Hitchcock's movies

Written by:
Ernest Lehman

Cinematography by:
Robert Burks

Production design by:
Robert F. Boyle
William A. Horning
Merrill Pye
Henry Grace
Frank R. McKelvy

Music by:
Bernard Herrmann

Film editing by:
George Tomasini

Produced by:
Alfred Hitchcock
Herbert Coleman

Cast

Cary Grant (Roger Thornhill)

Eva Marie Saint (Eve Kendall)

James Mason (Phillip Van Damm)

Jessie Royce Landis (Clara Thornhill)

Leo G. Carroll (professor)

Philip Ober (Lester Townsend)

Josephine Hutchinson (Mrs. Townsend)

Martin Landau (Leonard)

Adam Williams (Valerian)

Edward Platt (Victor Larrabee)

Robert Ellenstein (Licht)

Philip Coolidge (doctor Cross)

Edward Binns (captain Junket)

Roger Thornhill is mistaken for the govenment secret agent George
Kaplan, by a gang of spies. They try to kill the man forcing him to
drink and then letting him drive his car, but Roger doesn't have an
accident 'couse he is arrested by police for drinkenness.
Thornhill explains what has happened, but the police doesn't trust him.
Roger decides to find out Kaplan and he goes to Chicago; he meets Eve
Kendall on the train; the girl offers to help him and manages a meeting
with George Kaplan.
When Roger reaches the desertic land and he is waiting for the agent to
arrive, he is attacked by a plane shooting at him. His life is safe by a
miracle.
Thornhill gets very angry; he follows Eve and discovers she is Van
Damm's girlfriend. Van Damm is the head of the spies who tried to
kill him.
The counter-espionage's chief decides to let Roger know what's
happening: George Kaplan doesn't exist and Eve is an undercover
government agent.
Now Roger is involved in the plot, he has fallen in love with Eve and
fears she could be killed by Van Damm. He goes to Rushmore to help
the girl; Eve shoots him and he is carried to hospital, but the gun was
loaded with blanks. Roger comes back to the spies' refuge and realizes
they are going to kill Eve: he must save her.
Roger and Eve run away on the presidents and they get safe.

"North by northwest" can be considered Hitchcock's most fully realized
movie; it is full of all the director's devices: suspense, espionage plot, a love
story, humor, a great cast and, of course, wonderful shots and direction.
The most suspensefull scene is padoxically the one in which nothing
happens: before Roger is attacked by the airplane, he spends lots of
minutes surrounded by a complete silence, looking around and waiting.
Audience is waiting too; we know something is going to happen, but we
don't know what and when.