North by Northwest Alfred Hitchcock

Writing

Hitchcock often told journalists of an idea that he had about Cary Grant hiding from the villains inside Abraham Lincoln's nose and being given away when he sneezes. He speculated that the film could be called The Man in Lincoln's Nose (Lehman's version is that it was The Man on Lincoln's Nose[17]) or even The Man Who Sneezed in Lincoln's Nose. Hitchcock sat on the idea, waiting for the right screenwriter to develop it. The original traveling salesman character had been suited to James Stewart, but Lehman changed it to a Madison Avenue advertising executive, a position that he had formerly held.[18]

John Russell Taylor's 1978 biography Hitch: The Life and Times of Alfred Hitchcock suggests that the story originated after a spell of writer's block during the scripting of another film project:

Alfred Hitchcock had agreed to do a film for MGM and they had chosen an adaptation of the novel The Wreck of the Mary Deare by Hammond Innes. Composer Bernard Herrmann had recommended that Hitchcock work with his friend Ernest Lehman. After a couple of weeks, Lehman offered to quit saying he didn't know what to do with the story. Hitchcock told him they got along great together and they would just write something else. Lehman said that he wanted to make the ultimate Hitchcock film. Hitchcock thought for a moment then said he had always wanted to do a chase across Mount Rushmore. Lehman and Hitchcock spitballed more ideas: a murder at the United Nations Headquarters; a murder at a car plant in Detroit; a final showdown in Alaska. Eventually they settled on the U.N. murder for the opening and the chase across Mount Rushmore for the climax. For the central idea, Hitchcock remembered something an American journalist had told him about spies creating a fake agent as a decoy. Perhaps their hero could be mistaken for this fictitious agent and end up on the run. They bought the idea from the journalist for $10,000.

Lehman repeated this story in the documentary Destination Hitchcock: The Making of North by Northwest that accompanied the 2001 DVD release of the film. Screenwriter William Goldman insists in Which Lie Did I Tell? (2000) that it was Lehman who created North by Northwest and that many of Hitchcock's ideas were not used. Hitchcock had the idea of the hero being stranded in the middle of nowhere but suggested that the villains try to kill him with a tornado. "But they're trying to kill him. How are they going to work up a cyclone?" Lehman responded. "I just can't tell you who said what to whom, but somewhere during that afternoon, the cyclone in the sky became the crop-duster plane."[19]

In fact, Hitchcock had been working on the story for nearly nine years prior to meeting Lehman. Otis Guernsey was the American journalist who had the idea which influenced Hitchcock, inspired by a true story during World War II when British Intelligence obtained a dead body, invented a fictitious officer who was carrying secret papers, and arranged for the body and misleading papers to be discovered by the Germans as a disinformation scheme called Operation Mincemeat. Guernsey turned his idea into a story about an American salesman who travels to the Middle East and is mistaken for a fictitious agent, becoming "saddled with a romantic and dangerous identity". Guernsey admitted that his treatment was full of "corn" and "lacking logic", and he urged Hitchcock to do what he liked with the story. Hitchcock bought the 60 pages for $10,000. In an interview in the book Screenwriters on Screenwriting (1995), Lehman stated that he had already written much of the screenplay before coming up with critical elements of the climax. An example of the "corn" in the finished screenplay was the scene wherein Roger Thornhill returns to the Townsend estate with the detectives to find everything changed. If Thornhill was indeed a spy, he would have had no reason to return to the estate after his escape the previous night, nor would the criminals be expecting him to return as they obviously did.

This was the only Hitchcock film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Since 1986, it has been owned by Turner Entertainment Co., as part of the pre-May 1986 MGM film library that it acquired through temporary ownership of MGM.

