Why So Blu?

North By Northwest (65th Anniversary) (4K UHD Blu-ray Review)

Over my 5 years at whysoblu.com, you may have read about my love for legendary filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock.  Vertigo is in my Letterboxd top 4 and has a special place in my heart as one of the first films I ever watched to the point of analyzing it.  Among others include the usual suspects for the incredible auteur: Rear Window, The Birds, Notorious, Rebecca, Strangers on a Train and so many others.  And then there’s North By Northwest. A genre-hopping masterpiece, the film takes the viewer on an unexpectedly funny adventure that truly has kept people on their toes for 65 years. Celebrating that milestone this year and finally arriving on 4K UHD Blu-ray, read on to find out how the classic film fares on the best physical format!

Film:

Cary Grant stars as an innocent man mistaken for a spy in one of director Alfred Hitchcock’s greatest thrillers. While leaving New York’s Plaza Hotel, advertising executive Roger Thornhill (Grant) has the misfortune of raising his hand just as the name “George Kaplan” is paged–starting a lethal case of mistaken identity and a nonstop game of cat and mouse as he is pursued across North America by espionage agents trying to kill him–and by police who suspect him of murder.

When we first walk into Roger Thornhill’s life, we are made aware that he is incredibly busy, quick and witty.  He walks with his secretary while rapid firing to-do lists to her.  He goes for drinks with business clients and is called away by some men thinking he’s a George Kaplan.  Despite vehement denial of this, they take him from the restaurant and to a posh estate upstate.  After plying him with liquor to stage a car accident death, the baddies’ plan is not clear.

After a funny night in the drunk tank, Roger sets out to figure out just what’s going on and who George may be.  As he searches for clues in the UN building, a man, also George Kaplan, is murdered by an assassin throwing a knife.  After Roger foolishly puts his prints all over the knife as Kaplan falls to the ground, Roger flees the scene. He evades the police by running onto a train, sans ticket of course, and happens upon the illustrious Eve (Eva Marie Saint), who helps him keep a low profile on the train and who may be either planted there to help or to hurt Roger. Eve turns out to have some secrets of her own, when we learn of a man named Vandamm (James Mason), who is buying antiques, and whose henchmen were the ones who snatched Roger before all hell broke loose.  But why does he buy the antiques? And what does Eve have to do with Vandamm?

As all the action unfolds you go from state to state, going from New York to Chicago to Indiana, to South Dakota.  All this state hopping keeps things moving and add to some of the twists that take place.  Of course, this being a Hitchcock film with an iconic blonde and a MacGuffin, some things may take a while to add up to the total sum of its parts. We are led down a few tricky paths. A disappearing Eve confounds us until a bigger reveal later in the film, where Roger and Eve both declare affection for one another.  We also figure out what’s going on with Vandamm’s antiques.  For those that haven’t seen the film I will leave all those connections up to you to watch and find out yourself.

There are many joys of in big Hitchcock film like this. Big sweeping camera movements. Glorious widescreen vistas. A commanding Bernard Herrmann score.  Excuses for sexual innuendo abound! Oh, and who doesn’t love a wronged man plot?  Roger Thornhill is a kind, middle-aged guy just somehow caught up in a scheme he never would have a part in normally. Eve Kendall is sexy, sharp, and mysterious to a fault. You always know the two leads will fall for one another in a movie like this. It’s not ever in negotiation.  And of course, the big set pieces.  In this film, there are a few.  An assassination at the UN gives way to a brilliant shot of a miniature that has a man running to flee the police.  It never looked real but somehow it was and still is so striking.  There’s the infamous crop duster chase and shoot sequence too.  And we can’t forget the whole “let’s escape by scaling Mount Rushmore” climax.  These sequences are core memories for fans of classic cinema. We also can’t forget the immensely engaging Saul Bass title sequence that prefaces the movie. Ah, so much incredible imagery and sound.

Can you tell I love North By Northwest? I started my appreciation of this film by checking it out at my local library.  I watched it several times and then begrudgingly had to return the DVD.  I found myself going back for more checkouts of the same DVD over a year period. Each time I found something new to love about the film.  I finally found myself able to buy my own copy of the DVD at a Barnes and Noble (Still a great place to get your physical media, even if they’ve downsized their capacity for it), and happily paid the then bloated price tag for it.  When the film came to Blu-ray in 2009 it was one of my first Blu-ray purchases, and the picture quality really blew me away. By that time, I’d seen the movie at least a dozen times and knew it was restored once before for the DVD release.  They also gave the film a newly remixed multichannel soundtrack. It sounded and looked fabulous.  So now, how does this new 65^th anniversary 4K UHD Blu-ray fare? Get ready to smile, film fans!

