North by Northwest

This celebrates the 65th anniversary of North by Northwest, the premiere being 1st July 1959 in Chicago. It was directed by Alfred Hitchcock with a memorable score by Bernard Herrmann and starring Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason, Leo G Carroll (his sixth for Hitch, a record) and Martin Landau. The plot focuses on a Madison Avenue New York City advertising executive, who 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. He meets the woman on a train bound for Chicago, and everything leads to a dramatic rescue and escape at the top of Mount Rushmore (in the Black Hills near Keystone, South Dakota). It could have been James Stewart in the role, who really wanted it, but Hitchcock wanted Grant. Hitchcock filmed Grant’s entry into the United Nations building in First Avenue, Manhattan from across the street – as Grant reaches near the top of the stairs, notice the reaction and double-take of a man walking down. Only five seconds of film were cut from the final release; MGM wanted 15 minutes, but Hitch checked his contract and then refused. The studio scenes were filmed at MGM, Culver City California. The train station was NYC’s Grand Central, and there was footage of Park Avenue in Manhattan; it also featured Glen Cove, Long Island, and the crop-dusting location was west of Wasco, Kern County, CA, near Delano, north of Bakersfield on Garces Highway (CA155); also shot on location at Thousand Oaks, CA. The Saul Bass opening titles were the first to use kinetic typography (moving text). Grant in the film drove a 1959 Mercedes-Benz 2202S convertible, which he bought and Eva Marie Saint drives a 1958 Lincoln. The biplane chase was re-enacted by guitarist Kirk Hammett for Metallica’s “I disappear” music video.