North by Northwest Resources

It's all here: plot, analysis, trivia, and much more.

See why every critic on the site loved the film. What's not to like?

Our personal favorite site. This one wins the prize for cleverness: Hitchcock film plots told through emojis. Be sure to scroll down for North by Northwest.

Leading lady Eva Marie Saint dished some dirt not too long ago. For the salacious best of this interview, check out her comments on kissing Cary Grant.

GQ magazine pronounced Grant's classic—and classy—grey suit in North by Northwest "the best suit in film history."

This interview's only partly in French, so bear with the first few seconds. Hitch has illuminating things to say about how the crop-dusting sequence is "like a nightmare."

In this classic set of interviews—a foundational text in Hitchcock studies—the director shares thoughts about his whole career, including his work on North by Northwest.

Believe it or not, not everyone's thrilled about the influence that North by Northwest had on more recent action films. Here's why.

PBS has the total scoop on what happened when the director planned the climactic scene on Mount Rushmore.

Here's some of those "witty" and "sophisticated" comments again in the New York Times original review of the film in 1959.

An episode of Family Guy spoofs the film, including a plane chase sequence.

We're not aware of any books based on North by Northwest's original screenplay, but a book version of the screenplay is available, according to the always-helpful Hitchcock Wiki.

There's a whole lot on offer on this all-Hitchcock, all-the-time YouTube channel, including lots of trailers and teasers for all kinds of Hitch films.

Hitch had his own popular TV show beginning in 1955. Episodes don't feel much like North by Northwest, but it's interesting to know what else the Master of Suspense was up to when he was at work on his masterpiece of a spy film.

Someone at MGM came up with a great idea for North by Northwest's trailer: Hitchcock's a travel agent advertising a vacation package, and he leads the viewer on a tour of the destinations throughout the United States that Thornhill visits during the course of his adventures. In addition to being truly clever, the trailer's a reminder of the crucial importance of setting in this particular Hitchcock experience.

Here's a clip from North by Northwest's breathtaking and game-changing crop-duster scene. We can't get enough of it.

The iconic crop-duster scene re-imagined.

The master enjoyed talking about his work in interviews. Here's one of them.

In a new film, famous modern-day directors discuss how the 1967 book about the Hitchcock/Truffaut interviews affected their work.

Listen to a sampling of some of the film's most memorable musical themes here.

To us, this seems like a really tough assignment: re-editing the sound effects in NXNW's crop dusting sequence, with the original sounds removed. Would you be up to it?

The iconic French director idolized Hitchcock and sat down with him for a week in 1962 for a series of interviews that became a best-selling book. These are the tapes of the interviews, covering a wide range of topics in filmmaking.

Never underestimate what a little good old-fashioned visual analysis can do. This shot reveals the amazing fact that both stars in North by Northwest were lefties. Gotta love 'em.

Here's another still, this one used to advertise North by Northwest. The shot doesn't appear in the film itself, but entices viewers to pay the price of admission. And this particular shot is especially evocative, because it projects an image of the happiness—the marital bliss—that the film's famous last shot promises, but doesn't quite show.

Check out this link for a full set of lobby cards. As their name suggests, these publicity stills, smaller-scale posters, showed coming attractions in the lobbies of movie theaters way back when. Compared to today's film posters, they look hand-painted, and they're exquisite.

Roger and Eve on the monument.

Even Big Bird gets into the act in Follow That Bird.

Did you miss Hitchcock's cameo at the beginning of the film?

The director and the logo at dinner.

It has roped sleeveheads. What are roped sleeveheads??