North by Northwest (1959) Analysis

North by Northwest (1959): http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053125/
Director:
Alfred Hitchcock
Writer:
Ernest Lehman
Cast:
Cary Grant
James Mason
Eva Marie Saint

North by Northwest is a timeless classic about a New York advertising executive Roger Thornhill is thrown into the world of spies when he is mistaken to be a CIA agent that goes by the name of George Kaplan by a foreign spy who is hunting down the agent. George escapes from the spy but is forced to run away from the police who believe that he has committed a murder and ends up chasing George Kaplan across the United States to find him and clear his own name.





The opening titles begin with fast paced orchestral music playing in the background, this immediately sets the tempo for the film and puts the audience in the position where they are ready for a fast paced movie that gets straight into the action from the go.

At 0:17, blue lines appear horizontally and vertically across the screen which is a blank green, the lines form a grid shape which resemble a large building such as a skyscraper with many windows. This gives the audience a hint to the location since tall buildings are usually located in large metropolitan areas such as New York or London.

 At 0:25, the opening credits begin which are fully intergrated with the opening scene. The opening credits appear in the following order:

Metro-Goldwyn Mayer presents 

Cary Grant

 Eva Marie Saint

James Mason

In Alfred Hitchcock's

North by Northwest

Co-starring Jessie Royce Landis

With Leo G. Carroll

 Josephine Hutchinson

Philip Ober

Martin Landau

Adam Williams  Edward Platt

Robert Ellenstein  Les Tremayne

Philip Coolidge  Patrick McVey

Edward Binks  Ken Lynch

Written by Ernest Lehman

Music by Bernard Herrmann

Director of Photography Robert Burks, A.S.C

Technicolor

Production designed by Robert Boyle

Art Directors William A. Horning

& Merrill Pye

Set decorations Henry Grace

& Frank McKelvey

Special effects A. Arnold Gillespie

& Lee LeBlanc

Titles designed by Saul Bass

In VistaVision

Film editor George Tomasini A.C.E

Color Consultant Charles K. Hagedon

Recording supervisor Franklin Milton

Hairstyles by Sydney Guilaroff

Make-up by William Tuttle 

Assistant Director Robert Saunders

Associate producer Herbet Coleman

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock

 

At 0:49, the title of the movie appears with a vertical wipe transition. It is written in a bold white font that stands out from the green/blue background and makes it easy for the audience to read. On the N at the beginning of the word 'North' there is an arrow extending from it facing in the compass direction north and an arrow extends from the T at the end of the word 'Northwest' facing in the compass direction west. This relates to the title of the movie 'North by Northwest' because it shows the direction that the title states and maybe gives the audience an impression of where the main character(s) is travelling throughout the film.

The green background fades into the side of a large building reflecting on a congested city at 0:55, which reveals that the location where this films begins is in Manhatton, New York  to the audience. This isn't actually confirmed just yet but the yellow taxis that are visible in the reflection of the windows are very common on Manhatton Island and are often associated with the place. 

At 1:45, the shot of the building fades out into a crowded pedestrian walkway and a block of writing appears in the centre of the screen in a white font. The paragraph reads: "The events, characters and firms depicted in this photoplay are fictitious, any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, or to actual firms, is purely coincidental". This contrasts from the usual paragraphs shown before movies that claim that the story was based on true events, it gives the audience the impression that the storylinr could be somwhat unreal or out of this world which could intrigue them further into the movie;.

 There are multiple shots of people rushing through a busy metropolitan area, this could symbolise that the plot of this movie is non stop and packed full of action from beginning to end. 

At 2:08, as the writing 'Directed by Alfred Hitchcock' disappears with a vertical wipe transition, a man runs across the screen in the same direction as the writing and misses his bus. The man shown in this shot is the director, Alfred Hitchcock, this cameo goes unnoticed by most but for the few who recognise the man on screen, it gives them an idea of the directors creativeness and makes them want to watch the movie through until the end to see if there are any more creative hidden features or scenes.