IMDB TOP 250 - NORTH BY NORTHWEST

With so many movies churned out on a weekly basis, it can be a serious challenge finding something even halfway decent to watch of an evening. A surefire solution then would be to seek out the help of the internet in finding worthy film entertainment and where better to start than with IMDB’s (by no means) definitive Top 250 movies that people bothered to vote for.

Under the spotlight this time North by Northwest.

I’m obliquely aware of Alfred Hitchcock, skirting the edges of his creative output in fits and starts and often loving every minute of it. There’s something overwhelmingly playful about his movies, about the ways he toyed with his audience just as much as his protagonist and the faultless, often dazzling visual style he brought to bear without seeming to dip into the gimmicky. His purpose was entertainment and his process without peer so it’s only natural that many of his films work just as well today as when they were originally released.

And so it is with 1959’s North by Northwest, a fairly standard tale of mistaken identity that enfolds the viewer in layers of spygame hokum, led by a ferociously charming performance from Cary Grant. Here, he effortlessly embodies everything which George Clooney has been striving for for over a decade, the multisexual appeal, the understated physicality and a wit both self effacing and sharply smug at the same time. Eva Marie Saint’s advances may have seemed progressive on paper but onscreen there’s no question that it’s Grant in charge and, sexual politics aside, would you really want it any other way?

It may be over 50 years old but North by Northwest simply rockets along from the shockingly contemporary titles by Saul Bass to the finale conveniently located at a national monument (Mt. Rushmore), there’s a formula here which is still followed by the genre to this day. James Mason’s clipped tone (and equally well tailored suits) make a perfect evil foil and then 31 year old Martin Landau makes an great impression as a slightly effeminate henchmen in only his second big screen role. The gags are still funny (especially Grant playing drunk), the dialogue is punchy without feeling forced and even the action scenes feel far from geriatric – particularly the famous cropduster face-off which ends with a pyrotechnic bang that’s no less effective than a modern day blockbuster. A classic slice of Hollywood entertainment that feels just as fresh today as it did 5 decades ago.

173/250

A couple of options from here – either dive into my first Ingmar Bergman (I know, shameful) with Persona or The Seventh Seal or check out The Lives of Others...

IMDB TOP 250 - THE JOURNEY BEGINS

Being mildly addicted to Facebook I recently took the test to see how many of IMDB's Top 250 movies I had seen. The result - 171 out of 250. Respectable enough for the layman but I'm supposed to be a movie reviewer so it simply won't do. The only possible solution (short of completely disregarding the list as an arbitrary series of votes by the mostly American userbase of a website) was to start at the beginning and work my way down, checking out every movie I could along to the way.

First up Rosemary's Baby.

Coming from a pre-lawsuit Roman Polanski in 1968, Rosemary's Baby stars Mia Farrow as a young, pregnant mother to be who wanders around her apartment block in downtown New York, gets hassled by the neighbours, casually mistreated by her actor husband (John Cassavetes) and slowly begins to suspect that something nefarious is afoot. Its attractively shot, menacingly directed and Farrow is certainly fetching (though a little shrill and emaciated) in the lead role. But its didn't work for me in the end because of one fatal flaw - it completely gives the game away in the first 15 minutes. The supposedly shocking finale isn't just subtly hinted it, its boldly drawn onscreen in the opening scenes with a vividly realised demonic rape. The entire focus of the film could have been completely shifted if that scene was moved to the final act and hinted at instead of shown.

The rest is basic paranoia and dread, ratcheting up the tension for no real payoff and almost no scares. Farrow is never in danger, in fact if anything she can rely on the other residents to keep her as safe as possible to preserve the child she is carrying. The ending is reasonably haunting but even then was far less shocking than I was expecting. A disappointment.

172/250

Next on the list - North by Northwest.