North by Northwest [DVD]

I'm not sure about why the more recent reviewers are having so much trouble with their dvds and I can only assume that the recent batch out of the factory has got major product quality issues as my copy works just fine albeit I bought mine at least a couple of years ago. The Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround sound quality as well as the picture quality of my dvd is excellent too.People have to recognise that most of Hitch's films combine elements of humour together with suspense and thrills and what makes this film great is the nice balance of these that's apparent. The witty dialogue and snappy one-liner jokes delivered by the brilliant Cary Grant still hold up well today. The Kafka-esque storyline is meant to be so outrageous as to be funny and if taken in that spirit many of the scenes are very entertaining indeed. The ludicrousness of trying to kill "George Kaplan" by filling him with alcohol and then helping him drive off a mountain's edge, being chased by a crop-duster in the middle of nowhere, etc make fans of Kafka's works like "The Trial" and "Metamorphosis" who can appreciate the genre truly appreciate and enjoy this film masterpiece.Granted some of the scenes do not make much logical sense such as when Eve Kendell talks to Martin Landau's character from a phone booth while he is doing so from another phone in the same line of booths and the strange way the crop duster slams into the oil tanker but that's just the point with Kafka-esques situations in that they are supposed to be ridiculous. Despite these screenplay "shortcomings" the acting is very good and I liked the camera angles very much for an overall very good film. Great combination of humour, thrills and spills, tension and drama makes this a classic film for the ages.Highly recommended!Updated 11 May 2011:Amazon will not let me review the 50th Anniversary Blu-Ray Book Edition separately and so I'll have to append it here. This film does benefit from the 1080p treatment picture quality-wise although the improvement is not a vast one as compared with the DVD release that I wrote about before. There are also a few frames interspersed here and there which are poor but overall it is still an improvement albeit not massively so over the DVD. The sound quality however is an improvement worth shouting about coming in Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Surround sound although there are some weak audio spots at certain parts especially when it comes to dialogue. The picture book is nice to behold and will please collectors and fans alike. The special features are what really make this reissue worth shouting about as we have various directors like Friedkin, Scorcese and Spielberg talking about how Hitchcock influenced them and you even see spots in their movies where they borrowed from elements of Hitch's work.Overall, this is a worthy upgrade of the film more so for the great special feature documentaries than for the picture and sound quality which despite being still better in 1080p than the dvd release is not a great leap better in my opinion.Recommended.

