North by Northwest

North by Northwest (1959)

a film by Alfred Hitchcock

One of the great things about movies is that they can transport the story to places and situations that you wouldn't expect to be driven to and in a blink of an eye you find yourself in the middle of an intricate plot in an exotic or at least unexpected destination. This is exactly the experience that I had with North by Northwest and although some of the scenes that compose this movie have been so widespread in popular culture, the story itself unravels in a surprising and entertaining way.

Cary Grant plays an executive mistaken with Mr. George Kaplan when he summons the hotel attendant who is paging Kaplan. This triggers a series of situations which include his kidnap, an attempt of fake suicide, an assassination in the United Nations, falling in love with a beautiful blonde and escaping from a biplane in the middle of an Illinois cornfield -one of the most memorable scenes of the history of cinema- among many others.

North by Northwest surprised me as a mosaic of preposterous situations that nevertheless compose a really amusing story. This movie is great catching the ambient of the Cold War with an organization in shadows with interests that go beyond any individual and that twist the life of this successful and socially recognized character who becomes a victim by pure coincidence.

I was amazed by the interpretation of Cary Grant who seems to carry the movie on his back as the secondary characters seemed somewhat opaque. It is his expression and his versatility as an actor what articulates the story, and as he jumps from action to comedy so easily he keeps the rhythm of the film. This is a great interpretation and it is delivered in the great scenes that Alfred Hitchcock manages to create, with this brilliance he transported me from New York to North Dakota in the blink of an eye and send me home with a great smile.