Alfred Hitchcock directs Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint and James Mason in this espionage thriller where an advertising executive is mistaken for a spy who doesn’t really exist and nobody who is chasing him will believe he isn’t the spook.

The first action comedy? Strange to think this came out 3 years before a big screen 007 was made. It feels fully informed by what was to come, almost a spoof of something that doesn’t quite yet exist. Grant is sauve and vulnerable in fascinating ways. It does feel like his whole star persona is being put through the ringer, not just his Roger O Thornhill character. Eva Marie Saint feels a bit more polished than other Hitchcock blondes, even Princess Grace of Monaco, genuinely sophisticated. North by Northwest probably is 30 minutes overlong but I’m not sure what I’d cut. It is a movie where each sequence improves on the last and I wouldn’t risk that momentum. The lengthy teasingly frank train journey ‘meet cute’ between Grant and Saint has as many fireworks as assassination attempts, crop duster hits and monument clambers. As much a vibe as a cohesive experience, North By Northwest is Hitch at his most generous and playful.

9

Perfect Double Bill: Charade (1963)

My wife and I do a podcast together called The Worst Movies We Own. It is available on Spotify or here https://letterboxd.com/bobbycarroll/list/the-worst-movies-we-own-podcast-ranking-and/