Modern audiences need to learn patience. Hitchcock would be ruined by quick edits, shortened scenes, and shaky cams. This is the movie as a kid that made me love movies and Hitchcock. I am so glad you reacted to this movie. It is in my top 10. Great channel and keep doing these older classics.
Look on the bright side if movie editing keeps getting quicker, scenes short, and dialogue more concise, by the end of the century "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy will have been reissued as a singe two hour movie. Now there's horror.
Cary Grant was the biggest star of the 50s! He was even considered for Bond! Many consider this film to be the blueprint for Bond movies. I know you're a Audrey Hepburn fan so PLEASE make sure to watch 'Charade' with her and Cary Grant! It's SO GOOD! Hope you're enjoying visiting Canada! 💝
Carry Grant in "Arsenic and Old Lace" - one of the funniest movies of all time. Grant was a very versatile actor, in comedy and in drama etc., and was in many classic movies along with this one.
Carey Grant is my favorite actor. He was a leading man who could do it all and on top of that, make fun of himself too. That's something most leading men wouldn't do back then. She should try Bringing Up Baby, Philadelphia Story, Father Goose along with Arcenic and Old Lace. Really, any Grant movie is great.
The sexual metaphor of the train entering the tunnel is legendary, and an example of Hitchcock's mischievous humor. Those climbing scenes at "Mount Rushmore" were all done inside a soundstage, though the wide establishing shots were real. Cary Grant really spoke like that, and used to be someone impressionists always imitated. Both he and James Mason (Vandamm) were originally born in England, then lived in America for quite some time. Thus, they had what's come to be known as the "Mid-Atlantic" accent often heard in films around this time.
"Notorious" starring Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman is an absolute classic Hitchcock suspense and romance tale from the 1940's that I would highly recommend. It also stars Claude Rains who co-starred in "Casablanca".
Eva Marie Saint was outstanding in On The Waterfront (1954) opposite Marlon Brando. Her film debut. Won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar. She just turned 99 on her last birthday - 04 July.
I was just about to post the exact same comment. I'll never forget first seeing her in On The Waterfront, she's absolutely gorgeous. Speaking of that, I'm amazed there are not many reactions to Brando films, the Godfather the only one I can think of... and maybe Apocalypse Now. There's one iconic line they'll probably know in On The Waterfront. Imagine meeting Eva today. The things you could ask her, if her mind is still there.
You're so fun to watch. Your "let's get on with it" is actually describing a problem of modern movies; they're so scared to let the audience have a chance to breath and think about what they're seeing. The "pauses" in past movies were designed to give people little resets and that allows us to understand, process, enjoy. Modern movies use exhaustion of action in place of actual story telling -- 60-70yr old movies are way better than almost anything in the last 15yrs. Make sure to check out early Hitchcock war movies as well. And introduce us to your dad!!
A point to remember, is that this movie was meant to be seen in a movie theatre with a couple of hundred other people. It takes time for that many people to react to situations. Films were previewed, sometimes repeatedly, in order to get the timing right. When Stan Laurel's films began to be shown on television, he offered to re-edit them to shorten the reaction times. Fortunately, his offer was refused..
Cassie, the reason your hands WERE sweaty at the conclusion WAS because of those 'slower' moments you criticised. Suspense functions in a very carefully controlled manner, often with a slow build that delays response and effect that isn't obvious at the outset. Those sweaty hands are as much the result of the BIG cliffhanger moment as they are of all the incidental beads strung together prior to it.
Eva Marie Saint is 99, and has been working as an actress as recent as this last decade. My first time seeing her was in the drama, Nothing in Common (1986) where she played the mother of Tom Hanks' character back when Tom Hanks was rising to stardom. She's a terrific actress.
@@ajvanmarle well, yea… I’m just talking he doesn’t do scary just for the sake of the scare. He’s a master of suspense, which can in itself be frightening.
The point is that Hitchcock was known as THE MASTER OF SUSPENSE. He was never called The Master of Horror. Suspense and Mystery is what he did best, and he specifically rejected the "horror" label after Psycho.
If only one car passed Roger on that rural road, there wouldn’t have been much suspense developed. Hitchcock didn’t rely as much on dialogue to create suspense, but used cinematic storytelling and visuals. Repetition is an effective tool in both drama and comedy, so Hitchcock carefully timed the scene to build suspense.
Also, all four cars serve different purposes. If they were repetitious, Hitchcock wouldn't put them there. The first car speeds by, obviously not Roger's man. The second car slows down, and Roger momentarily thinks this may be the guy. The third car pours dust into Roger's face (a foreboding of getting cropdusted on later). The fourth car stops and the guy stands right across Roger, so Roger (and the viewer) thinks this must be him. His purpose is to deliver the line, "Hey, that plane is dusting crops where there ain't no crops!" The whole point of this is escalating anticipation and atmosphere. This is the film's major set piece and an iconic scene in the history of cinema.
I agree with you. Today too many movies seem to appeal to those who want instant gratification. The plane chase arrived only after you were left wondering why the cars kept driving by. And out of nowhere the suspense arrived. One of the most famous scenes ever. They don't make enough movies like that anymore.
@@hw2508 It's like the man himself said: if you show two people having a conversation which gets interrupted by a bomb going off, you get little more than a brief moment of shock; if you show two people having a conversation and reveal there's a bomb under the table timed to go off in five minutes, you have five minutes of unbearable suspense
Your face at the end of this movie was priceless! Like every little kid who opens his birthday present and gets exactly what he wanted but never dreamed he’d get it. I didn’t know you had already done The Birds…I’ll have to go find it. Glad your starting to appreciate old movies!
I'm shocked no one got Hitchcock sense of humor at the end of the movie with the train going in the tunnel (to indicate two people doing the deed). 😂 He had a great sense of humor
I just watched this for the first time because I saw Carrie react to it. The awkwardness building into tension building into thriller drama with no dialogue and no music is a masterwork in movie making
I just did a quick little bit of research for you about Cary Grant's accent, and it was referred to as a "Mid Atlantic" accent. It is a combination of British and American accents one shared by Catherine Hepburn. It is also described as Cary grant trying to cover his natural Bristol accent and effect an American accent.
It's more complex than that, Logan. Bristolian accents are rhotic. Carey attended Fairfield Grammar School, though while located in Bristol, he'd have been taught RP (which seeks to eliminate rhoticism. Trust me. I dated a Londoner for years whose family were from the East End, but made a bunch of money, so they sent her off to posh schools while they moved to Highgate. She spoke RP, but if you talk to her mum and dad, they're as proper Cockney as Danny Dyer. (Funny thing is, she would slip back into Cockney if she got really excited, whether during an argument, or a super-happy moment. Another funny thing is, years previous to that, I had a girlfriend with whom I moved from Atlanta to Los Angeles, and she worked with a ton of Spanish speakers for years. During arguments surrounding our breakup, she would inadvertently slip into a full Chicana accent, which I found hilarious. She did not appreciate my laughter.) But anyway, Carey also did pantomime in England as a teen (many accents), and came to the US doing vaudeville at 16, where he was exposed to many more accents, including several southern US ones. The more serious and successful American actors at the time used the mid-Atlantic accent, so it came more easily for him to alter his speech, since he had so many times, for aesthetic (and financial) reasons.
@@rollomaughfling380 very interesting. I have always enjoyed it in movies when someone gets excited in a fight and slips into Spanish :). I never really thought about his accent before, I just always considered it eloquent, sophisticated, and dare I say regal. I have always wondered about Eggsy's accent in "Kingsmen" (sounds so cool), I have read it is not a real accent but partly a Cockney accent. Thanks for filling in the gaps.
@@8967Logan Cheers. Strangely, when I get really upset, I'm told that I slip into a working-class Glaswegian accent. (I'm vastly predominately English in DNA and heritage.) And also a roommate in the Marine Corps who knew the language swore that I would talk German in my sleep. 👀!
My great aunt (deceased in 2005) danced with Cary Grant at a private party. Her husband was my great uncle James Wong Howe. My late friend actor Les Tremayne (deceased 2003) played the auctioneer in "North by Northwest." He loved working on the set, and he told me his brief scene took about a week to film. He wasn't too fond of Eva Marie Saint. Trivia: Look for the kid who puts his hands over his ears in anticipation of the gun firing.
My gosh, your great uncle is the great James Wong Howe? The cards were stacked against him at the time, but he succeeded because he was such a wonderful, groundbreaking cinematographer. For what, 50 years, directors rightfully trusted him to make their movies look the best they possibly could.
For a much younger Grant in a comedy, I would suggest Topper. The sequels to Topper are fun too, though Grant isn't in them. Billy Burke (the good witch in The Wizard of Oz) is also in them and is quite funny.
A good, light, entertaining comedy/drama starring Cary Grant in his later career is 'Father Goose'. He is also very good in Hitchcock's 'To Catch a Thief'. As a side note, Cary Grant was English, went to America with a troupe of acrobats and stayed on until he was discovered (hence his unique English/Mid-Atlantic accent). His acrobatic roots served him well when he had to do convincing prat falls etc. in movies.
@@phillipridgway8317Can vouch for “Father Goose” and “To Catch a Thief”. The only thing better than a young Cary Grant is an older one. 😊. “Operation Petticoat” is also fun. Gary Grant and Tony Curtis in Navy uniforms. 😉
Cassey asks, "what is his accent?" at 31:25. His "accent" is *transatlantic English* which blended together features regarded as the most prestigious from both American and British English, used by classic Hollywood actors in the 1940s and 1950s.
Great reaction Cassie. This is FAR more Hitchckocky than Psycho. Suspense and romance are Hitchcock staples. Hitchcock recommendations for you, Notorious, The Lady Vanishes, The 39 Steps, Strangers on a Train, Rear Window, To Catch a Thief, Dial M for Murder, and Shadow of a Doubt. Cary Grant - Arsenic and Old Lace, Charade, The Philadelphia Story, His Girl Friday, My Favorite Wife , The Awful Truth, and Gunga Din. (Plus 2 of his other Hitchcock collaborations Notorious and To Catch a Thief)
I think both Psycho and NBN are the least Hitchockian movies. Psycho cause it goes too far into horror and NBN cause it's too light. That's not to say their are not masterpieces, they in fact are but that Hitch tended to do classic suspenses.
