Action-Packed

North by Northwest tells a great story in a traditional chronological narrative. No time travel, no flashbacks or flash-forwards—just one action-packed scene after another unfolding in the proper order.

But…how come in some scenes—like in Grand Central Station, in New York—Thornhill is supposed to be identifiable to everyone and has to wear a disguise, while in others—say, in the auction house in Chicago—he doesn't worry about disguises? Also, why would the agency rely on a fake decoy?

Hitch and his team didn't spend too much time worried about details like these. Nor did they bother to tie up every loose end. That's because Hitchcock, the master of the suspenseful plot, wasn't all that interested in plot. He was more interested in how he told the story than in the story itself. He was a visual artist who didn't rely on dialogue or exposition. As one blogger put it, "Nothing is ever mentioned about why Richard Thornhill has to make a cross-country run for his life—and honestly, who cares why. The fun is in watching Cary Grant getting in and out of one dangerous situation after another" (source).

Some viewers have complained about the way that the film favors action over exposition, excitement over narrative coherence. (Push too hard on any of the plot's details, and the whole thing will come tumbling down like Leonard from Mount Rushmore.) For others, though, the Hitchcockian principle of maximizing action and making the most of spectacle is exactly what makes North by Northwest a masterpiece.