See Brandon Peters’ Review of some other Hitchcock classics HERE

Video:

Encoding: HEVC / H.265

Resolution: 4K (2160p)

Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1

Layers: BD-100

HDR: HDR10

Clarity/Detail: Warner Bros. pulls out all the stops to give North By Northwest an excellent 4K UHD transfer.  Scanned at 13K (that’s a LOT of pixels!!) and finished at 6.5K, this downscaled 4K presentation is far and away one of the better 4K transfers I have seen this year. Keeping all filmic instances of the classic film intact, with no issues related to the new transfer whatsoever, this new iteration of North By Northwest is absolutely stunning. Boasting sharp textures, glorious colors and keeping grain intact, the film is a marvelous sight to behold in 4K

Depth: Depth of field reveals the texture of classic film.  The grain, the sharp focus in closeups and the deep focus of even the most faraway details looks fabulous here.

Black Levels: Black levels are excellent throughout.  Either in the night shots for scenes in the film or the blacks of clothing, there is no letup in excellent blacks throughout the duration of the film.

Color Reproduction: Colors in films from the 50’s are always brilliant, but the bright whites, deep blues, gorgeous sky colors…even the crop dust… it all pops!! I love the color palette of the film, and the HDR10 sheen added from HDR only makes it look even more beautiful.

Flesh Tones: Flesh tones look natural, with facial textures really coming through with the added clarity.

Noise/Artifacts: A nice natural grain field is present throughout.

Audio:

Audio Format(s): English Dolby Atmos, English Theatrical Mono DTS-HD MA 2.0 (split), Spanish Dolby Audio Mono, French Dolby Digital Mono, German Dolby Digital Mono, Italian Dolby Digital Mono

Subtitles:  English SDH, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Cantonese, Dutch, Korean, Simplified Mandarin

Dynamics: I was very curious to hear this new Atmos mix way back when we reported the release of this film earlier in the year.  The 5.1 mix was a treat for the music but had a few newly implanted sound effects that took away from the original intent of the soundtrack. No longer, the sound effects have gone back to what they were.  The atmospherics are subtle but fantastic, and better still, a full bodied, deep bass experience happens with the music. This is a commanding and lovely sound upgrade!

Height: Height channels are right on top of you for the crop duster scene, for the echo in buildings and interiors, the clatter of the trains that are prevalent in the film, and of course that bombastic big score. Orchestra horns are especially sharp in the height speakers.

Low-Frequency Extension: Bass pounds for the score.  The opening credits theme is a masterclass in using deep bass for a score.  The subwoofer does have more instances, such as an explosion at one point, but be advised, the music is the star of the show for those who like their movie soundtracks to bump.

Surround Sound Presentation: Surrounds are constant for ambience, vehicle noise, and background sounds.  There are instances at an auction, an echo filled cafeteria and on Mount Rushmore that add to the sounds that surround you.

Dialogue Reproduction: Dialogue is clear and sounds of its vintage, but never is it hard to hear.

Extras:

Extras for this new edition of North By Northwest are ports from previous releases save for one extra, detailed below.  The release comes in a standard 4K/digital code release with slipcover and a steelbook featuring poster art from 1959.  The discs are identical within.

NEW – North By Northwest: Cinematography, Score and The Art of the Edit: A new piece about the three pieces of the title.  Interviews with historians, scholars, and authors are featured here and they’ve provided some fresh insight to the classic film, in a brisk 23 minutes.

Destination Hitchcock: The Making of North By Northwest – A DVD Era piece with Eva Marie Saint starting us off.

Commentary by writer Ernest Lehman – Another oldie from the DVD, with the screenwriter of the film.

The Master’s Touch: Hitchcock’s Signature Style – A more in-depth feature from the 50^th anniversary Blu-ray.

North by Northwest: One for the Ages – Another gem from the 50^th Anniversary Blu-ray

A Guided Tour with Alfred Hitchcock – A classic trailer hosted by Alfred Hitchcock himself!

Summary:

North by Northwest is the type of film that people say “They don’t make ‘em like this anymore” about.  It’s true.  The film has a style, quick wits, fun asides, a quick pace despite the length, and some really incredible pieces of filmmaking within.  Alfred Hitchcock had many films that are considered masterpieces, but this one from his “Hollywood Hit” period is one that is always fondly remembered, which is how it should be.  Fans of the film will be more than pleased with this new edition, which features one new extra, a new glorious transfer and some really excellent new audio, and the vintage audio too! This is perfect for established Hitchcock heads and newcomers alike! More than highly recommended!

Buy your copy of North By Northwest HERE

Buy your copy of North By Northwest Steelbook HERE