Review - North by Northwest

[jack]

Having a TV can be fun. I stumbled into a series of classic Hitchcocks. This is one of those films that has so many bits I've seen *somewhere* and often seen parodied, and then gone "Oooh! They're from this!"

(1) The title. I knew it was famous without knowing where from.
(2) The "forced to drink and then put at the wheel of a car" opening.
(3) The crop-duster. One of the famoustest ever.
(4) The hanging-from-mount-rushmore. Though I might have that muddled up -- all Hitchcocks seem to end like that :)

Unfortunately I was unpacking at the same time, so sort of missed what was actually going on. But I get the impression that's not actually that important ;)

Comments

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I did pick up most of that. But how did they mistake him for a man whom only thing known about was that he was shorter than Cary Grant? And why the bit with the gin? And why didn't Grant stop the car? (I missed the first 15m more than I missed the rest.)

[rochvelleth.livejournal.com]

I didn't remember James Mason being in it... dammit. Should have watched. I love James Mason.

[sphyg.livejournal.com]

1) Cary Grant was trying to get the waiter's attention at the same time as the waiter received a phone call for the non-existent agent. While James Mason's not-too-bright henchmen were watching.
2) I'm not sure they actually got their measuring tapes out. Mmm, Cary Grant's inside leg...
3) The gin was so Cary Grant (the actor) could act fake drunk in a silly way (and so they could manhandle (mmm, womanhandle Cary Grant) him (the character) into a car and crash it as if he was DUI (hrm, wonder what forensics were like back then).
4) Cary Grant was too busy acting fake drunk ;)