In 1958, after filming "Dizziness", Alfred Hitchcock once said that he wanted to make some changes and make a humorous and relaxing movie. Hitchcock agreed to make a film for MGM. At first he chose to adapt the novel "The Wreck of the Mary Deare", introduced by composer Bernard Herrmann. Gave his friend Ennis Lechman to Hitchcock. A few weeks later, the playwright Lechman felt that he could not adapt the novel, but he told Hitchcock a true story during World War II. , Which is the prototype of "North by Northwest". Through discussion, they chose many possible identities for the protagonist of this story: for example, the story of a killer in the United Nations headquarters in New York, a story of a killer in a car factory in Detroit, and finally the whole story ends in Alaska.
"North by Northwest" can be said to be one of Hitchcock's most famous works. The film does not take tension and suspense as the main element, but adds a lot of humorous dialogue to enhance the characterization of the characters. The film did not develop a plot around a suspense from beginning to end. This was originally a commonly used technique in many early works of the master, and the director of this work adopts a wave of just flattening and rising again. The level of increase and the variety of paragraphs are beyond the suspense. Overall suspense.
James Stewart (James Stewart) really wanted to appear in this movie, so he begged Hitchcock to let him play the role of Roger, but Hitchcock believed that 1958's "Dizziness" did not achieve commercial success because James looks too old. Hitchcock felt that it would be very embarrassing for him to refuse Stewart rashly, so he postponed the start of the film until Stewart appeared in the new play "Anatomy of a Murder", at which time Hitchcock sent an invitation to Stewart , I hope he will participate in "North by Northwest", Stewart, who has already had an appointment, can only give up this opportunity. MGM wanted to use Gregory Parker, but Hitchcock insisted on using Cary Grant. However, Gary Grant is four years older than James Stewart.
In the contract signed between Gary Grant and the producer, he was required to get a certain commission based on the box office income, so in the end, Grant received a total of 450,000 US dollars from the
"North by Northwest" has a lot of innovation in suspense settings, but there are still many typical features of Hitchcock movies, such as James Mason (James Mason) ) The elegant villain (Claude Rines in "Beauty", Joseph Cotton in "The Destruction of Flowers" is also this type of character) putting an ordinary person in an extreme situation is a hope A technique often used by Ou Kirk. For example, Roger in "North by Northwest" was mistaken for a CIA spy that did not exist at all. Henry Fonda in "The Reunification" was mistaken for a criminal.
Hitchcock’s films have many descriptions of sex, but they never use vulgar expressions. The sex scenes he shoots are delicate and suggestive. In the last shot of the film, with the sudden sound of a symphony, a train goes into a tunnel. This shot of the train drilling the cave obviously played a role in suggesting sex, and in connection with a shot, Roger and Ava out of danger, lying on the train sleeper hugging and kissing, this explanation seems more reasonable.
[North-northwest? ]
The title of "North by Northwest" has always puzzled many viewers. Some people say that it is called because Roger's escape route is toward the northwest. However, in an interview with Hitchcock in 1963, he once said that the name comes from "Hamlet", and the purpose is to metaphor the reality that is difficult to grasp, and then there is the Northwest Airlines mentioned in the pun movie. Which statement is true has not been verified yet.
In an interview, Ernest Lehman (Ernest Lehman), a playwright who has worked with Hitchcock for a long time, said that during the filming, the crew temporarily named the film as "Northwest", the producer MGM suggested, Why don’t we call it "north-northwest", Hitchcock thinks the name is okay, but he still hopes to find a better name.
[Film Highlights]
In the 1948 movie "Rope" After brilliantly interpreting a big villain in, James Mason once again showed his ability to play the villain in "Northwest by North" ten years later. Mason is a well-known British film actor. He has filmed more than 100 films in the United Kingdom and the United States. In addition to "Northwest by Northwest", his representative works include "Legend of the Tiger" and "Mrs. Bovary".