The "flirting" between the two would be lovers,really stands out! It's very sexual and mature ,without being at all vulgar or explicit. The dialog is really impressive! A terrific Hitchcock film and I very much enjoyed your reaction and watching it with you. Hitchcock is a cinema treasure and he has many great films to his credit.
It's classic Cary Grant, who was to onscreen flirtation what Michael Jordan was to basketball. For decades Grant was Hollywood's epitome of male charm.
Oh dear 😂 for the first half of the movie, you seemed to be so expecting this to be an entirely serious movie that you didn’t seem to notice all the funny bits. I love the courtroom scene… “Do you known him to be a reasonable man?” Witness: “Absolutely” Roger’s Mom: * scoffs * Roger: “Mother!” Roger’s Mom: 🤷🏼♀️
Agreed. It was disappointing because she usually has such a great sense of humour, but it was completely disengaged during this wonderful comedic Hitchcock classic. 😪
23:00 This is one of Hitchcock’s finest escapades. He explains that in most cases audiences feel threatened in dark secluded places, but here he he makes us feel threatened in broad daylight, in a wide open space. Pure genius.
Yep, the typical noir thing to do for that scene would be to send him to a dark alley at night, or some abandoned warehouse in the city. Hitchcock purposely turned that completely around and still made a tense suspenseful scene out of the ludicrous idea of putting him in the middle of a flat open cornfield in northern Indiana in the middle of the day. Absolute masterstroke.
I got to meet Eva Marie Saint on a cruise and, of course, had to ask what it was like to do love scenes with Cary Grant. She said, "It was wonderful! It would have been better if my husband hadn't been watching, but it was wonderful." She spoke of him very fondly and said he was an absolute gentleman. She is a lovely woman and at 99 years old, one of the last remaining stars of the Golden Age of Hollywood.
@@NemeanLion- It was in the midst of a conversation over dinner and drinks. So I didn't lead with that lol, it just came up pretty naturally. It was just happenstance that she was seated next to me at dinner. Over the 7 day cruise, we talked quite a lot.
"Pay the $2" was a saying which meant that sometimes accepting a penalty is better than fighting it. By the way, the very final shot of the film was symbolic. One movie I wouldn't want you to overlook is "Charade" (1963) by Stanley Donen, also with Cary Grant. It's not Alfred Hitchcock, but really feels like it could have been. Very fun and twisty. Also, fun fact: Cary Grant's real name was Archibald Leach. A name so bad that John Cleese borrowed it for his character in the movie "A Fish Called Wanda" (1988), which is another really good film.
Yes, this "pay the $2" was an old vaudeville bit which was made into several different film segments - a guy goes through a red light for example and instead of paying the two dollar fine, decides to fight it. Each step backfires and he gets deeper and deeper into trouble, with steeper and steeper fines. In some versions, he gets out of it finally and clears his name, then winds up messing up the same minor way again and someone else will say "just pay the $2."
You just blew my mind, because I always thought Charade was a Hitchcock movie. I guess I probably knew it wasn't at some point, but if I ever knew it, I've long since forgotten.
Hitchcock made suspense movies, not horror movies. He kept you on the edge of your seat trying to figure out what would happen next. This is one of his best.
If you enjoyed Cary Grant there are some good suggestions listed here. A couple others are Operation Petticoat (1959) and Father Goose (1964) - both comedies. Or the Pride and the Passion (1957). Grant was born in England and his long career covered all types of movies
The 1930's/1940's are my favorite Grant movies including: My Favorite Wife, The Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer, Gunga Din, Topper, Only Angels have Wings, Notorious, His Girl Friday. BTW Hitchcock's To Catch a Thief is very similar to North by Northwest.
I saw Father Goose for the first time last year and LOVED it. And of course To Catch a Thief has more Grace Kelly. And she should definitely watch Charade, which has been called the greatest Hitchcock movie that Hitchcock didn't make.
Fun fact and thankfully, Eva Marie Saint is still living. She is 99 years old! She is also a cute elderly lady too. Lol! Hitchcock made all kind of movies, not just creepy scary films. Also, like Hitchcock, Cary Grant and James Mason were British. Great reaction!
GREAT reaction! More Hitchcock, please. Just to clarify, Hitchcock was called “The Master of Suspense.” He didn’t make creepy or horror type films; he made suspense films, usually with heavy doses of romance and very witty dialogue. Psycho and The Birds were the 2 exceptions. They were the closest to horror or creepy films that he ever made. I envy you being able to discover these great classic Hitchcock films for the first time.
"His Girl Friday" from 1940 is my personal favorite Cary Grant film. It's a true rom-com. By which I mean that it is a very funny comedy with a romance being the primary heart of the movie. It also has some thought-provoking moral questions. It's also 20 years earlier than North, so Cary is really in his prime. I think that you'll like it, and it'll give you a chance to see some of the origins of your precious rom-coms. :)
A lot of people don't realize that the boy he hails down in the restaurant is trying to deliver a. Message to George Kaplan. Just then, he turns and calls the boy. That's why the Goo s think he is Kaplan.
This remains my favourite Hitchcock movie. I love the characters, the actors, the twisty story, the sexiness, the architecture, chase scenes, and even the pastel Technicolor look of the film.
Cary Grant was one of the great comedic actors of his time. I recommend "My Favorite Wife", "His Girl Friday", "The Philadelphia Story" "The Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer" and "Father Goose".
Because "Psycho" was your first, you have the wrong image of what a Hitchcock film usually is. Psycho was his desire to make a horror movie for the first time. Everyone called him the "Master of Suspense" & that accurately describes almost every one of his films. And yes, a few include some romance, but ALL are suspenseful. One of my favorites with both romance & suspense (and Cary Grant & Ingrid Bergman) is "Notorious" (1946). Many feel that North by Northwest was a more lighthearted version of Notorious...somewhat similar premise, but IMO a better film.
Glad you're doing Hitchcock. One of the stars in this movie , Martin Landau , playing a hench man was in the TV series Mission Impossible.Another good one is Jimmy Stewart & Doris Day " The Man who Knew too Much"
There are 2 other veterans of 60's spy shows "The Professor", the head of the US spies is played by Leo G. Carroll who was Alexander Waverly the head of U.N.C.L.E. on The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Thornhill's lawyer is played by Edward Platt who was The Chief of CONTROL on Get Smart. note that his charater's name in this movie is Victor Larrabee - In Get Smart. Larrabee was the Chief's assistant.
With Cary Grant, James Stewart, and Katharine Hepburn "Philadelphia Story" is a movie you would adore!! Please consider putting it on a future watch list. Love your channel
This film had a big influence on the early James Bond movies. The tone, the wit, and some of the action sequences. The crop duster sequence, for example, influenced the sequence in From Russia With Love in which a helicopter chases and dive-bombs Connery. Hitchcock was even considered to direct the first James Bond movie, an aborted adaptation of Thunderball (late 50s). Then the Broccoli family bought the rights to the Bond books and made Dr. No (1962)
Thank you for sharing this movie with us. This is why Hitchcock is the master of suspense. The scene with the cars passing in the middle of nowhere is supposed to make you impatient. With each passing moment, you wonder what is going to happen, then the crop duster just appears. The tension is so thick, you can cut it with a knife. The ending is also great where she is stretching to take his hand and then the scene switches to her climbing into the top bunk on the train. I thought Cassie was going to jump through the screen when she shot him in the restaurant. It's the fact that the audience never knows where this movie is going that makes it a masterpiece.
Glad you finally hit up Cary Grant!! Truly one of the greats in the golden age of cinema! I'm sure you will like him. I will watch this reaction tonight with a bowl of popcorn!
Cary Grant was born in Bristol England and developed his accent in vaudeville and Broadway and in the early talkie films. Mae West was looking for a leading man, saw him across the lot and said, 'If he can talk, I'll have him.' Grant and Katherine Hepburn and many others had what was called 'the Transatlantic accent'. James Mason, the bad guy Van Damm, was an English actor also. The English always play the suave bad guys.
So glad you enjoyed this, my favourite Hitch movie. I would also recommend Vertigo, Dial M for Murder and The 39 Steps (the 1930s original, before he left for Hollywood). And for the accents, both Grant and Mason were born In England, hence the crossover, as others have pointed out.
I’ll add a few other Hitchcock movies: In addition to “39 Steps” from his British period there’s “The Lady Vanishes” and “Saboteur” as well as “Suspicion,” and “Notorious,” (both with Cary Grant). In fact, while there are some definite misses from Hitchcock’s 1930s and ‘40s work It seems to be under appreciated as compared to his 1950s and early ‘60s work.
@@ct6852 Brian De Palma's Obsession (1976) was not a remake but was inspired by Vertigo. It starred Cliff Robertson, Geneviève Bujold and John Lithgow.
Cary Grant was suave and sofisticated and had a split accent, part English and part American, maybe Boston. He was a romantic comic genius so he is right up your alley. His best are The Philidelphia story, "The Bachelor wore Bobby Socks" and Charade to name a few. He was also very funny. Women loved him all over.
Cary Grant was from Bristol England and came from a working class family so he would hardly have had a naturally “posh” accent unlike James Mason who was from a wealthy family in Yorkshire. But having a working class accent wouldn’t have been acceptable for someone working in the theatre so he worked hard to develop what is known as a “mid-Atlantic accent” that could be educated British or upper class American.
@@1177kc Yes with Pricilla Lane, she was so cute. Several well known character actors were also in it, Jack Carson for one. A lot of humor, dark humor.
Father Goose (1964) is one of my favorite Cary Grant movies. Also, An Affair to Remember (1957), as several commenters have already mentioned, is a must-see classic.
