NORTH BY NORTHWEST: 50TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION (1959, Blu-ray released November 3, 2009 – MSRP $34.99)
We’re entering into an unprecedented era of film restoration. As time marches on, we run the risk of losing our cellulose acetate film treasures to vinegar syndrome, fire and neglect. Luckily for us, Warner has stepped in on this count and delivered a revelatory new edition of Alfred Hitchcock‘s North By Northwest. This is, no doubt the finest presentation the film has seen since first being exhibited in theatres fifty years ago!
But before rambling any further about restoration and film transfers allow me a moment to address the film itself. North by Northwest is one of those rare Hitchcock films that has eluded me for years. I don’t mean that I’ve had difficulty grasping its meaning. I’ve just never had the chance to watch it! Crazy. I know. I own countless numbers of Hitchcock DVD boxed sets, catch his films on TV when I can and have even had a rare occasion to enjoy a few on the big screen. But never North by Northwest. That is, until I got my hands on the new Blu-ray 50th Anniversary Edition from Warner Home Video!
North By Northwest is what you’d call a “typical” Hitchcock thriller, crafted on a familiar thematic backbone in his familiar style. The isolated “wrong man”, in this case cocky ad exec Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant in one of his most famous roles), who is confident and popular by nature, now lost and alone. Mistaken for a government agent and drawn into a world of espionage and danger with nowhere safe to turn. The femme fatale (Eva Marie Saint) who may be keeping him from danger or leading him to his death. The heavy (James Mason) and his lethal underling (a very young and lean Martin Landau). All the pieces are in place and set to a fantastic, humourous tale of intrigue featuring some of the most famous and signature scenes in all cinematic history – the bi-plane pursuit in the the cornfield, the stabbing in the U.N. building, the chase across the faces of the Mount Rushmore monument. This is classic, perfectly sculpted intrigue. A romantic thriller and a perfect showcase for the charm, comic timing and charisma of Grant.
The Blu-ray disc features a brand new restoration of North By Northwest from the original VistaVision elements. And holy crap, the results just blew me away! Watching this disc makes me want to hug someone over at Warner. Somebody over there really, really cares! Make no mistake, the film still has the appearance of something made mid-century but the film transfer to video in this case is damn near perfect. This must be what it was like to watch North By Northwest in 1959! Um…except that there wasn’t an awesome Dolby TrueHD 5.1 audio track to enjoy back then.
The Blu-ray comes packaged in a beautiful, little hardcover digibook. I’ve mentioned a few times how much I’ve come to love these things. If I have to own packaged media, let it be book style! The BD-50 disc is completely crammed with bonus features. To be honest, I’m not quite sure how Warner managed to include the film in such a high-bitrate encode AND squish all of these extras on there along with it. Amazing compression work. Aside from a commentary track by screenwriter Ernest Lehman (recorded five years before his death in 2005) which begins a bit dull but quickly heats up, the disc presents you with four documentary features of varying lengths – a couple of them in HD and exclusive to the Blu-ray! They’re all quite wonderful and include a “making-of” from the 2000 DVD release, a near-90 minute 2004 PBS biography of Cary Grant and a half-hour look at the film by a host of modern filmmakers. My favourite of the bunch, however was the hour-long “The Master’s Touch: Hitchcock’s Signature Style“. My only complaint is that the doc is far from comprehensive, primarily focussing on Hitchcock films in the Warner library. I guess that doesn’t come as much of a surprise in a Warner produced feature. Trailers and a gallery of 43 stills round out the set.
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