongly accused of murder, and spends the rest of the movie dodging his menacing kidnappers and the mistaken police. In the interim he falls for the girl who is a real agent, close to Van Damn.

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According to Hitchcock himself, the Movie was created to house a few particular scenes he had always dreamed of filming. This can be seen as the plot and story logic, have a few holes - wouldn’t it be easier to kill “Kaplin” by shooting him from the ground rather than a crop duster - but these that can be forgiven – for some reason people feel fiction needs to make more sense than reality. Nonetheless the movie has some of the most memorable scenes in film history, the crop duster scene has been called the most exciting/scary scene in ...

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