“North By Northwest” 4K UHD Review

A New York City advertising executive goes on the run after being mistaken for a government agent by a group of foreign spies, and falls for a woman whose loyalties he begins to doubt. (from IMDb)

 

I admit I find it exciting when I see older, classic films get the Ultra-High-Def treatment. Alfred Hitchcock’s mistaken identity spy thriller, North By Northwest, did get a decent Blu-Ray upgrade years ago, but for 2024, the movie graduates into the world of 4K UHD. From the moment we first see screen legend Cary Grant step into frame, the Ultra-HD quality is quite evident. Grain wasn’t noticeable, and, if anything, the clarity especially shines given the format’s color boost. I just love seeing classics being given a new chance at cinematic life.

As a Hitchcock film, North By Northwest is arguably among his best (or at least most entertaining). While several of his titles stand out to me (usually because Grant or another legend is placed front-and-center), North By Northwest is probably my favorite from the acclaimed director. Set in New York City, the story revolves around an advertising exec who happens to call for a teller at the worst possible moment. Just as another man is being paged, Grant’s Roger Thornhill raises his arm to get their attention, only to be immediately seen by some shadowy figures who assume Thornhill is the other man in question, a “George Kaplan.” Thornhill is then quickly whisked away into a car and driven out into the New York countryside where he’s met by a group of shady guys who are convinced he’s Kaplan and can’t be convinced otherwise. Roger soon finds himself inescapably entangled in a complex plot that involves spies and criminals – and he just needs to figure out what exactly is going on… if he’s not killed first in the process.

North By Northwest is probably about as confusing and twisty as Roger finds it to be, so if your full attention isn’t on the film, you’re liable to get lost. However, Grant’s screen presence is perfect as he channels his usual charm and wit into a character that just wants to know what on earth is going on around him. Along the way, he bumps into the lovely and mysterious train passenger Eve Kendall, played by Eva Marie Saint, who he quickly falls for. But nothing is quite as it seems, and just when Thornhill thinks he might have a handle on the situation, he finds himself the target once again.

Compared to modern day film styles, North By Northwest is not only kind of a slow-burn, but it’s overall a more paced effort. This works in the film’s favor – especially during the iconic cropduster sequence where Thornhill finds himself alone on the side of a desolate road in the middle of nowhere as a plane attempts to take him out. The quietness and slow pacing of the scene adds a confusion and eeriness to it. You feel every bit of Roger’s attempt to figure out the situation in his mind, and you feel like you’re right there with him when things start going south. But Grant is just plain entertaining to watch in just about anything he’s ever done, and North By Northwest is no different. The movie is really only as good as it is because of him.

Content-wise, it’s funny to envision all older movies as pretty wholesome when thinking back on them, until you sit down to consider one’s content for a review. While I wouldn’t say North By Northwest is vulgar or crude, it’s more than obvious the intentions of Roger and Eve when they meet and volley flirtations back and forth. She ends up hiding him in her personal sleeping compartment on the train in which they meet, and don’t shy away from sharing some kisses and suggestive innuendo. Later in the film, it’s heavily implied that they slept together that night, although it’s never 100% spelled out. (After all, she does comment to him that he’d have to sleep on the floor following a remark he makes about sharing the one bed.) Otherwise, the only other content to consider (aside from three uses of “d*mn”) is the violence. None of the violence is bloody, but some characters are shot or fall from a great height to their deaths. In one scene, a man Roger is talking to suddenly freezes up with a horrified expression on his face, and as he collapses into Roger’s arms, we see a knife sticking out of the man’s back. In shock, Roger pulls the knife out – which has no blood on it – and looks incredibly guilty in the moment. A later scene shows a man hanging off a cliffside by one hand as another man steps on his fingers in an attempt to make him let go and fall. The only scene that shows some blood is after Roger is climbing along the side of a building and looks down at his palm. We briefly see some very red blood on his hand before he covers it with a handkerchief. Lastly, there is some casual drinking during the movie, but one sequence sees Roger being held down and forced to consume an entire bottle of bourbon (we just see him being held down and the drink being poured). It then cuts to a very drunk Roger being forced into a car in an attempt to have him drive it off a cliff to his death. However, he’s able to take control just enough to evade death and we then see him careening recklessly down a winding road, avoiding cars at every turn. Later, we see him quite drunk while at a police station, but at this point, his intoxication is entirely played for laughs.

If you’re an Alfred Hitchcock fan, or a fan of the legendary Cary Grant, North By Northwest is a must-see film. Its new 4K UHD transfer also does not disappoint, so if you’re considering picking it up for the first time – or upgrading an older copy – I can definitely recommend this release.