Production costs on North by Northwest were seriously escalated when a delay in filming put Cary Grant into the penalty phase of his contract, resulting in an additional $5,000 per day in fees for him before shooting even began.[20]

Casting

Eva Marie Saint's agent had told her that she had received an invitation to a dinner with Alfred Hitchcock and his family, the first time she and Hitchcock met. Days after the dinner, Saint's mother called her and reminded her that Hitchcock loved casting women wearing beige clothing and white gloves. Following her mother's advice, she met with Hitchcock again, wearing white gloves and beige clothing. She credited this for helping her successfully win the role.[21] MGM wanted Cyd Charisse for the role of Eve Kendall. Hitchcock stood by his choice of Saint.[20]

Hitchcock attended the Middle of the Night play in order to watch a performance by Edward G. Robinson. After being impressed by the performance of Martin Landau, Hitchcock asked to meet him at MGM. Landau arrived and Hitchcock showed him the entirety of the project, including the storyboards. While they were looking at the project, Hitchcock turned and told Landau, "You're now Leonard."[21]

Filming

At Hitchcock's insistence, the film was made in Paramount's VistaVision widescreen process. Only two VistaVision films were made at MGM, the other being High Society.[22]

The aircraft flying in the aerial chase scene is a Naval Aircraft Factory N3N Canary, better known as the "Yellow Peril", a World War II Navy primary trainer sometimes converted for crop-dusting.[23] The aircraft that hits the truck and explodes is a wartime Boeing-Stearman Model 75 trainer, and many of these were also used for agricultural purposes until the 1970s. The plane was piloted by Bob Coe, a crop-duster from Wasco, California.[24] Hitchcock placed replicas of square Indiana highway signs in the scene. In 2000, The Guardian ranked the crop-duster scene at No. 29 on their list of "The top 100 film moments".[25] The British film magazine Empire ranked it as the "greatest movie moment" of all time in its August 2009 issue.[26]

Among the locations used in the film are:

• 430 Park Avenue 40°45′38″N 73°58′18″W / 40.760694°N 73.971680°W / 40.760694; -73.971680
  • This is the building used by Saul Bass during the opening credits. The building was constructed in 1916 as a luxury apartment tower called the Avenue Apartments and was designed by the firm Warren and Wetmore. In 1953, the building was stripped of its façade, given a new curtain wall designed by Emery Roth and Sons in the style of Lever House, and converted to offices. Bass's title sequence is based on the geometric structure of the international style.[27]
• Commercial Investment Trust Building (650 Madison Avenue, New York) 40°45′50″N 73°58′17″W / 40.763965°N 73.971302°W / 40.763965; -73.971302
  • This is the location of Roger Thornhill's office, and the building he walks out of in his first appearance in the film. The CIT Building was designed by the firm Harrison and Abramovitz and constructed in 1957.[28]
• Plaza Hotel (768 Fifth Avenue, New York) 40°45′53″N 73°58′27″W / 40.764733°N 73.974241°W / 40.764733; -73.974241
  • After taking a cab with his secretary, Thornhill has a drink in the Oak Room of the Plaza Hotel. It is here that he is kidnapped by Vandamm's henchmen. Thornhill later returns to the Plaza, where he breaks into George Kaplan's room.[29] For space reasons, most of the shots in and around the Oak Room were actually done on a set.[30]
• Old Westbury Gardens (71 Old Westbury Road, Old Westbury) 40°46′26″N 73°35′42″W / 40.773822°N 73.594921°W / 40.773822; -73.594921
  • Thornhill's kidnappers drive him to Townsend's estate on Long Island. After questioning Thornhill, Vandamm instructs Leonard and his other henchmen to intoxicate Thornhill by force.
• United Nations Headquarters 40°44′57″N 73°58′06″W / 40.749127°N 73.968327°W / 40.749127; -73.968327
  • Following Thornhill's escape from Vandamm's henchmen at the Plaza, he takes a taxi to the United Nations Headquarters to meet Lester Townsend. The U.N. Headquarters buildings were also designed by Harrison and Abramovitz, the architects of Thornhill's office.[31] The scene of Cary Grant going to the United Nations in New York was filmed illicitly because, after reviewing the script, U.N. authorities denied permission to film on or near its property. After two failed attempts to get the required shots, Hitchcock had Grant pull up in a taxicab right outside the General Assembly Building while a hidden camera crew filmed him exiting the vehicle and walking across the plaza.[32]
• Grand Central Terminal (89 East 42nd Street, New York) 40°45′10″N 73°58′38″W / 40.752724°N 73.977221°W / 40.752724; -73.977221
  • Following the murder of Townsend at the United Nations, Thornhill rushes to Grand Central Terminal, where he sneaks onto the 20th Century Limited en route to Chicago.
• LaSalle Street Station (414 South LaSalle Street, Chicago) 41°52′31″N 87°37′56″W / 41.875304°N 87.632152°W / 41.875304; -87.632152
  • Thornhill and Eve Kendall arrive in Chicago at the LaSalle Street Station. At the station, Kendall gives Thornhill the instructions for his meeting with Kaplan.
• Prairie Stop 35°45′39″N 119°33′42″W / 35.760814°N 119.561721°W / 35.760814; -119.561721
  • The famous "crop duster scene", which in the film takes place in rural Indiana, was actually filmed on a highway in central California near the town Wasco. Hitchcock added square signs to the location to replicate those found in Indiana.[33]
• Ambassador East Hotel 41°54′21″N 87°37′42″W / 41.905856°N 87.628303°W / 41.905856; -87.628303
  • Thornhill returns to Chicago in a stolen truck he parks outside the Ambassador East Hotel. The hotel opened in 1926 and was designed by Robert S. DeGolyer and Co. Today, it continues to be operated as a hotel, under the name The Ambassador.[34]
• Chicago Midway Airport 41°47′18″N 87°44′39″W / 41.788372°N 87.744211°W / 41.788372; -87.744211
  • Following Thornhill's arrest at the auction, he and the Professor travel to Midway Airport, where they board a flight for Rapid City, South Dakota. The terminal seen in the film was built in 1945-46 and was designed by architect Paul Gerhardt Sr. This terminal building was demolished in 2002.[35]
• Memorial View Building, Mount Rushmore 43°52′37″N 103°27′22″W / 43.877014°N 103.456213°W / 43.877014; -103.456213
  • The spurious murder of Roger Thornhill takes place in the Buffalo Room of the Memorial View Building at Mount Rushmore—the one location in the park where Hitchcock was permitted to film.[36] This building was constructed in 1957 as part of the National Park Service's Mission 66 program, and was designed jointly by NPS architect Cecil J. Doty and local architect Harold Spitznagel. The building was demolished in 1994.[37]
• Phillip Vandamm House
  • Vandamm's house, set on a cliff atop Mount Rushmore, was not a real structure. Hitchcock asked the set designers to make the house in the style of Frank Lloyd Wright, the most popular architect in United States at the time, using the materials, form and interiors associated with him.[38] Set designer Robert F. Boyle planned the house, which featured a cantilevered living room and made extensive use of limestone. Exterior shots were done using matte paintings,[39] while interior shots were filmed using a set built in Culver City, California, where MGM's studios were located.[40]

