NORTH BY NORTHWEST Color, 136 minutes
MGM, 1959
Producer and Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Screenplay: Ernest Lehman
Music: Bernard Herrmann
Director of Photography: Robert Burks
Roger Thornhill…………………………… Cary Grant
Eve Kendall………………………………. Eva Marie Saint
Phillip Vandamm…………………………. James Mason
Professor…………………………………. Leo G. Carroll
Lester Townsend…………………………. Philip Ober
Leonard…………………………………… Martin Landau
Viewing Questions:
Describe the opening title sequence. How does it relate to the rest of the film?
Describe two situations in which a character in the film is “playing a role” — that is, pretending to be someone else.
Describe, as best you can remember, the crop duster scene. Think about the way it looked, its duration, how it unfolded both visually and in terms of plot.
The film asks us to identify with the hero, Roger Thornhill. Give two examples of point-of-view or subjective shots (shots which place us in a completely subjective position – fully identified with Thornhill’s POV)