North by Northwest (35mm)

Selected by Lee Friedlander

Capping a stunning run of 1950s late-career films—falling between Vertigo and Psycho, both summits of cinema in their own right—Alfred Hitchcock’s beloved and breathless espionage epic North by Northwest returns. Cary Grant’s fourth and final collaboration with the master of suspense (Notorious, 1946; To Catch a Thief, 1955; Suspicion, 1941) stars the legendary leading man as Madison Avenue executive Roger Thornhill, who, mistaken for a CIA operative, is beset by a criminal cadre intent on his demise. Hot in pursuit are Phillip Vandamm (James Mason, equal parts villainous and debonair) playing foil to Grant’s wronged man, Martin Landau as Mason’s preposterously diabolical henchman, and Eva Marie Saint as Eve Kendall, who sets the trap. Spurring countless homages (see also: James Bond—Grant was supposedly approached to play 007 but declined), this inimitable classic has long been admired for the ingenuity of its maker’s sophisticated visual style, mordant wit, and sheer technical virtuosity.

Part of the Fraenkel Film Festival