This masterpiece works because it's both suspenseful and extremely funny.
North By Northwest, which Alfred Hitchcock made in 1959, just after Vertigo and just before Psycho, was one of the master's most popular films. Similar to his British successes, it's an elaborate chase film with Cary Grant as a smooth Madison Avenue man mistaken for an American secret service agent by a gang of spies led by the urbane James Mason. Caught in the middle is mystery woman Eva Maria Saint, whose attitude towards sex is teasingly candid. This stunningly made masterpiece works because it's both suspenseful and extremely funny – Hitchcock at his formidable best.
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