North By Northwest (1959)

North By Northwest - Alfred Hitchcock

Is North by Northwest the perfect thriller?

Cary Grant in Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest.

North by northwest is a thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1959 entirely based on a mistaken identity which is then turned into a game of chase, which Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant) was then trying to come out of alive. This tells us that throughout the film you are kept on the edge of your seat with the thrills and adrenaline rush which North by Northwest gives people. 

Shown below is the trailer for North by Northwest.

The trailer for North by Northwest has been made very well to appeal to the audience in a very good way. The way in which this will appeal to the audience is the mystery behind the trailer into whats actually happening and why its happening. this would mean that people would want to watch North by Northwest as they can see from the trailer that it is full of thrills. The way in which they would know this is because the trailer does a run through of the film giving little teasers of basically each scene making sure that people will be interested in the trailer which would then make the audience even more interested in watching the film.

North by Northwest has the main things which then makes this a perfect thriller. Thrillers are usually characterized by fast pacing frequent action and North by Northwest definitely includes this. An example of this in North by Northwest is the crop duster scene which is shown below:

This scene is a very iconic action sequence, this is because as Mr Thornhill waits in anticipation for his "double" he is left in a very open area and is vulnerable and exposed to many different dangers which could occur to him especially in th situation which he is in. The suspence then drastically builds as cars pass by and Mr Thornhill gets his hopes up just for them to be crushed as he gets sprayed by a truck and then someone gets dropped off,  could this be Kaplan? However you then see the crop duster plane, the funny thing about this is that the crop duster happens to be dusting an area where there no crops. As a bus then drives away Thornhill is left defenseless while the crop duster plane starts chasing him. Thornhill ducks to avoid getting hitting and is trying to flag down all passing vehciles. Eventually he takes cover in the cornfield where he then gets flushed out by a white powder being realesed. He then see's a oil truck so runs for it and stands in front of it forcing it to stop, its at this moment that the plane flies straight in to the truck causing an explosion. 

Thrillers are also characterised by the heroes who out smart the plans of powerful and better equipped villains, this is definitely shown in North by Northwest on numerous occasions throughout the film.

In North by Northwest suspense, redherrings and cliffhangers were all used at some point during the film. One scene where you see these being used is the Auction Scene:

I feel that this scene has all the conventions which a good thriller needs and I'd definitely say that it creates a lot of suspence throughout the whole scene.

Another characteristic of a thriler is that its usually a villian driven plot, whereby he presents obstacles the hero must overcome. This is definitely true of North by Northwest, with the use of the macguffin. A macguffin in something that the villians care about but the audience take no notice of.
Overall the specific reason for the macguffin may be undefined, left to interpretation, ambiguous or just not important. A example of this would be, money, victory, glory, power or just something that hasn't been explained. Macguffin's are highly popular in thrillers and usually becomes the main focus point of the film in the first part of the film and then it declines in importance. Sometimes the importance reclines or by the end of the film it could just be forgotten.

Below is a interview where Hitchcock discusses North by Northwest:

Overall I think that Hitchcock did a very good job with North by Northwest as it's got all the conventions which a good thriller needs and it definitely keeps you on the edge of your seat. I would definitely recommend this film to anyone.