North by Northwest (FF Classics) - Softcover

Lehman, Ernest

4.16

263 ratings by Goodreads

9780571202690: North by Northwest (FF Classics)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0571202691 ISBN 13: 9780571202690

Publisher: Faber & Faber, 2000

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Hitchcock's best-loved romantic thriller is one of the most influential works ever made in the genre - an enticing cocktail of suspense, comedy, eroticism and danger.

Roger Thornhill is a suave but stiff-necked Madison Avenue executive, who finds himself mistaken for a US intelligence agent, and dragged into life-threatening escapades. His consolation is that he gets to romance an elegant female spy, but he soon learns that the game of international intrigue is played for high stakes. Ernest Lehman provides an introduction to this souvenir volume, published to coincide with the centenary of Hitchcock's birth, in which he describes the course of his cherishable collaboration with the master of suspense.

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Review:

Three weeks after being commissioned by Alfred Hitchcock to adapt the novel The Wreck of the Mary Deare for the screen, Ernest Lehman was forced to admit that he wasn't the man for the task. Rather than find a new writer, Hitchcock offered Lehman the chance to work on something else; accepting the new commission, the screenwriter conceded that "All I want to do is write the Hitchcock picture to end all Hitchcock pictures." Starting from the director's desire to film a chase scene across the Faces of the Presidents on Mount Rushmore, a convoluted thriller began to take shape: "a real movie movie", as Lehman describes it in the introduction to this volume.

The plot revolves around one of Hitchcock's favourite conceits--mistaken identity. Advertising Executive Roger Thornhill is mistaken for a man named George Kaplan, leading to his abduction and an attempt upon his life. Evading arrest after he is framed for murder, Thornhill pursues Kaplan and attempts to turn the tables upon his attackers. Lehman's first-rate script is sharply written--with Thornhill retaining his wit even under pressure--and manages to keep tight control of a complex plot, by rationing the information given both to Thornhill and to the audience. Often cited as a precursor of the modern action movie, North by Northwest possesses a charm and sophistication too often lacking in its descendents. --John Oates

Synopsis:

One of a hand-picked selection of some of the most popular and cult-worthy titles on Faber and Faber's extensive list of film scripts.

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