North by Northwest – Reflection
It’s not every day that an average advertising executive is mistaken for a secret agent and abducted, midafternoon, by nefarious henchmen, but that is exactly what happened to Roger Thornhill, played by Cary Grant, in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1959 box office hit, North by Northwest. Hitchcock teases audiences with suspense, mystery, romance, and even comedy in nearly every scene of this classic thriller. The mise en scene in this film takes the stage, from drunken car chases to scaling Mount Rushmore, Hitchcock and his team created excellence in every shot.
When Roger Thornhill is mistaken for George Kaplan, an enigma created by the CIA, he is abducted with death imminent. The abduction sequence begins with Thornhill squeezed between the henchmen in the back of a cab. The cab scene is unusually large. The men look huge and the tight quarters make the audience feel as if they are in the cab with the men. Every inch of the screen is filled with these three men.
The henchmen take Thornhill to an estate where he is forced to drink liquor and sent to die behind the wheel of a stolen car. Thornhill experiences several near misses during the car chase, viewers are certain he will kill himself, or someone else. Curves and cliffs build up the suspense. The audience is ready to go tumbling into the ocean with poor Thornhill. Eventually, the car chase ends in a wreck and Thornhill is taken to jail for drunk driving. Jail just happens to be the safest place for our dear protagonist, Mr. Thornhill.
One of the most notable scenes in North by Northwest is the crop duster scene. The mise-en scene is phenomenal. Roger Thornhill has nowhere to hide as he is chased by a crop duster plane into, and out of, a cornfield in the middle of nothing, Indiana. One-character standing by notes they are crop dusting where there are no crops. Movie goers feel a choke in their throats just as Thornhill does as he is dusted. The audience is in the moment with Roger Thornhill as he leaps to safety. The scene is so famous, it is said to be “one of the most emulated action sequences in Hollywood history.” (Onanuga)
While North by Northwest is considered an action thriller, the comedy cannot go unrecognized. Possibly one of the best scenes for suspense being overshadowed by the comedy is the auction sequence. Thornhill is trying to evade his evil followers, so he decides to get himself arrested by causing a scene in the auction house. He shouts out random bids that make no sense. The audience cannot help but laugh at his antics, despite his impending doom. He accomplishes getting arrested, leaving his followers behind once again.
The most daring scenes in Hitchcock’s North by Northwest take place on Mount Rushmore. Or do they? In fact, the team built a life size replica of Mount Rushmore from polaroid images taken by one of the screenwriters (Hitchcock’s). They built Mount Rushmore and a Frank-Loyd Wright ranch home for $50,000 (Hitchcock’s).
Whether audiences are seeking comedy, romance, or mystery/thriller, Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest has a scene that caters to every genre. In fact, it could be said that North by Northwest is a film made up of unique mise en scene that eventually tells a story. From the beginning credits to falling from Mount Rushmore into a newlywed train bunk, North by Northwest defies logic and reason and keeps its audiences on the edge of their seats.
Works Cited
“Hitchcock’s North by Northwest” WGBH Educational Foundation. pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/rushmore-hitchcock/. Accessed 8 April 2026.
Onanuga, Tola. “Why I love … North By Northwest’s crop-duster scene” The Guardian. 30 Sep
2013. theguardian.com/film/2013/sep/30/north-by-northwest-grant-hitchcock. Accessed 8 April 2026.
