by Hope Ferris, ’18

Picture this: a film with an unnecessarily complicated plot line, dizzying chase scenes with near constant motion, international political intrigue driven by cold war tensions, an icy double-crossing blonde, a wealthy British villain with an ultra-posh and secluded lair, an impeccably dressed lady-killer of a protagonist, excessive amounts of expensive alcohol, the mild desecration of a national monument, an assassination attempt by crop-duster, a literal stabbing in the back, extravagant hotels, explosions, fake guns – and trains! What movie comes to mind – a James Bond film, perhaps? You’d be forgiven for thinking so, as director Alfred Hitchcock’s 1959 film North by Northwest was the seminal spy film. The plot of Hitchcock’s film may be nonsense, but it is surrealist, opulent, indulgent nonsense. An unfortunately named advertising executive, Roger Thornhill, is mistaken for spy George Kaplan (who later turns out to not even exist) and so begins a game of cat and mouse with the smooth-talking, microfilm-smuggling Soviet-supporter, Phillip Vandamm – though what exactly is on the microfilm is never clarified. Though Cold War tensions ostensibly drive the plot, it is our hero and villain’s struggle for sexual possession of Vandamm’s mistress Eve Kendall (Eva Marie Saint) that drives the conflict.

Although his acting as Roger Thornhill is peak Cary Grant – suave, tan, and irresistibly charming – Eva Marie Saint’s performance as the seductive and distant Eve Kendall comparably stands out. Within the constraints of the plot, Kendall is no more than another expensive object for Thornhill and Vandamm to fight over; once the mistress of Vandamm, she is approached by an intelligence agency to spy on him, but is inevitably thrown off track after falling for the enticing Thornhill. Saint plays the part of tortured seductress with cool ease: with the raise of an eyebrow she archly delivers some of the best lines of the film in her distinctive, low voice. As with many of Hitchcock’s films, Saint’s icy blonde character is emotionally static, and she drives the film with what she allows through the required restraint. In a showdown at an auction, Kendall is seated silently between a standing Vandamm and Thornhill, who use her sexual history to attack in a restrained fight. Though her face is barely in the shot, the conflict noticeably deepens on Saint’s face as the direct shaming of her sexuality continues, culminating when she rises to strike Thornhill, stops, and sinks back into her seat without saying a word, sinking out of the frame as well. Not only does Eva Marie Saint breathe life into her otherwise vapid character, she also delivers the most nuanced performance of the film.

As North by Northwest was released at the height of Hitchcock’s success, the film left one of the biggest impacts on the film industry, as the tropes of the action movie – the spy movie especially – were first seen on screen in the 1959 film. The film’s dizzying action sequences are heightened by how the camera tracks the main characters: as the plot and real action accelerates, the acceleration of the physical motion of the camera follows. When interspersed with sweeping wide shots in slower scenes, the technique develops the tension exquisitely – one frequently used in action films today. Vandamm is almost exclusively backlit by lamps that leave his face in shadow, and the camera frequently cuts to only his hands touching Eve Kendall or another of his possessions. The visual of shadow and possession, in combination with his sophisticated British accent and excessive wealth, has lived on as the trope of the super villain.

Without Roger Thornhill, there would be no James Bond, no Man from U.N.C.L.E., no Mission Impossible, even no Jason Bourne. And although the plot is nonsensical (the coordinates North by Northwest are even incorrect – it would technically be Northwest by North), the legacy of this lush, escapist spy film lives on today.