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Review: North by Northwest (1959)
This story started decently enough, but it kind of fizzled out for me unfortunately.
Spoilers.
Story
This was a story of mistaken identity, in which our main character Roger Thornhill was mistaken to be a false identity that was created by government intelligence called George Kaplan. He was pursued by Vandamm and his thugs. Vandamm in turn was pursued by the government agency.
Vandamm arranged for Thornhill to be killed in a car accident but he survived. However, when Vandamm retraced his steps with his mom and the police, it appeared that Vandamm had covered everything up to make it look like Thornhill, as Kaplan, had simply attended a party there. Vandamm had been using the persona of Townsend, so Thornhill went to Townsend's place of work, the UN, to find him, only to find Townsend a totally different person. Townsend was killed by one of Vandamm's thugs, and people mistook Thornhill for the actual killer.
Thornhill fled, and went on a train, where he met Eve Kendall and started a romance with her. It was revealed that Kendall was actually working with Vandamm. She arranged a meeting with Kaplan for Thornhill which was another attempt on his life.
Thornhill later tracked Kendall and Vandamm's thugs to an auction and learned the truth of their collaboration. Thornhill made a big ruckus and forced the people organizing the auction to call the police on him. Then, the Professor, one of the men heading the government intelligence operation, approached Thornhill, and told him the truth that Kaplan was a fake identity intended to distract Vandamm from the actual spy, who was Kendall.
Afterwards, Thornhill agreed to continue being Kaplan. In a confrontation with Vandamm and his team, Kendall shot Thornhill to prove her loyalty, albeit with blanks. Later on, Thornhill (in the Professor's custody), snuck into Vandamm's house and found out that Vandamm and his team planned to kill Kendall. Vandamm managed to pass on a note to Kendall to warn her and she ran off as they were boarding a plan. Thornhill and Kendall then ran off to Mount Rushmore where they were pursued by Vandamm's thugs.
In a final scene where Kendall was hanging off of Mount Rushmore, Thornhill pulled her up and the scene changed to them on a train, presumably already married, as Thornhill called her Mrs. Thornhill.
I thought the way the mistaken identity was portrayed was pretty cool. But I kind of lost interest when the romantic storyline became more prominent, because love became Thornhill's main motivation, which wasn't so easy to stomach when he'd only met her briefly on that train and it was just a regular cutesy meet-cute.
Production
There were some pretty exciting shots here, evocative use of lighting, etc. When it comes to older movies, I know I miss a lot of things because I'm already so used to modern direction that I can't tell what was a trailblazer for its time.
But anyway, I thought direction at the beginning was really fun to show us the sense of mystery. We saw this when Vandamm saw Thornhill as Townsend, and he drew closed the curtains and turned on the lamp to show himself as a shadow.
I did like Eva Marie Saint's acting quite a bit. She had a particularly alluring way of speaking and I can imagine her totally being a sort of femme fatale.
It was hard to take Thornhill's mother as his mother because she was so young looking. I kept thinking it was a joke and that she was just a friend that Thornhill called Mother but no, she was actually Thornhill's mom DX
Characters
Roger Thornhill
Our main character and frankly another everyman character :/ He was witty but like, there wasn't really anything else going on for him. His entire story line was (1) clearing up his identity and (2) saving Eve. I couldn't say anything about his personality.
Eve Kendall
Kendall was the government spy who was working for Vandamm. And because she was working for Vandamm, she helped him in trapping Thornhill.
She first met Thornhill on a train where they began their romance. She set up a meeting between Thornhill and Kaplan which was just revealed to be a fake meeting, an excuse to kill Thornhill once again.
Later, Thornhill saw Kendall at a hotel at which point he started getting on her tail, and he followed her to the auction where he found her in cahoots with Vandamm's thugs.
Thornhill was angry with the betrayal, but later found out the truth from the Professor, and became overcome with conviction to save her. He confronted Vandamm's thugs to try to get them to hand her over but it didn't work. And he tried to force her to come with him, but she shot him. But it was later revealed that she had only shot him with blanks and then the Professor arranged a meeting between them.
Later on, Kendall was at Vandamm's place, and they were all prepared to leave. It was revealed that one of the items at the auction held Vandamm's secrets. Thornhill wrote a note and threw it down on the floor so Kendall could see it, and the note warned her of what was to happen. So she took the item from the auction and ran to Thornhill. And she and Thornhill survived the chase and they lived happily ever after.
Kendall definitely has more style and flair, but unfortunately not too much substance either.
Phillip Vandamm
Vandamm was the sneaky criminal that the government was after. Kaplan was an identity created to confuse him so that he would not suspect Kendall and it worked. Vandamm and his thugs were all over Thornhill whom they believed to be Kaplan. It was because Thornhill had reacted to a message intended for Kaplan and they ran with that. To add to that, Kaplan was meant to be a faceless identity, and when Thornhill walked the paths of Kaplan, people just assumed him to be Kaplan.
With Kendall's help, Vandamm continually tried to kill Thornhill though it did not work.
Later on, Vandamm and one of his henchmen Leonard discussed getting rid of Kendall, which clued in Thornhill. Kendall ran off with the statue from the auction which Vandamm needed, and which was why he got his henchmen on the case. But their efforts were thwarted and Vandamm was taken into custody.
The Professor
The Professor was a government intelligence man. He was pretty calm throughout. When Thornhill was caught up in the identity of Kaplan, he decided to let it continue, for it helped their operation. When Thornhill was taken into custody, he helped him out and revealed the truth to him to get him to keep staying on as Kaplan for just a little while.
Overall
Promising beginning but unfortunately I think the rest of the movie retained some of the storytelling tropes of that time that did not interest me.
