North by Northwest released 50 years ago today

North by Northwest Released: July 28, 1959 Studio: MGM Genre: mystery/thriller/action Box Office (numbers in millions): Domestic: 13.28 Worldwide: ? Adjusted for Inflation: Domestic: 232.40 Worldwide: ?

Directing: Alfred Hitchcock Screenwriting: Ernest Lehman Starring: Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason Review: North by Northwest is “one of the all-time great entertainments” LM and is “considered by many to be Hitchcock’s best picture.” VD It “treads a bizarre tightrope between sex and repression, nightmarish thriller and urbane comedy,” T95 but is also “a sly, witty satire on the shallow ethics of modern advertising man.” T98 “Cary Grant is truly superb” T95 as Roger Thornhill, a Madison Avenue ad executive travelling cross country from New York to Mount Rushmore. He is desperately “trying to find out what’s going on and slowly being forced to assume another man’s identity” T95 as he is chased “by both spies (who think he’s a double agent) and the police (who think he’s an assassin).” LM The movie is marked by “one memorable scene after another,” LM including “Grant getting frantically chased by a machine-gun firing crop duster through a corn field.” VD There’s also “a literal plot-twisting cliff-hanger…and the chase across the face of Mount Rushmore.” FS “Grant allegedly told Hitchcock that the script was ‘terrible’ halfway through filming and that he had no idea what was going on. Grant believed the film was going to be a bomb. Hitchcock banked on his confusion aiding his character and therefore the film.” MSN Sources: FS Filmsite.org “100 Greatest Films” LM Leonard Maltin “100 Must-See Films of the 20th Century” MSN MSN Entertainment (7/19/2018). “100 Best Movies” by Shahnaz Mahmud T95 Time Out (1995). “Centenary Top One Hundred Films” T98 Time Out (1998). “Readers’ Top 100 Films” VD Video Detective (1997). “Top 100 Films of All Time”

Awards/Honors/Lists: Dave’s Movie Database Lists: Dave’s Movie Database Genre Lists: Awards: Oscars: Wins: 0 Nominations: 3, including Best Story and Screenplay, Best Film Editing Other Lists/Honors: Critics’ Picks: Leslie Halliwell/John Walker Leonard Maltin First posted 8/24/2019; last updated 6/3/2023.

50 years ago: The Philadelpia Story, one of the great rom-coms of all time, released

The Philadelphia Story Released: December 1, 1940 Studio: MGM Genre: comedy/romance Box Office (numbers in millions): Domestic: 0.4 Worldwide: ? Adjusted for Inflation: Domestic: 215.10 Worldwide: ?

Directing: George Cukor Screenwriting: Donald Ogden Stewart Starring: Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, James Stewart, Ruth Hussey, John Howard “George Cukor’s classic, witty romantic comedy” FS is “a delight from start to finish.” T95 It “sophisticated and screwball at once.” A07 The movie is based on a hit play by Philip Barry that was “a sophisticated romantic farce about a socialite wedding.” FS It “effortlessly transcending its stage origins.” T95 It would later be remade again in 1956 as the musical High Society. The movie had “a sublime” RS Katharine Hepburn reprise “her stage role as a haughty heiress who is about to wed a pompous self-made man” A98 (Howard). “Goofy reporter” VD Macauley Connor (Stewart) “is present to cover the wedding with a photographer Liz Imbrie (Hussey).” FS He “helps her down from her pedestal and into the arms” A98 of “her irresponsible” FS but “suave ex-husband (Grant).” VD “The film is a marvel of timing and understated performances.” T95 Hepburn “gives one of the performances of her life, while Grant and Stewart keep pace.” TV Stewart won an Oscar for his performance, but thought he was miscast and voted for Henry Fonda in The Grapes of Wrath instead of himself. MSN Sources: A98 American Film Institute (1998). “AFI’s 100 Years, 100 Movies” A07 American Film Institute (2007). “AFI’s 100 Years…100 Movies – 10th Anniversary Edition” FS Filmsite.org “100 Greatest Films” MSN MSN Entertainment (7/19/2018). “100 Best Movies” by Shahnaz Mahmud RS Rolling Stone (12/30/1999). “100 Maverick Movies of the Last 100 Years” T95 Time Out (1995). “Centenary Top One Hundred Films” TV TV Guide (August 8-14, 1998 issue). “50 Greatest Movies on TV and Video” VD Video Detective (1997). “Top 100 Films of All Time”

Awards/Honors/Lists: Dave’s Movie Database Lists: Dave’s Movie Database Genre Lists: Awards: Oscars: Wins: 2 - Best Actor (Stewart), Best Screenplay Nominations: 6 – including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress (Hepburn), Best Supporting Actress (Hussey) Other Lists/Honors: First posted 5/31/2023.