Destination Hitchcock: The Making of 'North by Northwest'

When watching a behind-the-scenes documentary on the making of any movie, one must wonder just how much the people in them really knew about the movie project. Oh, sure, actors know their parts and some of the interplay with others of the cast. And, directors and producers sometimes give overviews to the whole cast. But how much really, did these people know about the big picture? Aside from the director and producer, it's not very likely that others of the cast and crew knew that much beyond their specific jobs and roles.

That's why I enjoy watching these featurettes, especially on the making of classics or great films. Because they pull together different people who knew some of the pieces of the puzzle. And, the makers of the documentary did the research to get the information that we then get to see and hear. In this case, it's about the movie, "North by Northwest," and how it came about. It's also about the director and producer of the film, Alfred Hitchcock, his relationships with others in the business, and how they came up with the project and put it together.

As with others of this genre, we get some kudos of staff and cast for others with whom they worked. But I always look for the gems that one otherwise might not be able to find or hear about elsewhere. One such in this 40-minute documentary is how Hitchcock shot the scene outside the United Nations, and the fact that filming wasn't allowed of the U.N. building. Then, the information about the crew moving to the Black Hills of South Dakota to shoot around Mount Rushmore and the problems that ensued there with the National Park Service. One can understand the need for security and precautions in these places, but most people in an audience likely never give a thought to locale difficulties in shooting a film.

Eva Marie Saint does a fine job hosting this look back and behind the scenes. She has some interesting vignettes as well as an occasional personal aside. I appreciated Ernest Lehman's discussion of his long- time affiliation with Alfred Hitchcock, and their working relationship. Patricia Hitchcock was 30 years old when "North by Northwest" was made, so she surely would have known quite a lot of the details of her dad's work on the film. Robert Boyle and Martin Landau add to the background, and the film includes snippets from the movie and some background scenes.

With this documentary, I have even greater admiration for Hitchcock and gang for the main movie, especially the tremendous work on such sets as a replica of Mount Rushmore. It's hard to imagine that "North by Northwest" was made in 1959 on a budget of $3.1 million. This feature film is a fine backgrounder on the making of one of the all- time favorite movies.

"Destination Hitchcock: The Making of North by Northwest" is an interesting behind-the-scenes look at what went on during the production of this wonderful movie.

Hosted by Eva Marie Saint, the documentary contains interviews with Ernest Lehman, the writer, Patricia Hitchcock, the director's daughter, and Martin Landau, as well as plenty of anecdotes of Saint's.

Lehman goes into detail about how the movie was conceived, coming out of his failed attempts to write a script for "The Wreck of the Mary Deare" and his writing around two elements that Hitchcock wanted: a delegate dead at the UN and Mount Rushmore. The most amusing story is one told by Saint, of Hitchcock secretly filming Grant entering the UN from across the street.

The best part of the documentary for me were the on-the-set photos showing the cast clowning around and the director speaking with Grant, etc. Also Saint shows the faux pas of the little boy putting his hands over his ears before the gun goes off, adding, "Why of all the takes we did, that one was chosen, I'll never know."

The way Hitchock worked, i.e., planning to the last detail, has been discussed ad infinitum, but this was the first time I ever actually saw his sketches of the various scenes - he literally drew the entire movie scene by scene before sitting down to actually film it.

Entertaining, though alas, there are not enough people alive anymore to talk further about a great movie, "North by Northwest." Well worth seeing, though.

Any fan of this Alfred Hitchcock film should find this documentary narrated by Eva Marie Saint to be highly entertaining and informative about the behind-the-scenes data on the making of NORTH BY NORTHWEST.

Hitchcock's close association with writer Ernest Lehman explains why two of Hitch's ideas for a film gave Lehman the concept chosen for doing the screenplay of NBN. First ingredient: The United Nations with a diplomat making a speech; second, people scampering around Mount Rushmore for the climax.

Those set pieces, not to mention the cornfield scene, are given further details by Miss Saint who goes through the whole process of how scenes were storyboarded and then filmed pretty much the way Hitchcock had visualized them.

Apparently, it was a happy crew, with everyone enjoying their work on a Hitchcock film--even Martin Landau, who admitted being left out of a conversation when the director whispered directions to James Mason, Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint for the auction scene but failed to tell Landau anything. The director assured the upcoming actor that he was doing just fine and didn't need any special directions.

The film's popularity was assured from the moment it premiered at Radio City Music Hall and it has been an audience favorite (as Hitchcock intended) from the start, using a variety of elements that derive from all of his most popular movies.

Interesting tidbit: the role of Roger Thornhill had originally been planned for James Stewart until Hitchcock decided Cary Grant would be a better choice. And Cyd Charisse was originally suggested by MGM for the Eva Marie Saint role, but Hitchcock's preference for blonde female leads was obviously a decision that favored Miss Saint.

And as Miss Saint observes, it "wouldn't be the same film without Bernard Herrmann's brilliant score."

Eva Marie Saint introduces a recollection of the making of the film North By Northwest. Going through shooting and the film launch a small collection of those involved and family recall what Hitchcock was like and how the film was made.

Given that few of the original cast were involved (two) and outside of them we have the screen writer, the production designer and Hitchcock's daughter, I was quite wary of how good this would be. Indeed at times it is very weak – and seems to rely on Saint too much. However there is plenty of interesting material here and most of the stories.

Saint is an OK host but a couple of comments hint at more dirt that she lets on – she comments on the fact that the studio didn't give the cast their own headgear by saying `of course…..' and things like that. Pat Hitchcock is OK but really only has personal asides. Likewise Boyle, Lehman and Landau only have the odd bit of interesting information to tell. However Saint's narration has plenty of good anecdotes and keeps the interest easily.

Overall this manages to be interesting if not earth shattering despite the lack of interviewees available.

Destination Hitchcock: The Making of North By Northwest (2000)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Decent but overall disappointing look at the making of Alfred Hitchcock's 1959 classic with Cary Grant. Eva Marie Saint hosts this documentary, which features interviews with Pat Hitchcock, screenwriter Ernest Lehman, story-boarder Robert Boyle and Martin Landau. This is a rather unique documentary in terms of how it tells the story because what we basically get is a production diary as Saint narrates the order in which the film was shot. She starts off talking about stealing a shot at the United Nations and then they moved to Chicago where she joined the film and then on out West to South Dakota where the Mount Rushmore controversy started and caused them to move the rest of the production to California. All of this is interesting but there are several times where we're just told that the production moved and then we don't get anything else. There really doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to some of the stories that we're told and I think it has to do with them telling the stories as the film was shot. This was an interesting idea but I just don't think it paid off. There are still some fun stories including all the trick photography that had to be done on the crop dusting sequence and what Grant was paid when the film went over schedule. Landau offers up a nice story on something that happened when Grant talked to all the cast members except him and there's some nice footage from the film's premiere.