In Alfred Hitchcock's work, although "North by Northwest" does not have the deep theme of "Vertigo" and the high popularity of "Psychopath", in terms of plot suspense setting, "North by Northwest" is definitely the most classic, not one of them.
Many people may wonder when they first learn about this film - what does the title of "North by Northwest" mean?
The answer is, what does it mean. This, even the director and screenwriter admit, they just want to use the title to express the unpredictability of the plot, and this unknown happens to be the biggest feature of "North by Northwest".
"North by Northwest" not only shows Hitchcock's suspense symbols at a glance, but also leaves a seven-minute famous film history of Gary Grant's duck scene, but also brings the crime suspense genre to a new field, becoming a pioneer of 007 movies and even many types of movies.
Innocent men are forced into danger because of misidentification, mysterious blondes, the director's iconic appearance, masterful camera language, near-perfect manipulation of the audience's emotions... "North by Northwest" almost encompasses the most important elements of Hitchcock's directorial career.
At the same time, it transforms a funny, tense, and unexpectedly humorous script into the most enjoyable author's film of all time. In other words, it was Hitchcock's most perfect creation.
Interestingly, during the filming of the film, lead actor Gary Grant was a little confused about the script of "North by Northwest", and one day he couldn't help it, saying to the director: "The script is too bad." We've shot a third of it, but I still don't know what it's talking about. ”
This was right in Hitchcock's mind, and he wanted Grant to play the feeling of being confused. Because North by Northwest is essentially Hitchcock's "wrong man" narrative (innocent people being accused of crimes he didn't commit for no reason).
Advertising merchant Roger Thornhill (Gary Grant) is mistaken for An american intelligence officer George Kaplan by a hostile spy organization and is chased and killed, and then accidentally and unjustifiably charged with murder, caught in a "double hunt", while escaping from the enemy and the police, while trying to find the real "Kaplan" in order to get out of it all.
In fact, Kaplan was the bait used by the U.S. Intelligence Agency to ensure the safety of the lives of real intelligence officers, and this person did not exist at all.
This is hitchcock's often used "MacGuffin" expression, that is, in the film, a character or phenomenon that does not exist is used as the main story line, such as Rebecca in "Butterfly Dream" and Madeleine in "Vertigo".
This technique is most classicly used in North by Northwest, and the character of Kaplan, although it does not exist, drives the development of the entire plot.
On the run, Roger meets Blonde Woman Eve Kendall (Eva Marie Saint), who helps Roger escape from the police on the train, and her elusive mysterious temperament also makes Roger fall in love at first sight. After the train arrived, Eve offered to help Roger contact Kaplan, and as a result, he was taken to a wasteland and almost lost his life.
Roger discovers that something is wrong with Eve, follows her and learns that she is the mistress of Wandam (James Mason), the leader of a hostile spy organization, and finally learns that her true identity is an agent installed by the US Intelligence Agency at Wandam's side.
From the escape of the auction house, to the squid guns in the hotel, to the rescue of people in the villa, and then to the fierce battle of Presidential Hill, in the second half of the film, a wave of uneven waves has risen again, and the audience has always tightened their nerves.
A year before North by Northwest, Hitchcock made Vertigo, a masterpiece of the time, critically and commercially unsuccessful. Hitchcock first threw the pot to lead actor James Stewart: "It's all because of Stewart's old face." ”
After that, Hitchcock never used Stewart again, and then Stewart asked to play Roger Thornhill in "North by Northwest", hitchcock did not agree, and his ideal candidate was another old partner, Gary Grant.
However, in order to take care of the feelings of his old friends, Hitchcock did not explicitly reject Stuart, and waited until Stuart received a new role before announcing the news that Gran was the main actor.
People always compare Stewart to Grant, and Grant has played a more diverse role than Stewart's deep-rooted decent image, and Grant is one of the very few actors who can become the "object of affection" of male audiences.
He feels very hard to come by— a kind of person who, in addition to being cynical, doesn't like to be close to people —but as May West says, he doesn't necessarily get it. Because of this, sexy blondes such as Eva Marie St. in "North by Northwest" will continue to follow in the movie.
In fact, "North by Northwest" is Hitchcock's only film for MGM. But in the beginning, MGM and Hitchcock planned another movie, "The Battle for the Angry Sea", and the screenwriter Ernest Lehmann could not write it, so he asked Hitchcock to find someone else.
However, Hitchcock wanted to work with Ernest too much, so he said, "I have another story", in fact, Hitchcock already had the prototype of "North by Northwest" in his mind. The two did not say hello to MGM, they changed course, MGM executives still know later, fortunately they do not care.
So Hitchcock and Ernest began to create a new film, but unexpectedly, they made a masterpiece for MGM that left a famous film history.
One day, Hitchcock said to Ernest, "I've always wanted to make a scene, and I don't have a shop in front of the village and behind the village—nothing." You stand in the wilderness, with nothing to lean on. When the camera swept 360 degrees, only the man stood there alone—deliberately leading him to this remote place because the bad guy was going to kill him. Suddenly, a tornado started..."
The screenwriter interrupted him: "How can a villain bring a tornado?" "The director couldn't do anything about it.
"What if a plane swooped in from the air?" Ernest said. Hitchcock immediately liked it: "Yes, it's a sprinkler plane, and we can plant some crops nearby." ”
This is the original idea of the famous aircraft attack scene in "North by Northwest". In just seven minutes, there are a total of 131 shots, and the story itself is not dramatic, but Hitchcock creates short, fast-switching, thrilling shots that perfectly combine the psychological changes of the characters with the suspense of the picture.
At the same time, the length of each shot is subordinated to the different distances at which Roger is desperately running to avoid the chase, thus highlighting the difficult situation in which he cannot hide. Discussing the scene with Truffaut, Hitchcock said: "When dealing with space problems, the length of the shot shows how far a person has to run to find cover, but this indicates that there is no cover. ”
This scene is not only the most impressive scene in Hitchcock's work (second only to the bath scene in Psychopath), but also the best footnote to the brilliant acting career of male lead actor Gary Grant.
More than 60 years have passed since the original release of "North by Northwest", and the audience's obsession with it has not diminished in the slightest.
And it was precisely because Hitchcock insisted on choosing Gary Grant that the actor's talent was not buried.
Famous film critic Pauline Kyle believes that if it were not for Hitchcock, Grant would probably have gone into obscurity in her lifetime. In 1941, he acted in a gray and unsmoo "Money Serenade", which was once mired in the quagmire of his career, and it was Hitchcock who saved him in time to bring the actor who became famous by starring in grotesque comedies in the 30s back into the public eye.
The four films "Deep Doubt", "Beauty Plan", "To Catch a Thief" and "North by Northwest" are simply tailor-made for Grant, and also lay the foundation for his fans who "will never grow old" today. On the 107th anniversary of Grant's birth, someone threw a question on Facebook to Hitchcock fans: "Will Gary Grant get old?" The response was all: "Never!" ”
When most of the male stars of Hollywood's golden age have become old-fashioned, only Grant is often compared to an actor today. In other words, he's still a star today. It's all because of Hitchcock.