Ok. My husband and I did this a couple years ago... gotta take a sleeper car. It's not as elaborate as north by northwest train, but we loved it! And it's not that expensive. We downloaded movies, brought card games, and just spent leisurely time alone together from salt lake to San Francisco. Stayed there a few days and took the train home. California Zephyr Chicago Omaha Denver Salt Lake City Emeryville (San Francisco) 51 hours 20 minutesDaily Departure Experienced travelers say the California Zephyr is one of the most beautiful train trips in all of North America. As you climb through the heart of the Rockies, and further west through the snow-capped Sierra Nevadas, you may find it hard to disagree. The Zephyr runs between Chicago and San Francisco, coursing through the plains of Nebraska to Denver, across the Rockies to Salt Lake City, and then through Reno and Sacramento into Emeryville/San Francisco. Connections in to San Francisco and Oakland stations via Thruway Bus Service at Emeryville, California.
Thank you. Mr. Grant's accent is called the "Mid-Atlantic" accent, or "Transatlantic" accent, and was a consciously learned accent of English, fashionably used by the late 19th-century and early 20th-century American upper class and entertainment industry, which blended together features regarded as the most prestigious from both American and British English. James Mason had a career lasting more than five decades, appeared in more than 120 movies, in several of Shakespeare's play on stage, and was heard in plays on the radio. Following his death in 1984 Mason was saluted by U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy with the words, "Never say in grief you are sorry he's gone. Rather, say in thankfulness you are grateful he was here."
he was born in Bristol, England so obviously he’s going to have an english accent, At 16, he went as a stage performer with the Pender Troupe for a tour of the US. After successful performances he decided to stay there. The rest is history.
@@charmawow Thanks for the correction. I had read that he had a cockney accent, but maybe that author just assumed it because he was raised in a working class environment in England.
@@charmawow Cary Grant's accent was unique, In fact, there's a joke in "Some Like It Hot" where Tony Curtis is in disguise using a Grant imitation and Jack Lemmon berates him, saying "Nobody talks like that!"
Cary Grant, easily my pick for the greatest star to ever grace the silver screen. He could do it all, drama, comedy, romance, anything without breaking a sweat and without losing his effortless charm. The Philadelphia Story is one of my favorites of his, along with Charade, Only Angels Have Wings, and Notorious. You can’t go wrong with Mr. Grant!
Bringing Up Baby and His Girl Friday and Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House. Yes I'm focusing on the comedy because it's hard to stop laughing during all of these and that's a good thing.
Archie Leach was the greatest actor of the golden age of Hollywood - he played Cary Grant so convincingly, the whole world bought the act! TO CATCH A THIEF is my favorite, among many.
In the scene where they fire the gun in the restaurant at Mount Rushmore, if you look in the background you can see a kid covering his ears right before the gun goes off. It’s one of those famous moments where an extra can ruin a scene. Once you notice it, it’s hard to unsee it on repeat viewings.
When I was very young, I used to have a recurrent nightmare about climbing and falling on Mt. Rushmore. Not until I saw this movie as an adult did I realize that this movie must have been on TV at some point when I was too young to remember. But my subconscious never forgot.
Alfred Hitchcock popularized the theme of the wrong man thrust or dragged into some dangerous plot. One can see it pop up throughout his body of work. Hitch was very versatile and made movies in many different genres. He also had a very dry sense of humor. He once responded to a complaint about a supposed insult he uttered with, "I didn't say that actors are cattle; I just said they should be treated like cattle." Cary Grant was a Hollywood icon; a superstar of the screen whose talent knew no bounds, and one of Hitch's go-to leading men. He was born in England but moved to the US at an early age, which is where his accent comes from. I highly recommend an early tour-de-force of Grant's called Arsenic & Old Lace. It's directed by Frank Capra, who also made It's A Wonderful Life.
I love it when young people like yourself watch great films with great actors, plots, dialog etc. Something very lacking in todays environment of bad remakes and mostly unoriginal movies. By the way Eva Marie Saint (who plays Eve Kendall) is still alive at 99!
YES!!! If you're not in love with Cary Grant yet, you will be after this and I HIGHLY recommend all his classics. Eva Marie Saint was a practically a child when this was made. She is MIND blowing in this.
Archibald Alec Leach was born in Bristol, England in 1904 but went to the States at 16 with a stage group and decided to stay. Later legally changing his name to Carey Grant he was a big star in the 1950s, even considered to play Bond. Thanks for uploading, Cassie.
@@michaeldmcgee4499 Agreed! I heard once that Niven wanted the angel part! No one could have done the part like Grant! Niven was perfect as the Bishop though! And oh my, Loretta Young!
1. They flew North from Chicago to North Dakota via Northwest Airlines (North By Northwest). 2. Both Grant and Mason are Brits, which explains their accents. 3. There was an understated subtext in the relationship between Leonard and Van Damm - "Call It my woman's intuition," and "I think you're jealous!" The actor who played Leonard, Martin Landau, revealed later that he considered Leonard gay while he was portraying him.
Okay, i'm new to the party and this reaction was done six months ago so you may not see this - but you made the single best comment /observation of anyone doing these movie reactions! Right at the beginning of the film you were lamenting that NYC (where I live) barely has cabs anymore, it's all Ubers these days. And then you said "Phones (meaning cell phones) made a lot of things unexciting." THANK YOU! I've been a working writer in the film industry for sometime now, and it was so much more interesting to build a scene that involved a remote phone, either in a room or say a telephone booth, etc. It is one part of the current state of technology that has, as you said, made things less exciting. This was an excellent review and I have subscribed and I may have to do a Patreon to suggest some of my favorite films.
One wonders if the “ Oh! My goodness! “ moments are completely genuine. Cary Grant was a circus acrobat before acting. He often “ scales” various heights or does unusually physical things.
This is my favorite Hitchcock film. The performances, the suspense, the cinematography... It was all on point. 24:39 is one of my favorite shots in any movie. I'm glad you finally got to see it.
One great feature of many of Hitchcock's films in the Fifties is that they were shot in Paramount's Vista Vision which had tremendous resolution and they really pop off the screen in high definition.
@@marvinbone1379 I highly recommend the Criterion release of The Lodger... It looks like it was shot yesterday, and the score is amazing. The special feature about making the score alone is worth the cost!
James Mason is the actor who portrayed Van Damme. He was a major motion picture star for 40 years. There is a movie he appears in named "The Last of Sheila" which was co-written by Anthony Perkins (Norman Bates in "Psycho". "The Last of Sheila" is one of the greatest mystery movies ever. A must see.
Boy, how I agree with you there! I've been recommending The Last of Sheila to every reactor I can, so far without anyone actually reacting to it -- I certainly hope that changes soon. There are a couple of whodunits that may be even better movies, but none that was written originally for the screen (not adapted) and has such an extraordinarily clever mystery.
Cary Grant was born Archie Leach in Bristol, England. He developed a mid-atlantic accent for the many suave roles he played. My suggestion for a future Cary Grant reaction would be His Girl Friday. The pacing is incredible.
But seriously, you don't know what Cary Grant can do until you've seen "His Girl Friday," one of the greatest comic films ever made. He makes a joke in it about Archie Leach, breaks the fourth wall (sideways). Or "He looks a bit like that Ralph Bellamy fellow." Spectacular writing. Spectacular delivery. Cary Grant once said, "Everybody wants to be Cary Grant. I want to be Cary Grant." The modern actor who most reminds me of Cary Grant is George Clooney. They both know they are impossibly handsome, and play it kind of like a joke. "Can you believe it? Yeah, me neither!" They don't take their obvious good looks and charm too seriously.
"Bringing up Baby" with Kathrine Hepbern, "Monkey Business" with Ginger Rogers also Marylon Monroe in a small role and "Arsenic and Old Lace" are my favorite Cary Grant films. Baby by the way is a leapord. Great films and a classic great leading man and always surrounded by classic buetifull woman. He probably would have made a great James Bond.
In Hitchcock films the innocent man on the run goes back to The Lodger, The 39 Steps, Young and Innocent, Saboteur etc, it was one of his favourite types of film
James Mason was born in Yorkshire, England and trained as an actor in theatre and became well-known for his mellow voice and perfect enunciation. Cary Grant was born in Bristol, England and originally trained in vaudeville but moved to Hollywood in the 1930’s and never totally got rid of his accent.
Grant was also a member of a European trapeze act that toured America. He alluded to this in the movie "To Catch A Thief" accurately, except there he said he was part of an American trapeze act that got stranded in Europe. Art imitating life in that respect.
"Mistaken identity" was Hitchcock's bread and butter, and this was the best of the bunch. I love Rear Window but I think North by Northwest is Hitchcock's best movie. Just perfect.
This was about the fourth movie that Hitchcock did with the “mistaken identity/man attached (sometimes physically) to a woman who might not be on his side” theme. These include “Young and Innocent,” “The Thirty-Nine Steps,“ “Sabotage,” and “North By Northwest”. “North By Northwest” also revisited an idea that Hitchcock used in “Notorious” which is the woman who essentially prostitutes herself for the US Government. In “Notorious” the character played by Ingrid Bergman marries the German agent played by Claude Raines to spy on him, in spite of being in love with her handler (Cary Grant), while in “North By Northwest” Eva Marie Saint becomes Van Damm’s mistress so she can spy on him.
The first time I saw this movie, I missed the background public announcement of a telephone call for Kaplan, just before Thornhill raised his hand to send a telegram. That made the "mistaken identity" a little confusing. (I was too caught up in his discussion with his buddies.)
The scene where Roger sabotages the auction until he's kicked out to escape the terrorists is so funny, and another masterclass in how Hitchcock blended heart-pounding suspense with subtle humor.
If you love Cary Grant you'll love his biography in which they described his acting origins. His physical comedy was used to great advantage in Arsenic and Old Lace one of the great classics. It's perfect for Halloween movie when you get to that point.
The accent: It's called the Mid-Atlantic Accent. It's an artificial accent (a blend of American and English accents) used by tons of actors in the early 20th century. It was considered dignified and refined. It was also very friendly to the rudimentary microphones at the beginning of the sound era of film. If you watch more of Grant's earlier films from the '30s, you'll hear more actors speaking like that.