Roger O. Thornhill is a busy New York City advertising executive who loves his mother and loves his women. He's having an after-work drink with three buddies when he's abducted at gunpoint. They take him to a mansion in the country, and their boss, Lester Townsend, scrutinizes his captive: "Not what I expected. A little taller. A little more polished than the others."Thornhill replies, "Not that I mind a slight case of abduction now and then, but I have tickets to the theater this evening. To a show I was looking forward to!" And that sets the pace for the whole movie. Politely sinister. Classy humor. Thornhill is played with panache and great comic touch by Cary Grant. Townsend is played with sly menace by James Mason. The lovely Eva Marie Saint doesn't even appear in the 1st half of the movie, then her Eve Kendall takes over the screen and Thornhill's heart - but it costs her."North by Northwest" has a couple of the most recognized and parodied scenes in films. The cropduster chasing Cary Grant in the middle of nowhere never loses its fear factor. And who can forget Roger Thornhill and Eve Kendall climbing down Mt. Rushmore?I'm writing this review to let you know that the extras on the 50th Anniversary Edition, 2 DVD's, are simply excellentNorth by Northwest (Two-Disc 50th Anniversary Edition):1. "Cary Grant: A Class Apart". First airing in 2004, this is an 87 minute episode of PBS's "American Masters" TV series. It is narrated by Helen Mirren and Jeremy Northam, with many movie clips and contributing commenters. Cary Grant was in 72 films, including 4 directed by Alfred Hitchcock. He ended his film career voluntarily, quitting while he was at the top. He passed away in 1986 of a stroke. Look at this list of interviewees for this special! I found this extra in-depth and interesting.- Barbara Grant, his wife from 1981-1986- Jeanine Basinger, film historian- Roderick Mann, friend- Nancy Nelson, author of "Evenings with Cary Grant"- Betsy Drake, actor, his wife from 1949-1962 and an outspoken pistol!- Elvis Mitchell, film critic for the "New York Times"- Peter Bogdanovich, director (he knew Hitchcock and Grant personally, and he participates on the movie commentary track for the DVD Collector's Edition of "To Catch a Thief")- Martin Landau, actor, who plays James Mason's secretary, Leonard, in "North by Northwest"- James Harvey, film historian- Ralph Bellamy, actor, from a 1988 interview (he's not in this film)- Todd McCarthy, author "Howard Hawks: The Grey Fox of Hollywood"- David Denby, film critic for "The New Yorker"- Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., actor, from a 1988 interview- Howard Hawks, director, from 1967 interview. He directed Grant in "His Girl Friday" (1940) and "Bringing Up Baby" (1938)- Dina Merrill, actor- Jill St. John, actor- Sidney Sheldon, writer- Ralph Laren, designer, friend- Eva Marie Saint, actor- Mel Shavelson, director, he directed Grant in "Houseboat" (1958)- Deborah Kerr, actor, from 1988 interview- Ernest Lehman, screenwriter for "North by Northwest"- Alfred Hitchcock, director, from 1966 interview- Stanley Donen, directed Grant in "Charade" (1963, with Audrey Hepburn)- George Kennedy, actor, from 2003 interview- Samantha Eggar, actor- and, last but not least, Cary Grant, in that they read excerpts from a series of autobiographical essays that were published in 1963. Grant gave few interviews, but he did open up in these essays.2. "The Master's Touch: Hitchcock's Signature Style". This is a 57 minute documentary from 2009. This was also fascinating to watch. It starts with Alfred himself saying, "It may be that I was born with the sense of drama"!A little bit of everything is covered in this extra, from costumes to music, to Hitchcock's preference for cool blonde leading ladies. Most of the comments, however, and not unexpectedly, have to do with his direction. How he made the angles, light, composition, point of view and camera tell the story and paint the mood. An impressive list of directors talk about Hitchcock's genius:- Francis Lawrence, director of "I Am Legend" and "Constantine"- William Friedkin, director of "The Exorcist" and "The French Connection"- Guillermo del Toro, director of "Pan's Labyrinth" and "Hellboy"- John Carpenter, director of "Halloween" and "Escape From New York"- Richard Loncraine, director of "Firewall"- Martin Scorsese, director of "Goodfellas"- Curtis Hanson, director of "L.A. Confidential" and "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle"- Joe Carnahan, director of "Smokin' Aces"3. "The Making of North by Northwest", hosted by Eva Marie Saint. Interesting stories are told by several people, including Pat Hitchcock, the director's daughter, and Ernest Lehman, writer for "North by Northwest". Lehman talks about the genesis of the plot, when Hitchcock tells him: "I've always wanted to do a chase across the faces of Mount Rushmore."4. "North by Northwest: One for the Ages", a short. This looks like it is made up of unused material from extra #2, "The Master's Touch". Also interesting.5. Stills Gallery6. Trailers and TV SpotsHappy Reader

One of my all-time favorite movies! I first saw this in my high school film ed class, and learned about the camera angles, visual storytelling, and so much more. I already loved old movies, but this one and "Suspicion" made me a Hitchcock fan.They don't make movies like this anymore, sadly.

North by Northwest is and endlessly entertaining film. Witty, funny and exciting, it's runtime flies by. I've owned the VHS, DVD, Bluray over the past 40 years but none do it justice like this 4K remaster. Both sound and picture are wonderful. The Dolby Atmos mix fills the room from the opening frames of the film and spot fx dance round the soundscape. Yes the picture is not 2024 movie reference but it's very close! Detail is crisp and colors vibrant and realistic. There are limited special features but are all good from the commentary to the making of l saw when the DVD was released way back when.This really is a must buy for film fans and collectors. A masterpiece of cinema that will entertain for decades to come