A case of mistaken identity, mysterious thugs who stop at nothing (including murder), Cary Grant running along a deserted highway to avoid a crop-dusting plane, a climactic fight on the presidential faces of Mount Rushmore... North By Northwest is the quintessential Hitchcock thriller and one of the most exciting movies of all time. So there.
DVD Extras:
Writer's commentary, behind-the-scenes documentary, photo gallery, trailer, TV spot, music-only audio track. That Alfred Hitchcock is cinema's master of suspense is beyond argument, but here's a disc whose extras highlight the important contributions of his collaborators. Screenwriter Ernest Lehman's commentary has the pace of an old man out for a stroll, but is packed with information about the production and the story's evolution. Meanwhile, the music-only option emphasises how much Hitchcock's direction is heightened by Bernard Hermann's score. The 39-minute documentary is a bit cheesy, but has good archive material and a word or two from Martin Landau and leading lady Eva Marie Saint. And for those who want to see Hitch himself in action, there's an excellent set of on-set stills plus (in the doc) one of his eccentrically bizarre, personalised trailers.
