North by Northwest

North by Northwest is an insanely entertaining crime film that is at the same time sophisticated, funny and ultimately quite undemanding.

There is a little too much of a twinkle in the eye for you to believe that Cary Grant, in the role of advertising man Roger Thornhill, is in any real danger. He is a ladies' man and not exactly a born hero, but he shows new sides of himself when someone suddenly seeks his life.

The villainous, immensely rich businessman Phillip Vandamm has Roger Thornhill abducted in the belief that he is a mysterious unknown intelligence agent called George Kaplan. Vandamm believes that Thornhill is in possession of some important information, and Thornhill cannot convince him that it is all a mistake. So all at once he is a hunted man, and on top of that he has the police on his heels too, as it looks as though Thornhill has committed a murder for which Vandamm's men are actually responsible.

On his journey towards Chicago on Kaplan's trail, Roger meets a beautiful woman, Eve, on the train. They are attracted to each other and she agrees to help him, but who is actually friend and who is foe?

Several of the film's scenes have gone down in history, and not without reason, for North by Northwest can be seen as Hitchcock's take on an action film anno 1959. The film is really too long, but this is outweighed by the fact that the complex plot offers one surprise after another.