North by Northwest, a fast-moving 1959 thriller, is widely regarded as one of the best films of director Alfred Hitchcock (1899–1980). It contains several of the usual Hitchcock film-making touches, but "the Master" never did them better than in this movie. North by Northwest contains an innocent man accused and on the run, a cool and mysterious blonde, and a mysterious object (called by Hitchcock in interviews "the MacGuffin") that all the major characters strive to acquire. It also features one of Hitchcock's best casts: Cary Grant (1904–1986; see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2), Eva Marie Saint (1924–), James Mason (1909–1984), and Martin Landau (1931–), among others.

Advertising executive Roger Thornhill (Grant) is mistaken by thugs for an American intelligence agent named George Kaplan and abducted. He is taken to the home of Philip Vandamm (Mason), master spy in the service of a foreign power. Vandamm ignores...