North By Northwest Themes

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The film North by Northwest is a spy thriller movie that was released in 1959. It was directed by Alfred Hitchcock and stars Cary Grant as Thornhill, Eve Marie Saint as Eve and James Mason as Vandamm. The film runs for a period of 136 minutes, giving a story on a man, Thornhill, been pursued as a result of mistaken identity by men from a spy organization. The film revolves around several major themes that make it interesting to watch. One of the major themes is mistaken identity, which is evident from the beginning of the film where Thornhill is mistaken for Kaplan after he receives a call meant for Kaplan which gives him a hard time throughout the movie as he tries to convince the men responsible for his capture that he is not Kaplan. Another …show more content…

In this scene, lighting is used where a shot reflects on eves face to the farmer in the car on the farm showing how far they are. The scene continues where the lighting used appears too bright and somehow blinding to show the time of day the scene is taking place and the emptiness of the field and the only part left out is Thornhill thus focus is drawn to him and this launches the audience into the attack where the lighting makes it easy to know that he is alone in the barren land which makes him vulnerable and the scene captivating. The editing is utilized in the film where quick and intense scenes are made to be real fast in pace which creates suspense. Sound is also used where the music in the background moves in sync with scenes of suspense where it turns loud and fast making the audience aware of the impending danger (Pernoud, 2015). The film North by Northwest is an interesting piece of work whereby the aspect of mistaken identity is most intriguing as it is used in several scenes and keeps happening through the film. This aspect makes the film captivating to watch and understand who each of the characters is to the end. Which is supported by the editing and sound which make the film full of suspense as each scene passes to see if the wrong man will suffer for something he doesn’t know