The heroine Eva Marie Center became popular in 1954 with "The Wharf" and won the 27th Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. After the second half of the 1970s, he mainly appeared in TV series.
At the beginning of "North by Northwest", the fat man who hurried to catch the bus was Hitchcock himself. For frequent guest appearances in his own films, Hitchcock has his own unique explanation, he said: "This is purely for real profit-to embellish the screen. Later, it became a play addiction, and finally turned into a gag." However, he The following explanation fully system his good qualities and macro wisdom as a film artist: "I must be very careful, and I must show up in public five minutes after the start of the film, so that the audience will not be distracted when watching the rest. "
The most famous shot in "North by Northwest" is the 7-minute flight chasing people. The visual impact of this lens is truly amazing, so much so that Truffaut commented on it: "The most attractive thing about it is that it has no dramatic motives. This scene dries out all the meaning and all the authenticity. "Later, many Hollywood comedies that used to ridicule the classics have repeatedly imitated this scene, such as in the comedy film "The White Headed Detective" series, but it is difficult to tell whether the director is caustic or not.
Hitchcock was not allowed to shoot in the United Nations, so the crew used a hidden camera to capture the interior of the United Nations and set up the scene in the studio. In the end, the Mount Rushmore monument was chased and no official shooting permission was obtained. Hitchcock had to copy the Mount Rushmore monument in the studio. Everyone was cautious during the shooting, lest they would damage the portrait on the replica.
The day before the filming of Roger hiding in the upper bunk of the train, Gary Grant told Hitchcock that the "upper bunk" was too big to be suitable for filming. Hitchcock completely believed Grant's words and re-customized an upper bunk, but forgot to let Grant try first, so that the scene in the movie where Roger got bored after he came out of his hiding place appeared in the movie.
At the location of the Mount Rushmore Monument, Eva discovered that Gary Grant was charging his fans 15 cents each for autographs.
Hitchcock was very dissatisfied with the clothes designed by the company for Eva, so he had to take her to the mall to pick clothes in person.
The "O" in the name of the hero Roger O. Thornhill represents an insignificant person. The "O" in the name of the famous Hollywood producer David O. Selznick (David O. Selznick) also represents this Meaning.
Hitchcock has always planned a group of male protagonists to hide in the nose of Mount Rushmore Lincoln statue and sneez in it. But of course the authorities will not allow him to do so, after repeated requests failed. Someone is right. Hitchcock said that you can imagine how you would feel if Lincoln sneezed in Grant's nose. Hitchcock immediately understood the impropriety of the plot and gave up shooting.
The plot of the train station section was filmed at the Grand Central Terminal in New York City. Among the onlookers at the shooting site that day, there were later very famous directors such as George A. Romero, the father of modern horror movies ( George A. Romero).
"North by Northwest" was named the seventh of the ten greatest suspense films in history by the American Film Institute.
Sofia Roland was also one of the candidates for the heroine of the film. Roland's contract issue did not allow her to get this opportunity. But 7 years later, Roland still participated in the director Stanley Donen (Stanley Donen)'s "Northwest by Northwest". "Arabesque" was inspired by the suspense film "Arabesque", and the actor of this movie was also the popular candidate of
"Northwest" at the time. George Peck (Gregory Peck) "Northwest" was called For the first real 007 movie, the producer appreciates Hitchcock's directing method in "North by Northwest", and Hitchcock is also very interested in the story of 007. He also became one of the strong competitors for the director of the first 007 film. In the end, the producers of 007 did not choose Hitchcock, because the producers felt that he had too much control over the film, and Hitchcock also started to make his own new film "Mentally Patient" at that time.
Gary Grant's gray coat in the film led a fashion wave invisibly. In 2006, GQ magazine made this suit the best costume in movie history and the costume that has the greatest influence on menswear trends. Many actors have imitated this look in movies, such as Tom Cruise in "Collateral" and Ben Affleck in "Paycheck".
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