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Title:	North by Northwest: Special Edition (1959)
Studio Line:	Warner Bros. - The Master of Suspense presents a 3000-mile chase across America! Cary Grant teams with director Alfred Hitchcock for the fourth and final time in this superlative espionage caper judged one of the American Film Institute's Top-100 Films and spruced up with a new digital transfer and remixed Dolby Digital Stereo. He plays a Manhattan advertising executive plunged into a realm of spy (James Mason) and counterspy (Eva Marie Saint) and variously abducted, framed for murder, chased and in another signature set piece, crop-dusted. He also holds on for dear life from the facial features of the Presidents on Mount Rushmore (backlot sets were used). But don't expect the Master of Suspense to leave star or audience hanging.
Director:	Alfred Hitchcock
Cast:	Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason, Jessie Royce Landis, Leo G. Carroll
Academy Awards:	Nominated for Best Screenplay; Best Film Editing; Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, 1960.
DVD:	Widescreen 1.66:1/16x9; audio English DD 5.1, French Digital Mono; subtitles English, French; closed-captioned; single sided - dual layered; 46 chapters; rated NR; 136 min.; $24.98; street date 8/29/00.
Supplements:	Behind-the-Scenes Documentary Destination Hitchcock: The Making-Of North By Northwest, Hosted By Eva Marie Saint and Featuring Martin Landau, Screenwriter Ernest Lehman, Patricia Hitchcock and Others Involved In The Film; Feature-Length Audio Commentary By Lehman; Production Stills Gallery; Music-Only Audio Track; Showcasing Bernard Herrmann's Score; Hitchcock Theatrical Trailers and TV Spot.
Purchase:	DVD | Screenplay - Ernest Lehman | Score soundtrack - Bernard Hermann

Picture/Sound/Extras: B+/B+/B Once I read a letter in an Ann Landers columns which related the frustrating experience of a reader. While I don't recall the overall point of the missive, I remember that this person visited Minnesota and was asked by a native where her home was; when the writer stated, "Virginia", she was told that no such place existed and she must have meant "West Virginia". The moronic Minnesotan then apparently derided the Virginian because she didn't know where she lived. Because I absolutely hate being told I'm wrong when I know I'm right, this bizarre experience has stuck in my head for many years. A tale of mistaken identity, Alfred Hitchcock's North By Northwest takes that concept to an extreme. At the start of the film, we find handsome, successful Madison Avenue ad man Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant) at a lunch with friends. He happens to signal for a restaurant worker at the wrong time and is mistaken by thugs for someone named George Kaplan, and Thornhill's life immediately is tossed into a tizzy. The majority of the movie follows the action as Thornhill falls deeper and deeper into this bizarre world not of his making. This kind of story wasn't new even in 1959 when NBNW first appeared; actually, one can see bits and pieces of other Hitchcock films cobbled together for it. That doesn't mean it's not a success, as it presents a tremendously exciting and compelling tale throughout its 136 minutes. NBNW works largely because Hitchcock paces it so well. Occasional moments may drag, but I rarely felt that the story wasn't moving ahead at an appropriate rate. Some expository moments may slow down the progress, but these are pretty minor, especially considering the fairly convoluted nature of the plot; the tale of spies and double agents had the potential to become messy, but it never quite happens. In a lot of ways NBNW feels like a prototype for the Bond films. The story works from a different angle, since Bond never is stuck in situations that are so confusing to him, but the way the tale moves and the execution feels straight out of a 007 epic. There's risqué (for the period) sexual banter, lots of good one-liners, and some well-executed action scenes that put our hero in great danger; all of this will look familiar to Bond fans. Grant plays Thornhill with terrific self-confidence and aplomb, which is both a blessing and a curse. For the most part, I liked his performance. Actually, I really enjoyed it, but I'm not sure how realistic it was. No, that's not true - I'm sure it wasn't realistic at all, since Thornhill seems far too sure of himself and lacking in nervousness throughout this affair. I'd think it's very unlikely an actual person with no training in these sorts of endeavors - unlike Bond - would respond so coherently and smoothly. Nonetheless, it makes for great entertainment, even throughout the film's multiple plot holes and unlikely events. Normally when I'm interested in a movie, I'm able to "go with the flow" and ignore silly occurrences, but some of this one's bits did irk me. Despite that, I genuinely liked the movie and consider it yet another Hitchcock classic. I wouldn't place it quite on the same level as gems like Psycho and The Birds, but North By Northwest offers a terrifically entertaining and exciting experience nonetheless. The DVD: North By Northwest appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.78:1 on this single-sided, double-layered DVD; the image has been enhanced for 16X9 televisions. As you may have noticed, I didn't refer to the presentation as featuring the film's original theatrical aspect ratio. That 's because from what I understand, NBNW was shown at 1.66:1 theatrically. However, additional reading indicates