North by Northwest (1959)

Directed by

Alfred Hitchcock

Genre

drama film, action film, adventure film, mystery film, crime film, spy film

Country

United States

Runtime

2h 16m

Rated

G

Rating

8.0 of 10 from 4,549 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

An advertising executive is mistaken for a government agent and chased by spies across the United States. He tries to clear his name while getting entangled with a mysterious woman.

suspensefulfast-pacedcleverstylishtensewittyadventurouscharming

What happens

North by Northwest is a 1959 American spy thriller film produced and directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, and James Mason. The original screenplay written by Ernest Lehman was intended to be the basis for "the Hitchcock picture to end all Hitchcock pictures". North by Northwest is a tale of mistaken identity: an innocent man (Grant) is pursued across the United States by agents of a mysterious organization that aims to prevent him from blocking their plan to smuggle microfilm containing government secrets out of the country. It is one of several Hitchcock films featuring a musical score by Bernard Herrmann and an opening title sequence by graphic designer Saul Bass. The film was the first to feature extended use of kinetic typography in its opening credits. The film was released on July 1, 1959, to critical and commercial success. It topped the box office in the United States for seven consecutive weeks. The film was nominated for three Academy Awards and earned Hitchcock the Silver Shell for Best Director at the San Sebastián Film Festival. North by Northwest is listed among the canonical Hitchcock films of the 1950s and is widely regarded as one of the greatest films ever made. In 1995, the Library of Congress selected North by Northwest for preservation in the National Film Registry, having being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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