Ah, it’s Xmas which – apart from the mince pies, mistletoe and general merriment – means you can be guaranteed a lot of films over the festive period. There’s Santa Claus: The Movie, It’s A Wonderful Life, The Muppet Christmas Carol amongst countless others. Heck, there’s even Die Hard if you fancy a bit of action. But – let’s face it: all Xmas movies start to get a bit sickly and sweet. And, every so often you just get a bit sick of seeing yet another sleigh (iamagine how poor old Rudolph must feel eh?)
So thank your lucky (Xmas) stars for the Hyde Park Picture House as you will get a chance to see a brand new print of North By Northwest on the big screen on Tuesday 29th December and Wednesday 30th December. No big men going “Ho, ho, ho”. No scenes with elves. Just simply one of the greatest films ever made.
If you’ve never had the pleasure, then all you really need to know is that North By Northwest Alfred Hitchcock’s greatest film (I’ll see the Vertigo and Psycho supporters outside for a rumble later on). Cary Grant plays a feckless advertising executive who, after a case of mistaken identity, becomes embroiled in a plot involving double agents, the CIA and a mysterious individual named Lester Townsend. With action, suspense and romance the film is very much a ‘greatest hits of Hitchcock’ creating a heady cauldron of pure cinema. You’ve got breathtaking set pieces, such as the chase on Mount Rushmore or the legendary ‘Crop Dusting’ sequence. You’ve got Cary Grant being just about the coolest hero ever to grace the big screen. There’s Eva Marie Saint playing an icy blonde who hooks up with Grant in some of the sexiest scenes committed to celluloid. James Mason is a deliciously evil bad guy. Bernard Herrman’s score is brilliant. If you’ve never seen it, do yourself a favour and catch it at the Hyde Park Picture House. And, even if you’ve seen it countless times on the TV, this is a great opportunity to see the bright and shiny new print on the big screen and see it in all its glory. You can even look out for the little boy in the Mount Rushmore café (and if you don’t know what I am talking about, then you just need watch it again and you will discover a thing of joy in the background….)
The BFI have been kind enough to give a Culture Vulture an opportunity to win a poster of the re-released film (NB The poster on offer may look different from the one pictured in this article). So if you would like the chance to win it please head on down to the comments box and tell us more about your favourite Hitchcock movie cameo (and, of course, which movie it was in).
Please be sure to read our terms and conditions which you are deemed to have accepted by entering! Winners will be picked at random using random.org so why not give it a go! Closing date: 17th January 2010
COMPETITION NOW CLOSED – WINNER TO BE ANNOUNCED SHORTLY!
AND THE WINNER IS: Martin Grund! Congratulations – an email is winging its way to you now. Sorry there is no random.org image – have limited technology at the mo so you’ll ust have to trust us!
I really like Hitchcock’s cameo in Rear Window (about 45 mins into the film) where you can see him winding the clock in the songwriter’s apartment. Unlike his other cameos, which are for fun, this appearance seems more meaningful given that the film is about seeing the unexpected and catching people unawares. Who is the mysterious man winding the clock? Why is he there? Hitch’s appearance adds an air of mystery to the film, which it doesn’t in any of the others.
Favourite Hitchcock cameo is in the Birds, when he leaves the pet shop with two dogs on leads.
North by North West. Missing the Bus in the opening titles!
carry grant appeared in several hitchcock films
north by north west
suspicion and notorious
and my favorite to catch a thief on which hitchcock is sitting to the left of Cary Grant on the bus, the look carry grant gives him considering he’d previously been directed by Hitchcock says it all(oh no not you again)
My favourite is where he is seen wrestling a double base case onto a train on “Strangers on a Train”
Missing the Bus in North by Northwest
I always look forward to seeing him in his films. My Favorites
#1 To Catch a Thief
Staring straight ahead and sitting motionless to the left of John Robie (Cary Grant) in the rear-seat of a bus
#2 Lifeboat
In “before” and “after” pictures displayed in a newspaper ad for Reduco Obesity Slayer, a slimming ‘fat reduction’ product – a men’s corset, on the back side of a newspaper being read by Gus Smith (William Bendix) on the lifeboat.
#3 North by Northwest
At the end of the opening credits in a bustling NYC, missing a bus that slams its door in his face, anticipating a similar scene in the countryside near a cornfield when a bus door shuts on Roger O. Thornhill (Cary Grant).
#4 Dial M for Murder
On the left side of Tom’s class-reunion dinner photograph hung on the wall, turning back and looking up to his right, seated at a white table-clothed table; taken off the wall and shown to Captain Swan Lesgate (Anthony Dawson) by Tom Wendice (Ray Milland), who is across the table from Hitchcock in the photo.
To Catch a Thief
Sitting near Cary Grant on the bus and Gary Grant gives Alfred a funny look as if to say we have done this before
dial m for murder
Strangers on a Train with the double base case getting onto a train
Dial M for Murder
My favourite Alfred Hitchcock’s Movie Cameos must be from 1929 Blackmail in which a young scamp pulls his bowler over his ears on a tube carriage.
My favourite Alfred Alfred Hitchcock’s Movie Cameo must be from The Birds. In which Hitchcock is exiting a pet shop with two new terriers in tow, as Tippi Hedren passes in the opposite direction.
I love the cameo in ‘Lifeboat’ where Hitchcock appears in a newspaper advertisment. It’s so original.