North by Northwest

             The most interesting scene is at 1:06:00 when Roger Thornhill gets off the bus at Prairie Stop. The movie began with the bustling crowds of New York fighting to get to their destinations using different modes of transportation (cars, taxis, buses, subways). In case you didn't notice, there was even a cameo scene where Hitchcock himself tried to board a bus but the doors closed on him. The Prairie Stop scene starkly contrasts with New York. The land here appears barren, lifeless, and desolate; the complete opposite of New York. Every corner Thornhill looks at is filled with endless dull dirt. Even the amount of transportation is starkly contrasted. In this scene, all in all we see at most five to seven cars, two buses, a truck, and a crop duster plane. We get a hint that the only mode of transportation that isn't doing its supposed function is the crop duster plane at 1:11:11 when a man comments "That plane is dusting crops where there ain't crops." The plane makes a pass to run down Thornhill, but what is strange about the plane is that it waits till the second pass to start shooting at Thornhill. Each pass the plane makes is very maneuverable and quite accurate in its attempt to hit Thornhill even though it misses each time. The strangest moment is when it awkwardly crashes into the oil tanker. I thought that an assassination attempt would have surely been more reliable to have used a gun, rope, or knife than a crop dusting plane.
            It seems that modes of transportation seem to serve as a way to uproot Roger Thornhill's life, leaving him without a sense of security and home. From the beginning, Thornhill is abducted into a car where he is brought into Mr. Townsend's home and sent to die in a stolen Mercedes. When he returns to the hotel to Mr. Kaplan's hotel room, a taxi takes him to the U.N. as he evades his would be assassins from the elevator, and then to Grand Central Station where the 20th Century Limited train carries him to Chicago. He tells Eve Kendall that he doesn't even have a place to sleep and has been evading the ticket checker at time 50:55. Planes seem to signify danger whereas trains and cars seem to signify a transition phase for Thornhill on his quest for the truth.
        Elevated heights also seem to be a recurring motif in this film. The high levels seem to suggest areas of truth-seeking whereas Thornhill's descent into the lower levels hint at danger. The opening scene where Thornhill is introduced, we see him coming from an elevator and later getting kidnapped and nearly killed. We again see Thornhill coming down from an elevator at time 33:00 after he ascended to room 769 where he found the image of Mr. Vandamm, where he is being chased by assassins. At time 38:30 we are shown an elevated view from the U.N. building and see Thornhill running after Mr. Townsend had been murdered. This motif is most exemplified at the ending chase scene where Thornhill and Eve climb up the monument and try climbing down the faces. Of particular note at time 2:15:58, is the transition from the dangers of Eve falling down the monument to her ascent into the bed as Mrs. Thornhill. Throughout the film we see a transformation in Roger Thornhill that results from his persistence to achieve love with Eve. He is accused of car theft, lying to a judge, assaulting a police officer, drunk driving, and most of all he is an advertiser who says at time 3:28, "Ah, in the world of advertising, there's no such thing as a lie. There's only the expedient exaggeration." Thornhill is portrayed as slightly devilish/evil in the beginning, but through his quest to find George Kaplan/save Eve, his character is redeemed by the destruction of Leonard and Mr. Vandamm and his return home on the train with his new bride.