Spoilers.
Story
This was a story of mistaken identity, in which our main character Roger Thornhill was mistaken to be a false identity that was created by government intelligence called George Kaplan. He was pursued by Vandamm and his thugs. Vandamm in turn was pursued by the government agency.
Vandamm arranged for Thornhill to be killed in a car accident but he survived. However, when Vandamm retraced his steps with his mom and the police, it appeared that Vandamm had covered everything up to make it look like Thornhill, as Kaplan, had simply attended a party there. Vandamm had been using the persona of Townsend, so Thornhill went to Townsend's place of work, the UN, to find him, only to find Townsend a totally different person. Townsend was killed by one of Vandamm's thugs, and people mistook Thornhill for the actual killer.
Thornhill fled, and went on a train, where he met Eve Kendall and started a romance with her. It was revealed that Kendall was actually working with Vandamm. She arranged a meeting with Kaplan for Thornhill which was another attempt on his life.
Thornhill later tracked Kendall and Vandamm's thugs to an auction and learned the truth of their collaboration. Thornhill made a big ruckus and forced the people organizing the auction to call the police on him. Then, the Professor, one of the men heading the government intelligence operation, approached Thornhill, and told him the truth that Kaplan was a fake identity intended to distract Vandamm from the actual spy, who was Kendall.
Afterwards, Thornhill agreed to continue being Kaplan. In a confrontation with Vandamm and his team, Kendall shot Thornhill to prove her loyalty, albeit with blanks. Later on, Thornhill (in the Professor's custody), snuck into Vandamm's house and found out that Vandamm and his team planned to kill Kendall. Vandamm managed to pass on a note to Kendall to warn her and she ran off as they were boarding a plan. Thornhill and Kendall then ran off to Mount Rushmore where they were pursued by Vandamm's thugs.
In a final scene where Kendall was hanging off of Mount Rushmore, Thornhill pulled her up and the scene changed to them on a train, presumably already married, as Thornhill called her Mrs. Thornhill.
I thought the way the mistaken identity was portrayed was pretty cool. But I kind of lost interest when the romantic storyline became more prominent, because love became Thornhill's main motivation, which wasn't so easy to stomach when he'd only met her briefly on that train and it was just a regular cutesy meet-cute.
Production
There were some pretty exciting shots here, evocative use of lighting, etc. When it comes to older movies, I know I miss a lot of things because I'm already so used to modern direction that I can't tell what was a trailblazer for its time.
But anyway, I thought direction at the beginning was really fun to show us the sense of mystery. We saw this when Vandamm saw Thornhill as Townsend, and he drew closed the curtains and turned on the lamp to show himself as a shadow.
I did like Eva Marie Saint's acting quite a bit. She had a particularly alluring way of speaking and I can imagine her totally being a sort of femme fatale.
It was hard to take Thornhill's mother as his mother because she was so young looking. I kept thinking it was a joke and that she was just a friend that Thornhill called Mother but no, she was actually Thornhill's mom DX
Characters
Roger Thornhill
Our main character and frankly another everyman character :/ He was witty but like, there wasn't really anything else going on for him. His entire story line was (1) clearing up his identity and (2) saving Eve. I couldn't say anything about his personality.
Eve Kendall
Kendall was the government spy who was working for Vandamm. And because she was working for Vandamm, she helped him in trapping Thornhill.
She first met Thornhill on a train where they began their romance. She set up a meeting between Thornhill and Kaplan which was just revealed to be a fake meeting, an excuse to kill Thornhill once again.
Later, Thornhill saw Kendall at a hotel at which point he started getting on her tail, and he followed her to the auction where he found her in cahoots with Vandamm's thugs.
Thornhill was angry with the betrayal, but later found out the truth from the Professor, and became overcome with conviction to save her. He confronted Vandamm's thugs to try to get them to hand her over but it didn't work. And he tried to force her to come with him, but she shot him. But it was later revealed that she had only shot him with blanks and then the Professor arranged a meeting between them.
Later on, Kendall was at Vandamm's place, and they were all prepared to leave. It was revealed that one of the items at the auction held Vandamm's secrets. Thornhill wrote a note and threw it down on the floor so Kendall could see it, and the note warned her of what was to happen. So she took the item from the auction and ran to Thornhill. And she and Thornhill survived the chase and they lived happily ever after.
Kendall definitely has more style and flair, but unfortunately not too much substance either.
Phillip Vandamm
Vandamm was the sneaky criminal that the government was after. Kaplan was an identity created to confuse him so that he would not suspect Kendall and it worked. Vandamm and his thugs were all over Thornhill whom they believed to be Kaplan. It was because Thornhill had reacted to a message intended for Kaplan and they ran with that. To add to that, Kaplan was meant to be a faceless identity, and when Thornhill walked the paths of Kaplan, people just assumed him to be Kaplan.
With Kendall's help, Vandamm continually tried to kill Thornhill though it did not work.
Later on, Vandamm and one of his henchmen Leonard discussed getting rid of Kendall, which clued in Thornhill. Kendall ran off with the statue from the auction which Vandamm needed, and which was why he got his henchmen on the case. But their efforts were thwarted and Vandamm was taken into custody.
The Professor
The Professor was a government intelligence man. He was pretty calm throughout. When Thornhill was caught up in the identity of Kaplan, he decided to let it continue, for it helped their operation. When Thornhill was taken into custody, he helped him out and revealed the truth to him to get him to keep staying on as Kaplan for just a little while.
Overall
Promising beginning but unfortunately I think the rest of the movie retained some of the storytelling tropes of that time that did not interest me.