Cheap North By Northwest - Limited Edition Collector's Set (DVD) (Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint) Price

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Customer Reviews of North By Northwest - Limited Edition Collector's Set

Travelling Suspense Mystery Thriller
The film starts in late 1950s Manhattan, showing an "advertising executive" Roger Thornhill who is skilled in lying to the public as part of his employment by corporations. Roger attends a meeting, calls for a pageboy, and winds up being abducted in plain view of the public! (Danger in public is a common theme in thrillers, as is mistaken identification.) Roger cannot tell his captors what they want to hear (even if they used torture), so they fill him with bourbon and take him for a ride. This provides an entertaining interlude until Roger stops for the police and is arrested by Sgt. Emil Klinger. The Judge orders an investigation, but they find nothing amiss at the borrowed estate. [No check with the local police?] Roger discovers that no one has actually seen George Kaplan. The abductors show up at the hotel, but Roger escapes one again. [No back-up?] When Roger meets Lester Townsend at the UN, a knife silences Townsend permanently, and Roger is blamed for it. <
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>The "Professor" discusses this at the Agency in Washington, where we learn what is really going on - decoy spy. Roger must become his own detective to solve this mystery. The film shows travel on the famous New York Central railroad to Chicago, a bit of history long gone. Roger meets a woman, Eve Kendall, who helps and befriends him. [Was this a theme in the old E. Philip Oppenheim stories?] But we soon learn she is working for Van Dam! Roger arrives in Chicago, then travels to a spot in a flat prairie, and waits. Could there be any danger in the wide open spaces? A crop duster appears to answer this question; there seems to be no escape. The plane crashes (!) and Roger escapes once again. [Wily Coyote could take lessons from him.] <
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>Roger meets Eve but is told to go away and never return. There is something mysterious about Eve. Note how Hitchcock was able to create suspense and tension from ordinary life. Roger follows Eve, meets Van Dam and his flunky Leonard, but escapes again. Now the "Professor" meets Roger and takes him to Rapid City SD. There is yet another meeting with Van Dam, Leonard, and Eve. Eve shoots Roger, who is carried away by the "Professor". More events follow as the details of the spy ring are brought out. Eve and Roger make a getaway by climbing down the sculptures of Mount Rushmore. They escape from their pursuers who are caught by the authorities. And so the film has a happy ending, if forced. <
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>This was a top film in its day, but now it seems terribly out of date. Films such as "From Russia With Love" or "Goldfinger" are better and less dated than what was Hitchcock's best film. Roger complains against the "Professor" for sacrificing people like pawns, although we learned more in future years. [The "Professor" was a fictionalized version of Allen Dulles, some say.] <
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>One of the problems in this film is the crop-duster plane. It would be more probable to send out a car with two men to take Roger for a ride, but less spectacular. This comment also applies to the helicopter in "From Russia With Love". Do they copy each other's mistakes? <
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This Hitchcock classic isn't for the birds
I had viewed this film for a class I was taking in college, with no real intention of paying too much attention except for the music (it was a music in film class). Surprisingly I enjoyed this film immensly! The only other Hitchcock film I had seen is 'The Birds', which I enjoyed but I found it kind of predictable. However, 'North by Northwest' is constantly turning you in different directions so you don't really know what to expect next. I havn't bought this DVD yet, but it will soon be added to my collection.