Week 5: North by Northwest

North by Northwest by Alfred Hitchcock was one of the first Hitchcock films that really had my glued to the screen. The fact that Thornhill is on the run throughout the film added lots of suspense to the film and kept the audience waiting to see what happened to him. I also loved the fact that the movie left the audience “hanging”. 

In the earlier part of the movie as Thornhill met Vandamm at Townsends house where they are seen in a dark room. (Timestamp: 9:25) Vandamm and Thornhill are seen in a dimly lit, dark room and as the curtain raises, Contrast is used by Hitchcock to show that there is something wrong with Vandamm and he had something to hide. Thornhill’s face is lit brightly in this scene as Vandamm’s face is left in the dark, almost suggesting that Thornhill was innocent and Vandamm was evil.

At (timestamp: 64:03) Thornhill is seen leaving the bus when the camera uses an Extreme Long Shot to depict Thornhill as a small object and used deep space to show the vast landscape he had been thrown into. These techniques add suspense to the film because you see the hero and innocent man of the movie, running for his life and he seems to be thrown into a very precarious situation. 

At (timestamp: 69:02) the crop-duster plane begins to shoot bullets at Thornhill and he is forced to hide in the fields. An extremely close-up is used as Thornhill ducks among the plants and hides from the plane shooting at him. The camera focuses on his face adding suspense to the scene because his facial expressions displayed anxiety and extreme fear as the plane is trying to kill him. The audience can really relate to the characters survival instincts as he tries to hide in the thick of the fields and I found myself really rooting for him to survive and persevere.

Overall I found this movie to be extremely entertaining. This movie probably had my favorite acting and cinematography, and I think this was due to the modern aspects of the movies. I was able to relate to the content in this movie a bit more, somewhat seemed to me like a 007 spy flick type of movie.