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Posted on 10/18/2026 5:31:59 AM PDT by Rummyfan
There's a wonderful exchange between Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint in Alfred Hitchcock's final golden period masterpiece, North by Northwest. It was the last time the director would work with Grant, and the only appearance by Saint – who died this month at the age of 102 – in one of his pictures, playing a version of the "cool blonde" archetype that has embedded itself in Hitchcock's legend.
Grant plays Roger Thornhill, an advertising executive accused of murder and on the run thanks to a case of mistaken identity, and Saint plays Eve Kendall, the attractive young woman who has, for some unknown reason, helped him evade the authorities after he slipped aboard the 20th Century from New York to Chicago. They're sitting in the dining car together when she notices his monogram on a book of matches: "R.O.T." – a prop that will be crucial later in the movie.
"What does the 'O' stand for?" she asks him.
"Nothing," Thornhill replies.
It sums up so much about the film – a thriller full of wildly improbable and audacious action sequences built around an utter disregard for logic or plausibility. The film has been called an anthology of the best of Hitchcock so far in his career, an exercise in pure filmmaking, and a conspicuous middle finger from the director to everything that had held him back over three decades of filmmaking, including the production machinery of the studios and the censorship of the Production Code.
(Excerpt) Read more at steynonline.com ...
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Sunday morning retro movie review. It's a great flick!
"Nothing," Thornhill replies.
Supposedly this was a jab at David O. Selznick.
Yes, great Hitchcock suspense.
It’s a great film. I’m unimpressed by the article’s focus on the plot supposedly being “illogical”.
Good point that this was essentially a Bond film before Bond films.
Lars Thorwald (Raymond Burr) in Rear Window was also a jab at David O Selznick.
Selznick brought Hitchcock to Hollywood from Britain in 1939 and they produced Rebecca, Spellbound, and Notorious. Selznick was a restless, controlling micromanager who obsessed over scripts and details.
Hitchcock had Burr styled to look like a dead ringer for Selznick giving him the producer’s signature curly gray hair and glasses. Hitchcock personally coached Burr to smoke and move with Selznick’s exact physical ticks and telephone habits. The resemblance was an open secret in Hollywood serving as Hitchcock’s lasting revenge for years of micromanagement and creative friction during their turbulent partnership.
Tunnel scene at the alluded to sex. Amazing how many gay suggestions in his older flicks.
Except that the character Eve is quite icy and self-possessed. In my recollection, she doesn’t have the Bond girl vibe.
Back when movies were worth watching - unlike most movies today with their lefty messaging and moralizing, race and gender switching and casting trannies as heroes.
“(TRANNY) Hunter Schafer has been cast as a lead character in Blade Runner 2099, a Prime Video limited series.”
“Meryl Streep was cast the voice of (MALE) Aslan in director Greta Gerwig’s upcoming Netflix adaptation, ‘Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew.’”
I did watch it after Ms Saint’s passing. What a great flick. Lots of twists and turns. I didn’t have an idea what was going to happen next.
Greta is a proud atheist. She will produce a Narnia entirely unworthy of C.S. Lewis’ work. It will be borderline unrecognizable under the facade.
“Grant plays Roger Thornhill...”
I thought his name was Thornecroft...
Might watch it today.
Watched Young Frankenstein & Shadows and Fog yesterday.
Great movies as well
There’s a Norwegian indie film called “Mortal”. It has some good twists. Pagan theme, but a story that is unique without feeling the need to shove an agenda down your throat. It’s available on Prime Video.
What does the S stand for in Harry S. Truman?
Thanks!
I’ll look it up!
Glad this film has been released in a deluxe 4K edition, one of our favorites. In fact we just watched it again last night.
Interesting topic. DuckDuckGo found only two widely notable people with a single letter as their legal middle name.
Harry S. Truman - the 'S' representing each of his grandfathers, and
Ulysses S. Grant - West Point put that in his paperwork and he decided to keep it.
The jury's still out on what the initials of the author of "The Yellow River", I.P. Freely, represent.
The film somehow represents to me the peak of Western civilization. It has been all downhill from here.
In the restaurant scene, did you catch the little boy covering his ears before the gun was shot?
Leonard (played by Landau): "Call it my feminine intuition."
Regards,
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