Also so movies could have more natural appeal to both audiences. They taught it at top boarding schools, so you did hear it from people like George Plimpton, who went to Exeter.
For romances: "An Affair to Remember," Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr, generally considered one of the most romantic films of all time. "Moonstruck," with Cher (her Oscar) and Nicolas Cage, also won Oscars for Best Supporting Actress - Olympia Dukakis, and Best Original Screenplay - John Patrick Shanley. "Brief Encounter," directed by David Lean with a screenplay by Noel Coward. Voted by the British Film Institute as the 2nd greatest British film ever made.
Cary Grant, who arrived in the United States from England aged 16, had an accent that was often considered Mid-Atlantic, though with a more natural and unconscious mixture of both British and American features.
"Pay the two dollars" was a recurrent line in a Vaudeville skit. A man is charged with spitting on the sidewalk but won't pay the fine. He goes to jail and his lawyer tells him, "Pay the two dollars." At each successive step, his sentence is worse, and his lawyer gives the same advice. Finally, as man the awaits execution, his lawyer pleads with him, "Pay the two dollars!"
If you liked Eva Marie Saint in this you should add On the Waterfront to your list. It also stars a young Marlon Brando and Lee J. Cobb who you saw in 12 Angry Men.
He's most well-known now for scary but Hitch did suspense extremely well, and even comedy. I think The Trouble With Harry is one of the funniest rom coms i've ever seen- and with Hitchcockian weirdness.
You'll note the Birds and Psycho, his two most explicitly horror films that influence your opinion of him, came after this. But he always dealt in mystery, suspense, thriller, (often) murder, all delivered with a sly and subversive insight on people and society while satisfying the relatively strict moral oversight of movies in his time. North by Northwest was the progeny of the Connery Bond Films and, in my mind, is even the early prototype for big summer blockbusters like Terminator, Die Hard, Independence Day, etc.
So glad you enjoyed this masterpiece. If you'd like to see other Hitchcock "romances", I recommend his fairly early 'Rebecca' with Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine; and 'To Catch a Thief' with Cary Grant and Grace Kelly. Incidentally, I remember your watching 'Some Like it Hot' a while ago. Well you may recognise that when Tony Curtis was pretending to be "Shell Oil", he was do an impersonation of Cary Grant's very particular mid-Atlantic accent.
I love this movie so much. I was recently down in Los Angeles and went to the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences Museum (say that five times fast), and saw the Mt Rushmore backdrop they used. It was really impressive because I just walked into a room and then see this MASSIVE backdrop and instantly knew what it was. It's literally like 91ft x 30ft, just MASSIVE.
Did you know that Eva Marie Saint is 99 as of July 4th? She was and remains and amazing actor and woman! This was a lot of fun. It was not necessarily a who-dunnit, but it is one of Hitchcock's early spy movies. This one is the most beloved and is a classic. So fun! And yes, I am glad you got a happy ending, as did we all! Looking forward to what comes next!
As I'm sure other have pointed out to you, Cary Grant was British as well as James Mason who played Van Dam. Cary's real names was Archibald Leach. Their very distinctive voices and accents were impersonated by comedians of the day and still are today. Enjoyed your reaction very much.
The idea behind the scene delay is to get the audience in a relaxed state before the unknown is sprung upon them. So, when Carey is standing out on the road in the middle of nowhere sets the scene for how quiet and peaceful nowhere man is. And then the crop duster plane comes onto the scene at first appearing to mind its own business when all of a sudden it attempts to kill Carey Grant. It is that initial sense of normalcy that creates this brilliant set up to action.
44:30 "When he's at that bus stop, waiting ... couldn't we make that just one car?" No. And for a very good reason. The famous French director Francois Truffaut asked Hitchcock the same question -- why was that scene so long? And Hitchcock explained how the audience needed to understand the topography, to walk around it imaginatively with Cary Grant, and to feel how absolutely flat and barren it was. So that when the plane started to dive in after him, you instantly realized that there was no place to hide. You were as exposed as a fly on a tabletop. (It's all discussed in the book of Hitchcock-Truffaut interviews). A modern director would do just what you wanted -- and make the scene move more quickly & efficiently. Which is why modern directors aren't as good as Hitchcock.
Modern audiences need to learn patience. Hitchcock would be ruined by quick edits, shortened scenes, and shaky cams. This is the movie as a kid that made me love movies and Hitchcock. I am so glad you reacted to this movie. It is in my top 10. Great channel and keep doing these older classics.
Well said. The crop duster scene would be ruined if you rushed right into it.
Though even by Hitchcock standards, Topaz is way too slow.
Look on the bright side if movie editing keeps getting quicker, scenes short, and dialogue more concise, by the end of the century "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy will have been reissued as a singe two hour movie. Now there's horror.
Totally agree. Modern audiences are not patient enough for the story to be told.
@@fullmoonprepping4024 Two of the highest grossing movies in July are 3 hours.
Cary Grant was the biggest star of the 50s! He was even considered for Bond! Many consider this film to be the blueprint for Bond movies. I know you're a Audrey Hepburn fan so PLEASE make sure to watch 'Charade' with her and Cary Grant! It's SO GOOD! Hope you're enjoying visiting Canada! 💝
Charade is a perfect choice if you like this one.
Charade is in the public domain so you could do reactions for the whole movie.
The best Hitchcock film that wasn’t directed by Hitchcock.
He was a bigger star in the 30s & 40s, when he was in his prime ✅
@@elessartelcontar9415 That's because his stardom started in the 30s
Carry Grant in "Arsenic and Old Lace" - one of the funniest movies of all time. Grant was a very versatile actor, in comedy and in drama etc., and was in many classic movies along with this one.
Very funny indeed. It was a funny play too.
One of the best ever.
It's good, but I think His Girl Friday might be my favorite Cary Grant romantic comedy .... Why not watch both?😊
Carey Grant is my favorite actor. He was a leading man who could do it all and on top of that, make fun of himself too. That's something most leading men wouldn't do back then. She should try Bringing Up Baby, Philadelphia Story, Father Goose along with Arcenic and Old Lace. Really, any Grant movie is great.
Yes, Cary Grant was a pretty good comic actor. Arsenic and Old Lace is a suspense comedy. They don't make em like that anymore .
The sexual metaphor of the train entering the tunnel is legendary, and an example of Hitchcock's mischievous humor. Those climbing scenes at "Mount Rushmore" were all done inside a soundstage, though the wide establishing shots were real. Cary Grant really spoke like that, and used to be someone impressionists always imitated. Both he and James Mason (Vandamm) were originally born in England, then lived in America for quite some time. Thus, they had what's come to be known as the "Mid-Atlantic" accent often heard in films around this time.
a dirty, filthy, unfunny joke
"Notorious" starring Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman is an absolute classic Hitchcock suspense and romance tale from the 1940's that I would highly recommend. It also stars Claude Rains who co-starred in "Casablanca".
My absolute favorite Hitchcock movie! Such a shame it isn't more well-known.
Notorious is the greatest acting performance of Cary Grant's entire career.
You left out the best part: Quite possibly the best kiss in movie history.
@@korbendallas5318 Also one of the most romantic shots in movie history.
Also Rebecca, a gothic romance/ mystery, it's phenomenal, Laurence Olivier was amazing and born for that role.
Eva Marie Saint was outstanding in On The Waterfront (1954) opposite Marlon Brando. Her film debut. Won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar. She just turned 99 on her last birthday - 04 July.
Hell of a way to start a career 😂
I believe she played Martha Kent in that last Superman movie
@@peterschmidt1453she is still alive
I was just about to post the exact same comment. I'll never forget first seeing her in On The Waterfront, she's absolutely gorgeous. Speaking of that, I'm amazed there are not many reactions to Brando films, the Godfather the only one I can think of... and maybe Apocalypse Now. There's one iconic line they'll probably know in On The Waterfront.
Imagine meeting Eva today. The things you could ask her, if her mind is still there.
@@peterschmidt1453no, she did not get a time machine for her 99th birthday.
You're so fun to watch. Your "let's get on with it" is actually describing a problem of modern movies; they're so scared to let the audience have a chance to breath and think about what they're seeing. The "pauses" in past movies were designed to give people little resets and that allows us to understand, process, enjoy. Modern movies use exhaustion of action in place of actual story telling -- 60-70yr old movies are way better than almost anything in the last 15yrs.
Make sure to check out early Hitchcock war movies as well. And introduce us to your dad!!
A point to remember, is that this movie was meant to be seen in a movie theatre with a couple of hundred other people. It takes time for that many people to react to situations. Films were previewed, sometimes repeatedly, in order to get the timing right. When Stan Laurel's films began to be shown on television, he offered to re-edit them to shorten the reaction times. Fortunately, his offer was refused..
Cassie, the reason your hands WERE sweaty at the conclusion WAS because of those 'slower' moments you criticised. Suspense functions in a very carefully controlled manner, often with a slow build that delays response and effect that isn't obvious at the outset. Those sweaty hands are as much the result of the BIG cliffhanger moment as they are of all the incidental beads strung together prior to it.
Bingo! Yahtzee!!!
Eva Marie Saint is 99, and has been working as an actress as recent as this last decade. My first time seeing her was in the drama, Nothing in Common (1986) where she played the mother of Tom Hanks' character back when Tom Hanks was rising to stardom. She's a terrific actress.
Amazing that she won an Oscar for her first film - opposite Brando in On the Waterfront
Perhaps now you know... Hitchcock doesn't do "scary". He does suspense.
He's done scary, too. That's what Psycho is all about
@@ajvanmarle well, yea… I’m just talking he doesn’t do scary just for the sake of the scare. He’s a master of suspense, which can in itself be frightening.
And Hitchcock is a great ROMANTIC.
Hitchcock doesn't do scary? Vertigo, The Birds, Psycho.... and others are rather scary.
The point is that Hitchcock was known as THE MASTER OF SUSPENSE. He was never called The Master of Horror. Suspense and Mystery is what he did best, and he specifically rejected the "horror" label after Psycho.
