Tools of Characterization

Characterization in North by Northwest

Clothing

Thornhill doesn't even have to open his mouth to tell us he's successful and charming. Just look at that suit—one of the most gorgeous and famous suits in film history and the template for James Bond's classy look. (Three-button lightweight worsted wool in a blue and grey fine glen plaid pattern, for those of you paying attention to such things.) He's a Mad Man from top to bottom, impeccably groomed and nattily dressed, compared to the nondescript garb of The Professor, who doesn't particularly want to be noticed.

Eve's wardrobe speaks volumes. She's smart, classy, sexy but ladylike.

Martin Landau said that Hitchcock told him he wanted his character, Leonard, to be better dressed than Cary Grant's, so he personally took him to a tailor in Beverly Hills. Even though Leonard's just an underling to the suave Vandamm, there's a competition between him and Thornhill—not to mention the competition between him and Eve for Vandamm's attention. In fact, Grant noticed Landau's suit and had his valet ask him where he got it. (Source)

Dialogue

Although Hitchcock favored images over dialogue in creating his characters, you only have to watch the first minute of North by Northwest to understand Thornhill. When the film begins with Thornhill talking a mile a minute to his secretary, it's conveying something important about this Mad Man from back in the day: he's a mover and shaker, and he stays on the move. In the very next scene, a business colleague at the Oak Room confirms this. Thornhill, a business associate says, "may be slow in starting, but there's nobody faster down the homestretch."

Think about how far dialogue goes in defining Thornhill's relationship to Eve. She's audaciously good at suggestive banter—so good that she rivals the fast-talking Thornhill. Those long takes of whispering sweet nothings in each other's ear let us know that neither of these guys are shrinking violets.

Family Life

Except at the cafeteria at Mount Rushmore, there are almost no children shown in North by Northwest. And, with its steamy make-out scenes and sexual innuendo, the film may not be that much of a family flick. But it does rely on one family relationship in particular to characterize Thornhill: the mother-son relationship.

Hitch emphasizes Thornhill's closeness to his mother during the film's early scenes because this is a sign of Thornhill's immaturity (source). As he matures during the course of the film, Mrs. Thornhill will need to be replaced. And sure enough she's not shown again after Thornhill leaves New York. Once he's westward bound, it's all about Eve.

In this sense, the film's resolution is classically Oedipal. Only when he gets past his fixation with his mother can he have a successful relationship with another woman.