Classics Revisited #1

They say they don't make them like they used to, and to some extent that's true. The films that I want to recommend here are the greats of their time, but for some reason people seem afraid of them. It's like we've moved on, and films more than a decade old seem confusing and in a different language. Mark Twain said that a classic book is one that 'people praise and don't read' and the same is for films. The classics are there because they are the benchmarks of their genres, and if you're looking to expand your horizons these should be your starting point, not some mass-produced, cliché-ridden, yet no doubt fun 21st Century action/thriller/mystery/romcom. North By Northwest is a thriller set in the late Fifties, and follows the trials of advertising executive Roger Thornhill, who is mistaken for an FBI spy and is chased across the breadth of the United States, whilst frantically trying to work out who is chasing him, and who holds the identity they are really looking for. The police are after him. A mysterious man is after him. The FBI are after him. It's a trust no-one-and-suspect-everything situation as the movie goes from cliffhanger to cliffhanger in a race to the movie's thrilling conclusion atop Mount Rushmore. Why should you watch this film? Because it is pure and simple thriller material. Every movie that has tried to thrill since, from Paycheck which was inspired by this film to The Silence Of The Lambs owes something to North By Northwest. North By Northwest perfected all the key elements of the thriller genre - an innocent main character lost in a world that neither he nor the audience understands; dangerous men (and women) that seem trustworthy but are often not; the feeling of unease and suspense in each and every set piece; short, sharp flashed of action and high-paced chase scenes. Thrillers of today might mix in sex scenes, explosions and gratuitous use of Computer Graphics, but North By Northwest succeeds on pure suspense and thrills alone - all pushed forward by the magnificent abilities of Alfred Hitchcock, who can be seen in the opening of the film. Compared to the epic scale of The Lord Of The Rings, or the innovative use of CG in Paycheck, North By Northwest might look shabby. Indeed, people watching it for the first time in 2005 are likely to be somewhat disappointed at first. But looked on as a fine piece of cinema, North By Northwest holds its own as a suspense-ridden film from start to finish. The plot, though a little shaky at times, holds the movie together well and the actors put on a brilliant performance in what was at the time a fresh and new concept for movies in general. The set design is brilliant and offers a superb reflection of life in 1950s America. Every scene, from the claustrophobic hotels to the wide open crop fields, is brilliantly set up and the stunts that Hitchcock does attempt are pulled off with bravado and a great deal of success. If the movie has one letdown, it would definitely be the plot's performance midway through the film. If you can accept the strange twists and turns that the plot takes, and the apparently bizarre shift from man-on-the-run to -man-with-a-mission then you should be fine with the film and enjoy every second Hitchcock has crafted. No comedy. No sex. No explosions. No bad accents (well, maybe one...). North By Northwest sets out with one aim - to marry Hitchcock's mastery of tension with a thrilling one-man-against-the-world setting. And it succeeds in every way imaginable.