STACK #168 Oct 2018

EXTRAS

FEATURE

(Top right) The real Townsend is assassinated inside the United Nations building (Left) Thornhill and Eve (Eva Marie Saint) are pursued across Mount Rushmore (Above) The iconic crop-duster scene from North By Northwest

is attacked by a crop-duster plane. We now learn that Kaplan, doesn't really exist, for he is the creation of the intelligence agency to

The United Nations had also banned Hitchcock from filming the assassination

scenes within its hallowed halls or outside of their building. Not to be thwarted, Hitch hid his cameraman inside a carpet cleaning truck and stole a master shot of Cary Grant leaping out of a taxi, and running up the steps of the UN. If you look closely at that scene you'll notice a man descending the steps giving Grant a second look as if to say, "My God! That's Cary Grant!"  This was the fourth film that Grant made

throw the foreign agents off the trail of the real counterspy the agency has placed within their ranks. Thornhill finally discovers that Eve is the agency's counterspy who has penetrated Vandamm's organisation, but is about to be

the police for drunk driving. Nobody believes his kidnapping story so he tracks down Townsend, the owner of the house where he was taken, whom he locates at the United Nations General Assembly building. But when Thornhill confronts Townsend, he is not

with Hitchcock, as together they were unbeatable. But without doubt, Grant's character of Roger Thornhill is set upon by more hostile elements than any of the director's other "innocent man " movies. Grant complained incessantly that he couldn't make head nor tail of the plot, which constantly twists and turns so much so that he thought the film would be a total flop. But Hitchcock knew that Grant's confusion would look authentic onscreen – after all, Grant's character had absolutely no

the man who interrogated him the night before – this man is a bona fide UN representative. As a puzzled Townsend explains that his house is completely closed up with only a gardener in attendance, he suddenly gasps and falls forward with a knife embedded in his back. Supporting a now rigid Townsend, Thornhill is photographed with the knife in his hand and as a consequence becomes the "innocent man on the run"

Hitch hid his cameraman inside a carpet cleaning truck and stole a master shot of Cary Grant leaping out of a taxi, and running up the steps of the UN

exposed. The movie's exciting climax takes place on Mount Rushmore where both Thornhill and Eve are pursued across the Presidential faces by Vandamm's thugs. The US Department of National Parks refused to allow Hitch to shoot on the face of Mount Rushmore. Fortunately, the gifted production designer, Robert Boyle, created the amazing faces of the Presidents as well as the interiors of the United Nations building on the sound stages of MGM.

idea what was going on, either. Hitchcock was correct – the film was an instant box-office hit that swiftly elevated him back to the top of the list of moneymaking filmmakers. North by Northwest is described today as Hitchcock's most entertaining thriller and also a forerunner of the James Bond spy movies. The iconic crop-duster sequence – with almost no dialogue – is a Hitchcock short story in itself, and has been studied and copied by filmmakers over the years as it never ceases to thrill and amaze in equal measure. Moreover, North by Northwest is a perfect example of why 38 years after Hitchcock's death, he still remains a household name.

On a train to Chicago, still intent on finding the mysterious Kaplan, Thornhill meets Eve Kendall (Eva Marie Saint), who helps him evade the police and railway authorities. But unbeknownst to him, she is working for the enemy spy leader, Phillip Vandamm (James Mason), who was also the fake Townsend. Eve tells Thornhill that a meeting with Kaplan has been arranged at an isolated spot. But when Thornhill arrives at the designated Illinois highway in the middle of a desolate prairie, he

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