Costuming

A panel of fashion experts convened by GQ in 2006 said the gray suit worn by Cary Grant throughout almost the entire film was the best suit in film history, and the most influential on men's style, stating that it has since been copied for Tom Cruise's character in Collateral and Ben Affleck's character in Paycheck.[41] This sentiment has been echoed by writer Todd McEwen, who called it "gorgeous" and wrote a short story, "Cary Grant's Suit", that recounts the film's plot, featuring the suit.[42][43]

There is some disagreement as to who tailored the suit; Vanity Fair magazine claimed it was Norton & Sons of London,[44] although according to The Independent, it was Quintino of Beverly Hills.[45] Another article states that Grant used his Savile Row tailor, Kilgour French and Stanbury for the suit. A label reading "Quintino" is visible on one of the suits in the film, but this is because Quintino made duplicate suits for scenes involving more activity or stunts.[46][47]

Eva Marie Saint's wardrobe for the film was originally entirely chosen by MGM. Hitchcock disliked MGM's selections, and the actress and director went to Bergdorf Goodman in New York to select what she would wear.[48]

Editing and post-production

In François Truffaut's book-length interview, Hitchcock/Truffaut (1967), Hitchcock said that MGM wanted North by Northwest cut by 15 minutes so the film's length would run under two hours. Hitchcock had his agent check his contract, learned that he had absolute control over the final cut, and refused.[49]

One of Eva Marie Saint's lines in the dining-car seduction scene was redubbed. She originally said, "I never make love on an empty stomach", but it was changed in post-production to "I never discuss love on an empty stomach", as the censors considered the original version too risqué.[50]