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North by Northwest Details

1959 DVD Certificate PG.gif
  • Rated:
  • 80
  • from 20,611 members

An advertising executive is mistaken for a spy and is pursued across the country while he looks for a way to survive. Read more

Starring Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint
Director Alfred Hitchcock
Genres Action/Adventure, Drama, Romance, Thriller

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North by Northwest cover art

North by Northwest

An advertising executive is mistaken for a spy and is pursued across the country while he looks for a way to survive.

Starring Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint
Director Alfred Hitchcock
Studio WARNER HOME VIDEO
Run time DVD: 2 hrs 10 mins
Blu-ray: 2 hrs 16 mins
Certificate DVD Certificate PG.gif
Collections 100 must-see movies, 100 Top Thrillers
Genres Action/Adventure, Drama, Romance, Thriller
Language English
Released DVD: 07 Jun 2004
Blu-ray: 16 Nov 2009
Production year: 1959
Format DVD

  • Critics' reviews (3) of North by Northwest

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  • 5 stars out of 5

    This Hitchcock classic contains extra-generous helpings of the ingredients that make his films so unmissable. Action, intrigue, romance and comedy are blended throughout with consummate skill; the attack by the crop-dusting plane and the finale on Mount Rushmore are simply the icing on the cake. Rarely did Hitchcock have as much fun with his favourite “innocent in peril” theme or make such inventive use of famous landmarks. In his fourth and final collaboration with the “Master of Suspense”, Cary Grant is the personification of suaveness as he tackles a nest of enemy agents, led by a rather disengaged James Mason.

    • Radio Times
    • Posted 29 Jan 2006
  • 4 stars out of 4

    Delightful chase comedy-thriller with a touch of sex, a kind of compendium of its director's best work, with memories of The 39 Steps, Saboteur and Foreign Correspondent among others.

    • Halliwell's Film Guide
    • Posted 02 Mar 2006

  • Most helpful member's review of North by Northwest

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  • 14 out of 14 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 5 stars

    The Master at Work

    Hitchcock had already made most of his classic Paramount films (Vertigo, Rear Window) earlier in the 50s before creating North by Northwest. The result is one of the most pure Hitchcock films - concentrated storytelling with engaging characters. The film's final screen minute contains more plot than many directors manage to cram into ten.

    Cary Grant is back after Jimmy Stewart was pensioned off as Hitch's leading man. He is completly at home as the smooth, charming advertising executive, caught up in events way beyond his control.

    The Hitchcock obsession with stunning blonde actresses finds a home in Eva Marie Saint - introduced to us in one of cinema's most alluring seduction scenes. Confident, sexy and yet tantalisingly unavailable.

    If you like film, and enjoy watching first class actors under the direction of a master story-teller, then this is for you.

      • db from London
      • Posted 26 Jul 2004 16:54

  • Most recent members' review of North by Northwest

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  • 6 out of 6 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 4 stars

    Don't wait any longer - watch it now!!

    This is one of those films I've heard discussed many times, and always intended to watch - sometime! My only regret is that it took me so long.

    A gripping plot - ok maybe slightly improbable, but this is entertainment after all. Modern film makers could learn a lot - a good thriller doesn't need lots of blood and gore to make it watchable. James Mason is a wonderful 'baddie', with Cary Grant as a somewhat bemused opponent.

    Very atmospheric photography and an excellent soundtrack only add to the quality of this film. I will certainly be watching it again, and again .....

      • emeraldqueen from carms
      • Posted 26 Oct 2004 13:27

  • News and features

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    The Early Hitchcock Collection

    The Essential Guide to Alfred Hitchcock

    • 09 Sep 2008

    The Essential Guide to Alfred Hitchcock Born 1899, Leytonstone, England Died 1980, Bel Air, USA More books have been written about Alfred Hitchcock than any other filmmaker, alive or dead. He was the self-styled “master of suspense”. In a career that stretched to half a century, he directed more than 50 films – and rarely strayed from his favourite genre. The son of a grocer, and a devout Catholic, Hitchcock often attributed his fascination with (and fear of) the law,... Read more

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Rating breakdown

20,611 Member ratings
  • 100
3,926
  • 90
2,869
  • 80
5,073
  • 70
3,289
  • 60
2,547
  • 50
1,282
  • 40
617
  • 30
400
  • 20
395
  • 10
213

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    • North By Northwest - BLU-RAY Version

    • North By Northwest - BLU-RAY Version
      NORTH BY NORTHWEST is a suspense thriller that finds Cary Grant in the role of Roger Thornhill, a Manhattan advertising executive mistaken for a spy. Considered by many to be the prototypical pure action movie (creating the template for later James Bond and Indiana Jones films), the film is a cross-...
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      • An advertising executive is mistaken for a spy and is pursued across the country while he looks for a way to survive....