"Luck had nothing to do with it. I tipped the steward $5 to seat you here."
Posted on 09/22/2019 6:40:23 AM PDT by Twotone
This year marks the 60th anniversary of the release of North by Northwest. Here's what Mark had to say about this classic film a few years ago:
Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest contains what I think of as the all-time great strangers-on-a-train scene, and one I always recall if I'm in the dining car of an at least potentially exotic choo-choo - the Eurostar, say - and a glamorous femme comes sashaying down the aisle, even if she does park herself at some other guy's table. In a lifetime's travel, everyone should have a North by Northwest moment: on a famous train, the Twentieth Century Limited to Chicago, Cary Grant walks into a crowded dining car and is seated opposite Eva Marie Saint, the coolest of cool blondes. The conversation starts out quietly smouldering and heats up from there:
He: The moment I meet an attractive woman, I have to start pretending I have no desire to make love to her.
She: What makes you think you have to conceal it?
He: She might find the idea objectionable.
She: Then again, she might not...
(Excerpt) Read more at steynonline.com ...
“How does a girl like you get to be a girl like you?”
Note: Cary Grant was 25 years older than Grace Kelly, his lover/nemesis in the movie, while he was 8 years younger than his “mother”, played by Jessie Royce Landis.
Yes. Once again, we men are lucky.
You might be thinking of “To Catch a Thief”.
A cougar tried to pick up on my son on a Trans Canadian Rail trip.
The disadvantage is that on a train if someone you DO NOT WANT takes a fancy to you, it’s difficult to avoid them.
Other than that the trip was wonderful, the scenery (where there is some, there are parts that make Kansas look mountainous) is stunning, the people at the stops are wonderful, and the on-train staff was flawless.
I like "Silver Streak" even better, though, it's hilarious.
"Luck had nothing to do with it. I tipped the steward $5 to seat you here."
I will never forget the night my husband and I saw the movie. We had just moved all day into a new house and were really tired . We decided to go get a bite to eat and see a movie to relax. HA! I will never forget that crop duster coming straight for us! Great movie.
During Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint’s conversation in the dining car, the script had her say, “I never make love on an empty stomach.”
This was considered too saucy for a respectable movie, and was re-dubbed to “I never discuss love on an empty stomach.”
If you watch her mouth closely, what she actually said was, “I never make love on an empty stomach.”
SHOOTING TOOK LONGER THAN EXPECTED, BUT THE NOTORIOUSLY FRUGAL CARY GRANT DIDN’T MIND.
That’s because in addition to his $450,000 salary ($3.7 million in 2016 dollars) and a share of the profits,
Grant was paid $5000 (adjusted for inflation: $41,000) per day for every day the production ran over schedule.
And it ran way over schedule: shooting hadn’t even begun yet when Grant’s seven weeks were up and the daily bonuses started kicking in.
This lasted for 78 days, or $390,000 worth (adjusted for inflation: $3.2 million).
“...even if she does park herself at some other guy’s table.”
That was standard practice on railroad diners...they had only so many tables, after all. Business connections, friendships, and even marriages were started that way through the decades.
A classic.
Sounds like a dream trip.
It was.
I have no experience with present day practice but do with American and European of 30ish years ago and that was certainly true then. Its really surprising some of the people one bumps in to on a train. (I really think everyone should experience it and don't believe the stories I hear as to why its not more profitable in the US but that's a discussion for another time maybe.)
On one of my adventures I got on the train late just before departure. I was in Germany and there was no bus-like coach that we have here in the US. There each person sat in a small room somewhat similar to what is sometimes portrayed in old west movies, six people on two couches in a room with a window separated from the hall by a sliding door. I was the sixth and last passenger to get permission to sit in that room. There was one of the two hauptbahnhofmeisters (railroad big fig newton), a famous soccer star from somewhere in South America (I didn't pay attention to a famous participant in a girls game, he wasn't from Brazil), the soccer players "famous" model girlfriend (don't know who she was, just as ugly in the same ways as most famous models), a "medical student" and iirc a "teacher" (both of which I was suspicious of as they were apparently both very accomplished polyglots), and me an American military man with a clearance (also using a cover story, as a prep cook in a semi-famous restaurant). The "medical student" did most of the translation for those of us assembled.
Things were pretty normal at first and we were having a great conversation about anything you can imagine (as translated by the medical student). The hauptbahnhofmeister decided we weren't having enough fun and started ordering drinks for all of us in great quantities. All of us in no way connected just having a great time...well, until the bahnhofmeister got up and started inspecting operations and things got a bit more serious. Somewhere along the line he apparently felt it was necessary off to disrobe from the waist down to better inspect the trains operation and greet guests in a more friendly fashion.
I really enjoyed that trip anyway and will never forget it but I think someone owes me some kind of hush money...
Nothing like riding in a German train and some guy decides to show you his schnitzel.
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