North by Northwest [AppleTV]

One of Alfred Hitchcock's later films, this 1959 adventure-caper could have been the progenitor of the James Bond spy-thrillers (first film Dr No was in 1962) and Ethan Hunt's TV and movie Mission: Impossible franchises. It had spies, mistaken identity, a femme fatale, an evil international mastermind, menacing henchmen, a romance, some comedy, multiple (exotic) locales - Mt Rushmore! In a train!- and, most importantly, a dashing hero! All it needed was a wise-cracking sidekick and some gadgets! 

From a modern POV, the plot was rather predictable. However, back in the 50s this was likely to have been rather exciting and new to the audience. And, again, Hitchcock was great at milking the tension and tightening the suspense. The train sequence was well-done and the Mt Rushmore climax was tremendously exciting. Equally riveting was the rapid-fire dialogue by screenwriter Ernest Lehman, it calls to mind Amy Sherman-Palladino's and Aaron Sorkin's highly patterned, ping-pong dialogue style.

Cary Grant was a great leading man for a spy thriller. He was ruggedly handsome, utterly charismatic and looked damn fine in a suit. Although the tendency to cast a not-so-age-appropriate actress as the love interest seemed to already be a thing in Hollywood. Eva Marie Saint looked like she could have been Grant's daughter. Regardless, Saint was a great counter to Grant and they had good chemistry together. Pity, eventually she still had to fulfill the role of damsel-in-distress.

The music was by Bernard Herrmann, who also scored a few other Hitchcock films. The score was appropriately exciting and definitely helped to raise the tension. Although, unfortunately, it was not very memorable. However, the cinematography by Robert Burks looked amazing. The shots out in the desert and the plane crash was beautiful, as was the entire last act up in Mt Rushmore at night.

North by Northwest was a great watch. It was entertaining and exciting, albeit predictable to modern eyes. Nonetheless, Grant had a great screen presence, and Hitchcock really knew how to hook in his audience. Now, can somebody please explain the title?