If only one car passed Roger on that rural road, there wouldn’t have been much suspense developed. Hitchcock didn’t rely as much on dialogue to create suspense, but used cinematic storytelling and visuals. Repetition is an effective tool in both drama and comedy, so Hitchcock carefully timed the scene to build suspense.
Also, all four cars serve different purposes. If they were repetitious, Hitchcock wouldn't put them there. The first car speeds by, obviously not Roger's man. The second car slows down, and Roger momentarily thinks this may be the guy. The third car pours dust into Roger's face (a foreboding of getting cropdusted on later). The fourth car stops and the guy stands right across Roger, so Roger (and the viewer) thinks this must be him. His purpose is to deliver the line, "Hey, that plane is dusting crops where there ain't no crops!" The whole point of this is escalating anticipation and atmosphere. This is the film's major set piece and an iconic scene in the history of cinema.
It is all about the pacing. Without the "pauses" of the not eventful events as a build up, there would be no big relief, no surprise or shock moment.
I agree with you. Today too many movies seem to appeal to those who want instant gratification. The plane chase arrived only after you were left wondering why the cars kept driving by. And out of nowhere the suspense arrived. One of the most famous scenes ever. They don't make enough movies like that anymore.
@@hw2508 It's like the man himself said: if you show two people having a conversation which gets interrupted by a bomb going off, you get little more than a brief moment of shock; if you show two people having a conversation and reveal there's a bomb under the table timed to go off in five minutes, you have five minutes of unbearable suspense
Your face at the end of this movie was priceless! Like every little kid who opens his birthday present and gets exactly what he wanted but never dreamed he’d get it. I didn’t know you had already done The Birds…I’ll have to go find it. Glad your starting to appreciate old movies!
Too bad she didn't mention or perhaps get the innuendo of the train entering the tunnel.
@@joshgrumiaux6820 Metaphor.
@@joshgrumiaux6820 The greatest sex scene ever filmed.
I'm shocked no one got Hitchcock sense of humor at the end of the movie with the train going in the tunnel (to indicate two people doing the deed). 😂 He had a great sense of humor
He was going to make sure we knew what our heroes were going to get up to next, Hays code be damned!
Hitchcock manages to create suspense with long takes of a remote stretch of highway in broad daylight with no music. Truly the master.
I just watched this for the first time because I saw Carrie react to it.
The awkwardness building into tension building into thriller drama with no dialogue and no music is a masterwork in movie making
Cary Grant was an all around actor. Comedy, Drama, Romance, Action he could do it all. Check out more of his movies you’ll love him.
Grant is very good in "The Bishop's Wife" with David Niven and Loretta Young.
"I have two ex-wives and several baaartenders dependent on me." Best Cary Grant line ever.
I just did a quick little bit of research for you about Cary Grant's accent, and it was referred to as a "Mid Atlantic" accent. It is a combination of British and American accents one shared by Catherine Hepburn. It is also described as Cary grant trying to cover his natural Bristol accent and effect an American accent.
It's more complex than that, Logan. Bristolian accents are rhotic. Carey attended Fairfield Grammar School, though while located in Bristol, he'd have been taught RP (which seeks to eliminate rhoticism. Trust me. I dated a Londoner for years whose family were from the East End, but made a bunch of money, so they sent her off to posh schools while they moved to Highgate. She spoke RP, but if you talk to her mum and dad, they're as proper Cockney as Danny Dyer. (Funny thing is, she would slip back into Cockney if she got really excited, whether during an argument, or a super-happy moment. Another funny thing is, years previous to that, I had a girlfriend with whom I moved from Atlanta to Los Angeles, and she worked with a ton of Spanish speakers for years. During arguments surrounding our breakup, she would inadvertently slip into a full Chicana accent, which I found hilarious. She did not appreciate my laughter.)
But anyway, Carey also did pantomime in England as a teen (many accents), and came to the US doing vaudeville at 16, where he was exposed to many more accents, including several southern US ones. The more serious and successful American actors at the time used the mid-Atlantic accent, so it came more easily for him to alter his speech, since he had so many times, for aesthetic (and financial) reasons.
@@rollomaughfling380 very interesting. I have always enjoyed it in movies when someone gets excited in a fight and slips into Spanish :). I never really thought about his accent before, I just always considered it eloquent, sophisticated, and dare I say regal. I have always wondered about Eggsy's accent in "Kingsmen" (sounds so cool), I have read it is not a real accent but partly a Cockney accent. Thanks for filling in the gaps.
@@8967Logan Cheers. Strangely, when I get really upset, I'm told that I slip into a working-class Glaswegian accent. (I'm vastly predominately English in DNA and heritage.) And also a roommate in the Marine Corps who knew the language swore that I would talk German in my sleep. 👀!
@@8967Logan Taron Egerton (Eggsy) is Welsh!
Actually it’s know as the “trans-Atlantic “ accent. De rigor for Hollywood actors in the 30s and 40s. Check out William Powell and Myrna Loy.
My great aunt (deceased in 2005) danced with Cary Grant at a private party. Her husband was my great uncle James Wong Howe. My late friend actor Les Tremayne (deceased 2003) played the auctioneer in "North by Northwest." He loved working on the set, and he told me his brief scene took about a week to film. He wasn't too fond of Eva Marie Saint. Trivia: Look for the kid who puts his hands over his ears in anticipation of the gun firing.
My gosh, your great uncle is the great James Wong Howe? The cards were stacked against him at the time, but he succeeded because he was such a wonderful, groundbreaking cinematographer. For what, 50 years, directors rightfully trusted him to make their movies look the best they possibly could.
Agreed. James Wong Howe was brilliant. In spite of the racism he faced in Hollywood.
Friends with Les Tremayne?!?!? You mean "Mentor" from the 1970s TV show "Shazam!"?!?!?!?!? 🤯🤩😎🤓
@terrycoolidge9511 yes, the same Mentor from "Shazam!" I know the entire cast!
@@cgbleak yes, my Uncle James Wong Howe!
Carey Grant was the man. Could effortlessly morph between comedian and leading man. One of a kind. You need to see more of his movies
For a much younger Grant in a comedy, I would suggest Topper. The sequels to Topper are fun too, though Grant isn't in them. Billy Burke (the good witch in The Wizard of Oz) is also in them and is quite funny.
A good, light, entertaining comedy/drama starring Cary Grant in his later career is 'Father Goose'. He is also very good in Hitchcock's 'To Catch a Thief'. As a side note, Cary Grant was English, went to America with a troupe of acrobats and stayed on until he was discovered (hence his unique English/Mid-Atlantic accent). His acrobatic roots served him well when he had to do convincing prat falls etc. in movies.
@@phillipridgway8317Can vouch for “Father Goose” and “To Catch a Thief”. The only thing better than a young Cary Grant is an older one. 😊. “Operation Petticoat” is also fun. Gary Grant and Tony Curtis in Navy uniforms. 😉
Cassey asks, "what is his accent?" at 31:25. His "accent" is *transatlantic English* which blended together features regarded as the most prestigious from both American and British English, used by classic Hollywood actors in the 1940s and 1950s.
@@hughjorg4008 : Also known as the Mid-Atlantic accent. (This is just an additional note for Cassie's reference.) Cheers!
Happy 100th birthday to NBN's lovely leading lady, Eva Marie Saint!
One of the funniest scripts of all-time in addition to all the suspense. Easily one of Hitch's best. How can anyone not love Cary Grant.
You picked a classic movie, with classic actors, and a classic director. Four Stars!
I'm' docking half a star for mentioning Kardashian and Kanye... lol
Great reaction Cassie. This is FAR more Hitchckocky than Psycho. Suspense and romance are Hitchcock staples.
Hitchcock recommendations for you, Notorious, The Lady Vanishes, The 39 Steps, Strangers on a Train, Rear Window, To Catch a Thief, Dial M for Murder, and Shadow of a Doubt.
Cary Grant - Arsenic and Old Lace, Charade, The Philadelphia Story, His Girl Friday, My Favorite Wife , The Awful Truth, and Gunga Din. (Plus 2 of his other Hitchcock collaborations Notorious and To Catch a Thief)
Vertigo is also excellent.
I think both Psycho and NBN are the least Hitchockian movies. Psycho cause it goes too far into horror and NBN cause it's too light. That's not to say their are not masterpieces, they in fact are but that Hitch tended to do classic suspenses.
Cassie mentioned in her Intro that she's already reacted to, Rear Window. My hope is that she does, Notorious, my second favorite Hitch after RW.
The Philadelphia Story is one of my favourites.
The "flirting" between the two would be lovers,really stands out! It's very sexual and mature ,without being at all vulgar or explicit. The dialog is really impressive! A terrific Hitchcock film and I very much enjoyed your reaction and watching it with you. Hitchcock is a cinema treasure and he has many great films to his credit.
It's classic Cary Grant, who was to onscreen flirtation what Michael Jordan was to basketball. For decades Grant was Hollywood's epitome of male charm.
My fave scene
Oh dear 😂 for the first half of the movie, you seemed to be so expecting this to be an entirely serious movie that you didn’t seem to notice all the funny bits.
I love the courtroom scene…
“Do you known him to be a reasonable man?”
Witness: “Absolutely”
Roger’s Mom: * scoffs *
Roger: “Mother!”
Roger’s Mom: 🤷🏼♀️
That's what happens when you get memes into your head and then just look for them.
Eve: "R.O.T. What does the 'O' stand for?"
Roger: "Nothing."
Brilliant line, but he dead pans it so well you could miss it.
@@desmondflannery1895 It was a nod to producer David O. Selznick, as the "O" in his name stood for nothing.
Agreed. It was disappointing because she usually has such a great sense of humour, but it was completely disengaged during this wonderful comedic Hitchcock classic. 😪
23:00 This is one of Hitchcock’s finest escapades. He explains that in most cases audiences feel threatened in dark secluded places, but here he he makes us feel threatened in broad daylight, in a wide open space. Pure genius.
