‘North By Northwest’ in a way is a departure from the typical Alfred Hitchcock’s movies. But it is also a testament to the genius of Hitchcock who wanted to reinvent himself in different genres. What he did with ‘North By Northwest’ is create a template for Hollywood blockbusters, and even James bond films for that matter. Steven Spielberg openly acknowledges Hitchcock’s influence, and the scenes where Indiana Jones is picked up from the college in ‘Indianan Jones and the last crusade’ and taken to a house, are a almost a carbon copy of similar scenes in ‘North By Northwest’. What more the villain in the Indiana Jones movie, seems to take a leaf or two from the characterization of James Mason.

According to the writer (from the making feature in the DVD) Ernest Lehman, it all began when Alfred Hitchcock gave an idea of a scene of a delegate’s speech in the United Nations and the ensuing murder, and asked him to work on it. Ernest Lehman then wrote a 65 page treatment which Hitchcock used to green light the project. The rest of the story was developed just in time, before the big shoot of Rushmore sequences.

A must watch for all movie and Hithcock’s fans and the theme music by Bernard Hermann will stay with us long after we finished the movie.

Here is an excellent conduction of the same theme.