that VistaVision, the format in which it was shot, allows for tighter cropping without problems; apparently they could have gone to 1.85:1 without problems. Whatever the case, I can't say I noticed any cropping issues related to the top or bottom of the screen; the image seemed appropriately framed. While the picture shows some concerns, overall it looks very good. Sharpness generally appears pretty crisp and well-defined, but a fair amount of softness intrudes upon the presentation. This is a vague concern, as the fuzziness doesn't since extreme in the least; however, I felt it was noticeable and a distraction. Moiré effects appear on occasion, and I also detected moderate artifacts from the anamorphic downconversion on my 4X3 TV. The print itself appeared absolutely immaculate. At no point did I discern any grain, scratches, nicks, tears, speckles, dirt or grit - it's insanely clean. Colors are a bit bland though within acceptable limits. Some reds come through with deep and rich hues, but other than that, it's a fairly monochromatic film; we don't see a lot of variety from the hues in NBNW. Black levels seem nicely dark and solid, with good contrast to be seen throughout the movie, and shadow detail looked clear without any excessive opacity. Ultimately, the picture of NBNW appeared very satisfying. I also liked the nice remixed Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. The designers didn't go "audio happy" with this one, as much of the sound stays in the center channel. The front side speakers open up the image at times; we hear the music presented in stereo plus occasional positive use of effects like cars driving or planes flying. The surrounds contribute reinforcement of the score plus a few examples of ambient audio such as more cars and planes as they travel toward the rear. It's an appropriately-modest soundfield that nicely complements the film. Audio quality seems strong as well. Dialogue sounded fairly natural and warm, though it betrayed a slightly tinny quality; intelligibility was excellent and no edginess seemed apparent. Effects were also somewhat thin, but they appeared pretty clear and crisp and lacked distortion. The score sounded bright and mildly dynamic; on occasion the track displays some decent bass. Ultimately the soundtrack betrays some signs of its age but it nonetheless comes across very well. NBNW includes a few nice supplemental features; in fact, if I didn't know better, I'd think this was one of Universal's lovely Collector's Editions, which Warner Bros. seem to use as their model for this set. First up is a good documentary called "Destination Hitchcock: The Making of NBNW". This 39-minute and 20-second program is hosted by actress Eva Marie Saint and it provides a solid overview of the making of the film. We learn about it through interviews with Saint, screenwriter Ernest Lehman, actor Martin Landau, daughter Pat Hitchcock, and production designer Robert Boyle plus some film clips and a lot of cool production photos from the shoot. Overall, it's a solid program that provides a nice wealth of information about the film. Special treat: Landau's killer impression of Hitchcock. We hear more from screenwriter Lehman in a running audio commentary. This track seems to have been culled from Lehman's interviews for the documentary; some of the statements are identical, and it's also clear that there's an unheard questioner present. While Lehman adds some good information about the film, I'm afraid I found the commentary to be something of a dud overall. Partly this is due to the repetition of data, but it's mostly just because he doesn't seem to have much of interest to say. Ironically, his comments about The Sound of Music - which he also wrote - were a highlight of that set, but his discussion of NBNW isn't nearly as stimulating. I will admit it improves a bit it as it continues, but too much of it seems redundant. (For the record, Lehman did no formal audio commentary for TSOM; instead, he appears in that DVD's documentary and also in an audio supplement that culls nearly 35 minutes of statements from his interviews.) Another audio track appears on NBNW as well. Bernard Herrmann's score is offered in a terrific stereo presentation. I listened to parts of it and thought it sounded excellent, and its inclusion will be a nice treat for film score buffs. A few promos appear on the DVD. We get a standard two-minute and 15-second theatrical trailer, a 60-second TV spot, and we also find the "Hitchcock" trailer. This three-minute and 15-second piece follows along the same lines as wonderful similar ads for Psycho and The Birds in which the director himself introduces us to the film. It's not as much fun as those other clips, but it's a nice addition nonetheless. Finally, the DVD features a "Stills Gallery" with 44 shots from the production and also some from the spring 2000 creation of the documentary. "Cast and Crew" offers decent biographies of Hitchcock, Grant, Saint and James Mason. As is typical of WB DVDs, the section lists more participants than these four, but only their entries provide additional information. North By Northwest isn't Hitchcock at his absolute best, but it's close, as the film provides a very compelling mix of action, intrigue and debonair humor. The DVD presents the movie in terrific fashion, with excellent picture and sound plus some solid extras. Bottom line: North By Northwest offers yet another fine Hitchcock DVD and it'll fit nicely between Vertigo and Psycho in your collection. Menu: DVD Movie Guide | Archive | Top