Yep, the typical noir thing to do for that scene would be to send him to a dark alley at night, or some abandoned warehouse in the city. Hitchcock purposely turned that completely around and still made a tense suspenseful scene out of the ludicrous idea of putting him in the middle of a flat open cornfield in northern Indiana in the middle of the day. Absolute masterstroke.
The next Hitchcock film with Cary Grant you should watch is To Catch a Thief. It also stars the stunning Grace Kelly.
I consider to CATCH A THIEF one of the best. I ts hard to pick one and it also stared CARY GRANT.
Grace was stunning in To Catch a Thief.
"As long as you're satisfied." * Fireworks!! *
I got to meet Eva Marie Saint on a cruise and, of course, had to ask what it was like to do love scenes with Cary Grant. She said, "It was wonderful! It would have been better if my husband hadn't been watching, but it was wonderful." She spoke of him very fondly and said he was an absolute gentleman. She is a lovely woman and at 99 years old, one of the last remaining stars of the Golden Age of Hollywood.
Wow. Not too many left.
For such a talented performer, it feels a bit wild that I think I've only ever seen her in two things: this, and as Ma Kent in Superman Returns.
That's amazing, I'm so jealous!
That’s pretty damn cool. Although I wouldn’t have asked her a question she’s probably been asked 10,000 times lol
@@NemeanLion- It was in the midst of a conversation over dinner and drinks. So I didn't lead with that lol, it just came up pretty naturally. It was just happenstance that she was seated next to me at dinner. Over the 7 day cruise, we talked quite a lot.
"Pay the $2" was a saying which meant that sometimes accepting a penalty is better than fighting it. By the way, the very final shot of the film was symbolic.
One movie I wouldn't want you to overlook is "Charade" (1963) by Stanley Donen, also with Cary Grant. It's not Alfred Hitchcock, but really feels like it could have been. Very fun and twisty.
Also, fun fact: Cary Grant's real name was Archibald Leach. A name so bad that John Cleese borrowed it for his character in the movie "A Fish Called Wanda" (1988), which is another really good film.
Yes, this "pay the $2" was an old vaudeville bit which was made into several different film segments - a guy goes through a red light for example and instead of paying the two dollar fine, decides to fight it. Each step backfires and he gets deeper and deeper into trouble, with steeper and steeper fines. In some versions, he gets out of it finally and clears his name, then winds up messing up the same minor way again and someone else will say "just pay the $2."
Absolutely, Charade is one of the best non-Hitchcock Hitchcock films.
Also, he was British, which explains his accent.
@@Divamarja_CA And so was James Mason (Van Damme)
You just blew my mind, because I always thought Charade was a Hitchcock movie. I guess I probably knew it wasn't at some point, but if I ever knew it, I've long since forgotten.
Famous blooper at about 34.51 mark the kid in the background puts his fingers in his ears just before the gun shots.
Hitchcock made suspense movies, not horror movies. He kept you on the edge of your seat trying to figure out what would happen next. This is one of his best.
If you enjoyed Cary Grant there are some good suggestions listed here. A couple others are Operation Petticoat (1959) and Father Goose (1964) - both comedies. Or the Pride and the Passion (1957). Grant was born in England and his long career covered all types of movies
Operation Petticoat and Father Goose are two of my favorites! The latter is perfect for this channel.
@@cqde I agree. Add "Arsenic and Old Lace" to that list
The 1930's/1940's are my favorite Grant movies including: My Favorite Wife, The Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer, Gunga Din, Topper, Only Angels have Wings, Notorious, His Girl Friday. BTW Hitchcock's To Catch a Thief is very similar to North by Northwest.
No "Bringing Up Baby"?
I’m going to say as much as I love Cary Grant Operation Petticoat did not click for me.
"To Catch a Thief" and "Father Goose" Are two Cary Grant movies you will absolutely LOVE!!!
Love them!!!!!!! AND “walk don’t run”!!!
I saw Father Goose for the first time last year and LOVED it. And of course To Catch a Thief has more Grace Kelly. And she should definitely watch Charade, which has been called the greatest Hitchcock movie that Hitchcock didn't make.
Fun fact and thankfully, Eva Marie Saint is still living. She is 99 years old! She is also a cute elderly lady too. Lol! Hitchcock made all kind of movies, not just creepy scary films. Also, like Hitchcock, Cary Grant and James Mason were British. Great reaction!
@34:52 you can see the kid on the right put his fingers in his ears to get ready for the upcoming "Gun Shot" :) It's a well known "Blooper".
Eva Marie Saint turned 100 on July 4th, 2024. Thirty-five in this film. Unforgettable in this role.
GREAT reaction! More Hitchcock, please. Just to clarify, Hitchcock was called “The Master of Suspense.” He didn’t make creepy or horror type films; he made suspense films, usually with heavy doses of romance and very witty dialogue. Psycho and The Birds were the 2 exceptions. They were the closest to horror or creepy films that he ever made. I envy you being able to discover these great classic Hitchcock films for the first time.
Leonard was played by Martin Landau, a member of the original Mission Impossible television series from the 1960’s.
For me, he'll always be Commander John Koenig from "Space: 1999". 🌕☢️🛢️💥... bye, bye.
@@BradleyJSeattle Which also starred Barbara Bain, another OG Mission Impossible team member!
@@OneAndOnlyMe And they were married the whole time, from 1957 - 1993! (I had to look up the exact years.)
@@BradleyJSeattle Oh that's right, they were married! I'd forgotten about that.
And Landau got an Oscar for playing Bela Lugosi (of Dracula fame) in Tim Burton's Ed Wood (1994), starring Johnny Depp.
"His Girl Friday" from 1940 is my personal favorite Cary Grant film.
It's a true rom-com.
By which I mean that it is a very funny comedy with a romance being the primary heart of the movie. It also has some thought-provoking moral questions.
It's also 20 years earlier than North, so Cary is really in his prime.
I think that you'll like it, and it'll give you a chance to see some of the origins of your precious rom-coms. :)
I agree. Excellent movie!!!
HGF is a perfect movie. And the banter between the two is classic.
I would love to see Cassie's reaction to "HGF!"
Agree! He and Rosalind Russell are magic! Best dialogue ever.
@@philisett1888 pretty sure she would love it
A lot of people don't realize that the boy he hails down in the restaurant is trying to deliver a. Message to George Kaplan. Just then, he turns and calls the boy. That's why the Goo s think he is Kaplan.
This remains my favourite Hitchcock movie. I love the characters, the actors, the twisty story, the sexiness, the architecture, chase scenes, and even the pastel Technicolor look of the film.
I like Notorious, Shadow of a Doubt and Vertigo most but this is great
The restored blu ray looks fantastic. N by NW is easily THE best popcorn movie of all time.
And the score
Cary Grant was one of the great comedic actors of his time. I recommend "My Favorite Wife", "His Girl Friday", "The Philadelphia Story" "The Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer" and "Father Goose".
I loved him and Tony Curtis in Operation Pettycoat.
Bringing Up Baby and Mr. Blandings Builds His Dreamhouse are 2 I would add.
You forgot to mention "Arsenic and Old Lace"!
must-see for Cassie & Carly - “An Affair to Remember”
I love the part where he's with the quiet girl and she offers him liquor...
Because "Psycho" was your first, you have the wrong image of what a Hitchcock film usually is. Psycho was his desire to make a horror movie for the first time. Everyone called him the "Master of Suspense" & that accurately describes almost every one of his films. And yes, a few include some romance, but ALL are suspenseful. One of my favorites with both romance & suspense (and Cary Grant & Ingrid Bergman) is "Notorious" (1946). Many feel that North by Northwest was a more lighthearted version of Notorious...somewhat similar premise, but IMO a better film.
Glad you're doing Hitchcock. One of the stars in this movie , Martin Landau , playing a hench man was in the TV series Mission Impossible.Another good one is Jimmy Stewart & Doris Day " The Man who Knew too Much"
I was also going to suggest "The Man Who Knew Too Much".... but 'Que Sera, Sera'...
There are 2 other veterans of 60's spy shows
"The Professor", the head of the US spies is played by Leo G. Carroll who was Alexander Waverly the head of U.N.C.L.E. on The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
Thornhill's lawyer is played by Edward Platt who was The Chief of CONTROL on Get Smart. note that his charater's name in this movie is Victor Larrabee - In Get Smart. Larrabee was the Chief's assistant.
Hitchcock was actually quite good at love stories. Many of his films feature a strong romance at the center of the story.
With Cary Grant, James Stewart, and Katharine Hepburn "Philadelphia Story" is a movie you would adore!! Please consider putting it on a future watch list. Love your channel
She would love it.
This film had a big influence on the early James Bond movies. The tone, the wit, and some of the action sequences. The crop duster sequence, for example, influenced the sequence in From Russia With Love in which a helicopter chases and dive-bombs Connery. Hitchcock was even considered to direct the first James Bond movie, an aborted adaptation of Thunderball (late 50s). Then the Broccoli family bought the rights to the Bond books and made Dr. No (1962)
Wthout any doubt. Esp. since NBN also plays into the spy films as well. It was an excellent blueprint for the Connery Bond.
Thank you for sharing this movie with us. This is why Hitchcock is the master of suspense. The scene with the cars passing in the middle of nowhere is supposed to make you impatient. With each passing moment, you wonder what is going to happen, then the crop duster just appears. The tension is so thick, you can cut it with a knife. The ending is also great where she is stretching to take his hand and then the scene switches to her climbing into the top bunk on the train. I thought Cassie was going to jump through the screen when she shot him in the restaurant. It's the fact that the audience never knows where this movie is going that makes it a masterpiece.
Glad you finally hit up Cary Grant!!
Truly one of the greats in the golden age of cinema!
I'm sure you will like him. I will watch this reaction tonight with a bowl of popcorn!
Cary Grant needs his own poll. So many great movies. Arsenic and Old Lace should definitely be on a Halloween poll.
Cary Grant was born in Bristol England and developed his accent in vaudeville and Broadway and in the early talkie films. Mae West was looking for a leading man, saw him across the lot and said, 'If he can talk, I'll have him.' Grant and Katherine Hepburn and many others had what was called 'the Transatlantic accent'. James Mason, the bad guy Van Damm, was an English actor also. The English always play the suave bad guys.