– John DiBiase (reviewed: 11/18/24)

 

North By Northwest Ultra HD Blu-ray disc doesn’t come with any new bonus features, but it does come with the following previously released special features:

• A 4K MoviesAnywhere Digital Copy of the film
• Commentary by Screenwriter Ernest Lehman
• North by Northwest: Cinematography, Score and the Art of the Edit
• Destination Hitchcock: The Making of North by Northwest
• The Master’s Touch: Hitchcock’s Signature Style
• North by Northwest: One for the Ages
• A Guided Tour with Alfred Hitchcock

 

 Sex/Nudity: While Roger talks with Eve, the two flirt with each other, and he says he can’t be honest with a pretty woman because he might have to pretend he “wouldn’t want to make love to her”; Eve says to Roger, “It’s going to be a long night and I don’t like the book I started, if you know what I mean.” He responds by saying he does know what she means; Roger tells Eve, “I’d invite you to my bedroom if I had a bedroom.” She invites him back to her room; After having been hiding in her foldaway train bed, and while still lying on it, Roger asks Eve why she’s so good to him. She asks if she should climb up there and show him; At one point, Eve says “I’m a big girl,” to which Roger replies, “Yeah and in all the right places, too.”; They flirt and kiss in the next scene while in her room; Roger and Eve kiss and talk about there being only one bed in the room. He says it’s a good omen and asks what she thinks it means. She says it means he will sleep on the floor; Roger changes out of his suit in the presence of Eve and remarks, “What can a man do without his clothes for 20 min?”; We see a man lightly rubbing the back of Eve’s neck and then her hair; A man asks Eve, “He was in your room?” to which Roger shoots back, “Sure, isn’t everybody?”; Roger makes a remark that Eve uses “sex like a fly swatter”; We see Roger in just a towel in a hospital room; Roger climbs into a woman’s hospital room window to escape through her door. She yells at him to stop and then puts on her glasses and after seeing him, suggestively tells him to stop. He then holds his finger up in a way to encourage her not to get any ideas as he leaves the room; A man pulls his wife onto a train car bed and they kiss. (Apparently the train their on then entering a tunnel is suggestive, according to Hitchcock.)
 Vulgarity/Language: 3 uses of “d*mn”
 Alcohol/Drugs: Roger and a few business guys have drinks at a restaurant at the table with them, but we don’t see them drink them; Some men offer Roger a drink. He doesn’t want it and tries to bolt for the door, but they grab him and force him to a nearby couch. They then hold him down as we see them pour bourbon in front of him into a tall glass. The scene ends there and in the next scene, we see the men carrying Roger to a car while he’s very drunk and put him in the driver’s seat; We see Roger extremely intoxicated while at a police station and trying to explain his innocence. At one point, he crawls on top of a table and lies down; Roger has a drink on the train while talking to Eve; A man is seen drinking.
 Blood/Gore: We briefly see a large bruise on Roger’s bare side; We see a close-up of Roger’s palm with some bright red blood on it.
 Violence: A man grabs Roger, holds a gun on him, and forces him out of the restaurant and into a car; Some men offer Roger a drink. He doesn’t want it and tries to bolt for the door, but they grab him and force him to a nearby couch. They then hold him down as we see them pour bourbon in front of him into a tall glass; We see the men carrying Roger to a car while he’s very drunk and put him in the driver’s seat. As they start to drive, Roger realizes they’re going to try to force him off the road and make it look like an acciedent, so he pushes a man out of the car and takes control of the car. As he tries to avoid a cliff, the car dangles off the edge a moment before he backs up and gets back on the road. We see him narrowly missing cars on the road as he speeds along. A cop car rearends Roger’s car when he stops. Then another car rearends the cop car; A man is stabbed and we see the knife sticking out of his back. Roger catches him as he collapses and pulls the bloodless knife out, making him looking guilty; A cropduster flies low in Roger’s direction. It then does another pass, getting even lower and shoots at him, causing Roger to dive out of the way. Roger then breaks into a run when it comes after him again and he dives to the ground again. He runs into the road and tries to flag down a truck. It stops late, causing Roger to fall on his back, slightly under the truck. The plane suddenly collides with the side of the truck and explodes; Roger punches a man. The man fights back and Roger punches him again. The cops then roughly haul Roger away; A man is shot twice and he falls to the floor. We then see his body being carried away by a stretcher (but he isn’t dead); Roger is punched and knocked down; A man shoots at another man; A man punches another man in the face and he falls backward into a chair; We hear gunshots; Eve slips and slides on a cliffside; A man falls down the cliff but is alive on a ledge below; A man tackles another man. He tries to stab him but the victim pushes the attacker off the cliff to his death; A man pushes a woman off a ledge and she hangs on for dear life. A man grabs her hand with one hand and hangs on to the cliffside with his other hand. A bad guy steps on his hand in an effort to make the victim fall. The attacker is then shot and falls off the cliff to his death; We see a man struggle to hold on to a woman’s hand on the side of the cliff but the scene cuts away in a manner that reveals that they end up being okay.