North by Northwest
| North by Northwest | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Alfred Hitchcock |
| Produced by | Alfred Hitchcock |
| Written by | Ernest Lehman |
| Starring |
Cary Grant Eva Marie Saint James Mason Jessie Royce Landis |
| Music by | Bernard Herrmann |
| Cinematography | Robert Burks |
| Edited by | George Tomasini |
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Production
company |
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
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| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
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Release date
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Running time
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136 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Budget | $4,326,000 |
| Box office | $9.8 million |
North by Northwest is a 1959 American thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint and James Mason. The screenplay was by Ernest Lehman, who wanted to write "the Hitchcock picture to end all Hitchcock pictures".
North by Northwest is a tale of mistaken identity, with an innocent man pursued across the United States by agents of a mysterious organization trying to prevent him from blocking their plan to smuggle out microfilm that contains government secrets.
This is one of several Hitchcock films that features a music score by Bernard Herrmann and a memorable opening title sequence by graphic designer Saul Bass. This film is generally cited as the first to feature extended use of kinetic typography in its opening credits.
North by Northwest is now numbered among the essential Hitchcock pictures and is often listed as one of the greatest films of all time. It was selected in 1995 for preservation in the National Film Registry by the United States Library of Congress, as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Two thugs looking for a "George Kaplan" at a hotel bar see a waiter calling out for him at the same time advertising executive Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant) summons the waiter. Thornhill, thus, is mistaken for "George Kaplan". Kidnapped by the thugs, he is brought to the Long Island estate of Lester Townsend, and interrogated by spy Phillip Vandamm (James Mason). Thornhill vehemently denies he is Kaplan. Vandamm thinks he is lying and Vandamm's henchman Leonard (Martin Landau) tries to arrange Thornhill's death, but Thornhill manages to escape a staged drunken driving accident.
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Wikipedia