Katherine Hepburn was an upper class New Englander and spoke with her native accent.
So glad you enjoyed this, my favourite Hitch movie. I would also recommend Vertigo, Dial M for Murder and The 39 Steps (the 1930s original, before he left for Hollywood). And for the accents, both Grant and Mason were born In England, hence the crossover, as others have pointed out.
The Perfect Murder was a quality remake, I thought. Do you know if Vertigo ever had a remake? Or something loosely based on it?
I’ll add a few other Hitchcock movies: In addition to “39 Steps” from his British period there’s “The Lady Vanishes” and “Saboteur” as well as “Suspicion,” and “Notorious,” (both with Cary Grant). In fact, while there are some definite misses from Hitchcock’s 1930s and ‘40s work It seems to be under appreciated as compared to his 1950s and early ‘60s work.
@@ct6852 Brian De Palma's Obsession (1976) was not a remake but was inspired by Vertigo. It starred Cliff Robertson, Geneviève Bujold and John Lithgow.
@@pollyparrot9447 Oh interesting. Thanks. Never heard of that one. Makes sense that it would be DePalma, though.
Cary Grant was suave and sofisticated and had a split accent, part English and part American, maybe Boston. He was a romantic comic genius so he is right up your alley. His best are The Philidelphia story, "The Bachelor wore Bobby Socks" and Charade to name a few. He was also very funny. Women loved him all over.
Not Boston. His accent is a hybrid of English and Transatlantic. Mostly English, as that's where he was born and raised.
Cary Grant was from Bristol England and came from a working class family so he would hardly have had a naturally “posh” accent unlike James Mason who was from a wealthy family in Yorkshire. But having a working class accent wouldn’t have been acceptable for someone working in the theatre so he worked hard to develop what is known as a “mid-Atlantic accent” that could be educated British or upper class American.
@@ImaCOTV The Mid-Atlantic accent is the same thing as the Transatlantic accent. The affected accent is known by both names.
Arsenic and Old Lace is another great Cary Grant option
@@1177kc Yes with Pricilla Lane, she was so cute. Several well known character actors were also in it, Jack Carson for one. A lot of humor, dark humor.
Father Goose (1964) is one of my favorite Cary Grant movies. Also, An Affair to Remember (1957), as several commenters have already mentioned, is a must-see classic.
You have to love that last closing bit of symbolism.
Ok. My husband and I did this a couple years ago... gotta take a sleeper car. It's not as elaborate as north by northwest train, but we loved it! And it's not that expensive. We downloaded movies, brought card games, and just spent leisurely time alone together from salt lake to San Francisco. Stayed there a few days and took the train home.
California Zephyr
Chicago
Omaha
Denver
Salt Lake City
Emeryville (San Francisco)
51 hours 20 minutesDaily Departure
Experienced travelers say the California Zephyr is one of the most beautiful train trips in all of North America. As you climb through the heart of the Rockies, and further west through the snow-capped Sierra Nevadas, you may find it hard to disagree. The Zephyr runs between Chicago and San Francisco, coursing through the plains of Nebraska to Denver, across the Rockies to Salt Lake City, and then through Reno and Sacramento into Emeryville/San Francisco. Connections in to San Francisco and Oakland stations via Thruway Bus Service at Emeryville, California.
Thank you.
Mr. Grant's accent is called the "Mid-Atlantic" accent, or "Transatlantic" accent, and was a consciously learned accent of English, fashionably used by the late 19th-century and early 20th-century American upper class and entertainment industry, which blended together features regarded as the most prestigious from both American and British English.
James Mason had a career lasting more than five decades, appeared in more than 120 movies, in several of Shakespeare's play on stage, and was heard in plays on the radio. Following his death in 1984 Mason was saluted by U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy with the words, "Never say in grief you are sorry he's gone. Rather, say in thankfulness you are grateful he was here."
Cary Grant developed this accent because he was from a lower-class background in England and originally had a heavy Cockney accent.
he was born in Bristol, England so obviously he’s going to have an english accent, At 16, he went as a stage performer with the Pender Troupe for a tour of the US. After successful performances he decided to stay there. The rest is history.
@@kevinhouse4376 Cary Grant was born and raised in Bristol until he was 16…..definitely never had a cockney accent.
@@charmawow Thanks for the correction. I had read that he had a cockney accent, but maybe that author just assumed it because he was raised in a working class environment in England.
@@charmawow Cary Grant's accent was unique, In fact, there's a joke in "Some Like It Hot" where Tony Curtis is in disguise using a Grant imitation and Jack Lemmon berates him, saying "Nobody talks like that!"
Cary Grant, easily my pick for the greatest star to ever grace the silver screen. He could do it all, drama, comedy, romance, anything without breaking a sweat and without losing his effortless charm. The Philadelphia Story is one of my favorites of his, along with Charade, Only Angels Have Wings, and Notorious. You can’t go wrong with Mr. Grant!
Bringing Up Baby and His Girl Friday and Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House. Yes I'm focusing on the comedy because it's hard to stop laughing during all of these and that's a good thing.
Archie Leach was the greatest actor of the golden age of Hollywood - he played Cary Grant so convincingly, the whole world bought the act! TO CATCH A THIEF is my favorite, among many.
Arsenic and Old Lace
Gunga Din, Mother Goose, She Done Him Wrong (with Mae West). He acted in 76 movies, many are great films.
Women swooned over him even when he was 80 with white hair.
In the scene where they fire the gun in the restaurant at Mount Rushmore, if you look in the background you can see a kid covering his ears right before the gun goes off. It’s one of those famous moments where an extra can ruin a scene. Once you notice it, it’s hard to unsee it on repeat viewings.
Haha, thanks for pointing that out. Apparently, Hitchcock, a true perfectionist, was livid when he noticed it, but by then, it was too late!
When I was very young, I used to have a recurrent nightmare about climbing and falling on Mt. Rushmore. Not until I saw this movie as an adult did I realize that this movie must have been on TV at some point when I was too young to remember. But my subconscious never forgot.
Alfred Hitchcock popularized the theme of the wrong man thrust or dragged into some dangerous plot. One can see it pop up throughout his body of work. Hitch was very versatile and made movies in many different genres. He also had a very dry sense of humor. He once responded to a complaint about a supposed insult he uttered with, "I didn't say that actors are cattle; I just said they should be treated like cattle." Cary Grant was a Hollywood icon; a superstar of the screen whose talent knew no bounds, and one of Hitch's go-to leading men. He was born in England but moved to the US at an early age, which is where his accent comes from. I highly recommend an early tour-de-force of Grant's called Arsenic & Old Lace. It's directed by Frank Capra, who also made It's A Wonderful Life.
I love it when young people like yourself watch great films with great actors, plots, dialog etc. Something very lacking in todays environment of bad remakes and mostly unoriginal movies. By the way Eva Marie Saint (who plays Eve Kendall) is still alive at 99!
I am confident you will love Hitchcock's Notorious with Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman. Thank you for a most entertaining reaction.
One of the greatest films ever made, a masterpiece.
YES!!! If you're not in love with Cary Grant yet, you will be after this and I HIGHLY recommend all his classics. Eva Marie Saint was a practically a child when this was made. She is MIND blowing in this.
Archibald Alec Leach was born in Bristol, England in 1904 but went to the States at 16 with a stage group and decided to stay. Later legally changing his name to Carey Grant he was a big star in the 1950s, even considered to play Bond. Thanks for uploading, Cassie.
30's to 60's. Grant's career spanned more than one decade.
Carry Gran Is in a movie called "The Bishop's Wife" that is an underrated and often overlooked Christmas comedy movie!
So true. My favorite Christmas movie
Cary Grant opposite David Niven; how can you lose?
@@michaeldmcgee4499 Agreed! I heard once that Niven wanted the angel part! No one could have done the part like Grant! Niven was perfect as the Bishop though! And oh my, Loretta Young!
I highly recommend Hitchcock’s “Notorious” (1946) starring a slightly younger Cary Grant and the exceptional Ingrid Bergman.
1. They flew North from Chicago to North Dakota via Northwest Airlines (North By Northwest). 2. Both Grant and Mason are Brits, which explains their accents. 3. There was an understated subtext in the relationship between Leonard and Van Damm - "Call It my woman's intuition," and "I think you're jealous!" The actor who played Leonard, Martin Landau, revealed later that he considered Leonard gay while he was portraying him.
Okay, i'm new to the party and this reaction was done six months ago so you may not see this - but you made the single best comment /observation of anyone doing these movie reactions! Right at the beginning of the film you were lamenting that NYC (where I live) barely has cabs anymore, it's all Ubers these days. And then you said "Phones (meaning cell phones) made a lot of things unexciting." THANK YOU! I've been a working writer in the film industry for sometime now, and it was so much more interesting to build a scene that involved a remote phone, either in a room or say a telephone booth, etc. It is one part of the current state of technology that has, as you said, made things less exciting. This was an excellent review and I have subscribed and I may have to do a Patreon to suggest some of my favorite films.
One wonders if the “ Oh! My goodness! “ moments are completely genuine.
Cary Grant was a circus acrobat before acting. He often “ scales” various heights or does unusually physical things.
This is my favorite Hitchcock film. The performances, the suspense, the cinematography... It was all on point. 24:39 is one of my favorite shots in any movie. I'm glad you finally got to see it.
It's probably also the most "Hitchcockian".... SO many of his movies had this "wrong man" vibe and it's like with this one, he finally perfected it!
One great feature of many of Hitchcock's films in the Fifties is that they were shot in Paramount's Vista Vision which had tremendous resolution and they really pop off the screen in high definition.
Me, too Polymath !! Followed by Shadow of A Doubt, Vertigo, and The Lodger....
@@marvinbone1379 I highly recommend the Criterion release of The Lodger... It looks like it was shot yesterday, and the score is amazing. The special feature about making the score alone is worth the cost!
James Mason is the actor who portrayed Van Damme. He was a major motion picture star for 40 years. There is a movie he appears in named "The Last of Sheila" which was co-written by Anthony Perkins (Norman Bates in "Psycho". "The Last of Sheila" is one of the greatest mystery movies ever. A must see.
Boy, how I agree with you there! I've been recommending The Last of Sheila to every reactor I can, so far without anyone actually reacting to it -- I certainly hope that changes soon. There are a couple of whodunits that may be even better movies, but none that was written originally for the screen (not adapted) and has such an extraordinarily clever mystery.
The Last of Sheila is a VERY well written film, with wonderful acting.
Co-written with Stephen Sondheim.
@@richardzinns5676 your best bet is with a small reactor. They are more likely to watch older more obscure films.
The movie that inspired the early Bond films (and many other action films). Absolutely groundbreaking and one of my favorites.
Cary Grant was born Archie Leach in Bristol, England. He developed a mid-atlantic accent for the many suave roles he played.
My suggestion for a future Cary Grant reaction would be His Girl Friday.
The pacing is incredible.
12:17 Cary Grant is the OG. The blueprint for everyone you mentioned. It’s nice to know he influenced so many people. Hope you’ll do more Hitchcock.
Cary Grant...u can't go wrong with any of his movies. We need more men like him!
Men in suits not baggy pants with their underwear or ass on show
But seriously, you don't know what Cary Grant can do until you've seen "His Girl Friday," one of the greatest comic films ever made. He makes a joke in it about Archie Leach, breaks the fourth wall (sideways). Or "He looks a bit like that Ralph Bellamy fellow." Spectacular writing. Spectacular delivery. Cary Grant once said, "Everybody wants to be Cary Grant. I want to be Cary Grant." The modern actor who most reminds me of Cary Grant is George Clooney. They both know they are impossibly handsome, and play it kind of like a joke. "Can you believe it? Yeah, me neither!" They don't take their obvious good looks and charm too seriously.
"Bringing up Baby" with Kathrine Hepbern, "Monkey Business" with Ginger Rogers also Marylon Monroe in a small role and "Arsenic and Old Lace" are my favorite Cary Grant films. Baby by the way is a leapord.
Great films and a classic great leading man and always surrounded by classic buetifull woman. He probably would have made a great James Bond.
Wow, Cassie's face at those last seconds is why I love her reactions. Simply the best.
In Hitchcock films the innocent man on the run goes back to The Lodger, The 39 Steps, Young and Innocent, Saboteur etc, it was one of his favourite types of film
James Mason was born in Yorkshire, England and trained as an actor in theatre and became well-known for his mellow voice and perfect enunciation. Cary Grant was born in Bristol, England and originally trained in vaudeville but moved to Hollywood in the 1930’s and never totally got rid of his accent.
Grant was also a member of a European trapeze act that toured America. He alluded to this in the movie "To Catch A Thief" accurately, except there he said he was part of an American trapeze act that got stranded in Europe. Art imitating life in that respect.
Well, that's where Archibald Leach was born anyway.
"Mistaken identity" was Hitchcock's bread and butter, and this was the best of the bunch. I love Rear Window but I think North by Northwest is Hitchcock's best movie. Just perfect.
This was about the fourth movie that Hitchcock did with the “mistaken identity/man attached (sometimes physically) to a woman who might not be on his side” theme. These include “Young and Innocent,” “The Thirty-Nine Steps,“ “Sabotage,” and “North By Northwest”.
“North By Northwest” also revisited an idea that Hitchcock used in “Notorious” which is the woman who essentially prostitutes herself for the US Government. In “Notorious” the character played by Ingrid Bergman marries the German agent played by Claude Raines to spy on him, in spite of being in love with her handler (Cary Grant), while in “North By Northwest” Eva Marie Saint becomes Van Damm’s mistress so she can spy on him.
The first time I saw this movie, I missed the background public announcement of a telephone call for Kaplan, just before Thornhill raised his hand to send a telegram. That made the "mistaken identity" a little confusing. (I was too caught up in his discussion with his buddies.)
@@ImaCOTVSaboteur, not Sabotage. And he would return to the theme with Frenzy
@@BEBruns Your right. I always get those two films mixed up. In my opinion, Sabotage is the better movie, but of course it doesn’t fit the theme.
The scene where Roger sabotages the auction until he's kicked out to escape the terrorists is so funny, and another masterclass in how Hitchcock blended heart-pounding suspense with subtle humor.
One of the greatest movies of all time, great fun watching you react and trying to figure it out
If you love Cary Grant you'll love his biography in which they described his acting origins. His physical comedy was used to great advantage in Arsenic and Old Lace one of the great classics. It's perfect for Halloween movie when you get to that point.
The accent: It's called the Mid-Atlantic Accent. It's an artificial accent (a blend of American and English accents) used by tons of actors in the early 20th century. It was considered dignified and refined. It was also very friendly to the rudimentary microphones at the beginning of the sound era of film. If you watch more of Grant's earlier films from the '30s, you'll hear more actors speaking like that.
Also so movies could have more natural appeal to both audiences. They taught it at top boarding schools, so you did hear it from people like George Plimpton, who went to Exeter.
This and "Strangers On A Train" are my personal favorites. Hope you enjoyed this.
The ending for Strangers On A Train is fukin bananas
Strangers on the Train is up there for me too, but I like Rear Window a little more. Still a really great movie though
For romances:
"An Affair to Remember," Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr, generally considered one of the most romantic films of all time.
"Moonstruck," with Cher (her Oscar) and Nicolas Cage, also won Oscars for Best Supporting Actress - Olympia Dukakis, and Best Original Screenplay - John Patrick Shanley.
"Brief Encounter," directed by David Lean with a screenplay by Noel Coward. Voted by the British Film Institute as the 2nd greatest British film ever made.
Love Brief Encounter. It's almost too romantic. 46:12
Cary Grant, who arrived in the United States from England aged 16, had an accent that was often considered Mid-Atlantic, though with a more natural and unconscious mixture of both British and American features.
"Pay the two dollars" was a recurrent line in a Vaudeville skit. A man is charged with spitting on the sidewalk but won't pay the fine. He goes to jail and his lawyer tells him, "Pay the two dollars." At each successive step, his sentence is worse, and his lawyer gives the same advice. Finally, as man the awaits execution, his lawyer pleads with him, "Pay the two dollars!"
If you liked Eva Marie Saint in this you should add On the Waterfront to your list. It also stars a young Marlon Brando and Lee J. Cobb who you saw in 12 Angry Men.
If she only knows Brando from the Godfather, she would be amazed to see him when he was young. Great movie
The train going into the tunnel is a classic Hays Code ending.
He's most well-known now for scary but Hitch did suspense extremely well, and even comedy. I think The Trouble With Harry is one of the funniest rom coms i've ever seen- and with Hitchcockian weirdness.
One of my favorites! It reminds me so much of my grandfather's (British) sense of humor.
You'll note the Birds and Psycho, his two most explicitly horror films that influence your opinion of him, came after this. But he always dealt in mystery, suspense, thriller, (often) murder, all delivered with a sly and subversive insight on people and society while satisfying the relatively strict moral oversight of movies in his time. North by Northwest was the progeny of the Connery Bond Films and, in my mind, is even the early prototype for big summer blockbusters like Terminator, Die Hard, Independence Day, etc.
So glad you enjoyed this masterpiece. If you'd like to see other Hitchcock "romances", I recommend his fairly early 'Rebecca' with Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine; and 'To Catch a Thief' with Cary Grant and Grace Kelly. Incidentally, I remember your watching 'Some Like it Hot' a while ago. Well you may recognise that when Tony Curtis was pretending to be "Shell Oil", he was do an impersonation of Cary Grant's very particular mid-Atlantic accent.
I was just about to joke that some like it hot was my favourite Cary Grant movie, but I guess you've ruined that lol
Rebecca would love it for sure, it's like a sinister fairy tale.
I love this movie so much. I was recently down in Los Angeles and went to the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences Museum (say that five times fast), and saw the Mt Rushmore backdrop they used. It was really impressive because I just walked into a room and then see this MASSIVE backdrop and instantly knew what it was. It's literally like 91ft x 30ft, just MASSIVE.
Did you know that Eva Marie Saint is 99 as of July 4th? She was and remains and amazing actor and woman! This was a lot of fun. It was not necessarily a who-dunnit, but it is one of Hitchcock's early spy movies. This one is the most beloved and is a classic. So fun! And yes, I am glad you got a happy ending, as did we all! Looking forward to what comes next!
She even voiced the elderly Katara on LEGEND OF KORRA and appeared at the 2018 Oscars as a presenter.
As I'm sure other have pointed out to you, Cary Grant was British as well as James Mason who played Van Dam. Cary's real names was Archibald Leach. Their very distinctive voices and accents were impersonated by comedians of the day and still are today. Enjoyed your reaction very much.
The idea behind the scene delay is to get the audience in a relaxed state before the unknown is sprung upon them. So, when Carey is standing out on the road in the middle of nowhere sets the scene for how quiet and peaceful nowhere man is. And then the crop duster plane comes onto the scene at first appearing to mind its own business when all of a sudden it attempts to kill Carey Grant. It is that initial sense of normalcy that creates this brilliant set up to action.
44:30 "When he's at that bus stop, waiting ... couldn't we make that just one car?" No. And for a very good reason.
The famous French director Francois Truffaut asked Hitchcock the same question -- why was that scene so long? And Hitchcock explained how the audience needed to understand the topography, to walk around it imaginatively with Cary Grant, and to feel how absolutely flat and barren it was. So that when the plane started to dive in after him, you instantly realized that there was no place to hide. You were as exposed as a fly on a tabletop. (It's all discussed in the book of Hitchcock-Truffaut interviews).
A modern director would do just what you wanted -- and make the scene move more quickly & efficiently. Which is why modern directors aren't as good as Hitchcock.
Cary Grant is at his best, along with Grace Kelly, in 'To Catch a Thief'. Directed by Hitchcock. All-around Great.
Oh yes, yes, yes!