North by Northwest: Hitchcock’s funniest, most ambitious film
Imagine: you’re a handsome and relatively successful ad man in idyllic 50s New York,You’re having a delicious mid-afternoon snack in the lobby of the Plaza hotel, which presumably cost all of $2,50, when suddenly you are abducted in broad daylight at gunpoint by two polite and well-dressed men,You don’t put up a fight,You merely walk with them to their car, trying to object in the only way you know how: asking nicely for them to stop.
The kidnappers are gleeful; they’ve finally captured you, George Kaplan.That’s not your name, you exclaim, you’re Roger Thornhill! They must have the wrong man!Thus begins Hitchcock’s funniest, most ridiculous and visually ambitious film, North by Northwest.All the hallmarks of a Hitchcock classic are here: Cary Grant as the leading man, a completely inexplicable MacGuffin (who is George Kaplan anyway? And more importantly, does anyone even care?), a director cameo, a mysterious and beautiful blonde (the darling and charming Eva Marie Saint), and a 20-minute opening so overstuffed with dialogue that you kind of tune out but it’s fine because once the inciting incident happens, you can’t look away.It’s so Hitchcockian that it borders on parody.Released in 1959 and coming in hot after Hitchcock’s most famous Technicolor nailbiters (including Rear Window and Vertigo, heard of them?), North by Northwest is clearly the work of a film-maker who already knows his success is pre-ordained.
He can go absurd, so why not? There is absolutely no reason Cary Grant, painted in three coats of fake tan as always, should be free climbing Mount Rushmore, dodging bullets from Lincoln’s giant rocky nose after being chased around the US by an underground anti-government movement,Grant as Thornhill is one of the most underrated comedic performances of the 20th century,Every single character he meets in this film is very clearly working to screw him over, yet he remains surprised at every turn,He is like a bronzed Homer Simpson in a well-tailored suit, blindly walking into every trap and then believing he can merely talk his way out of it,You want to shake him by the shoulders and scream: CARY, WAKE UP!Despite being made in the thick of Hollywood’s conservative Hays Code, North by Northwest is hornier than any modern blockbuster.
Grant and Saint can barely keep their hands off each other in their shared train carriage, and the film ends with an infamous shot of a steam train racing full steam ahead into a snug and innuendo-heavy tunnel,It’s hard to imagine anything as erotic in a Marvel film,In one of the film’s most storied scenes, Grant flees from an aeroplane in an epic chase through a cornfield,Out of context, it seems random and illogical,In context, it still makes no sense.
Why wouldn’t the villains just shoot him? Why concoct a plan to try to mow him down with a plane in the middle of nowhere? And that is the core thesis of the film.There is no reason other than it looks fabulous on screen, and that’s why Hitchcock is the master.As long as it looks gorgeous and the stakes are high, reason can be shoehorned into anything.Just as Grant dusts himself off after each life-or-death struggle and immediately emerges ready to trust again, it’s impossible not to enter every absurd scene in North by Northwest with blind wonder and intrigue.Over and over and over again.
North by Northwest is streaming on HBO Max in Australia and available to rent in the UK and the US.For more recommendations of what to stream in Australia, click here
Starmer pleads for government to unite in fightback after difficult week
Keir Starmer has warned senior ministers and officials to stop briefing against one another and leaking details of the budget as he pleaded for his embattled government to unite.The prime minister told his weekly cabinet meeting that last week’s political turmoil had distracted from voters’ priorities, and ministers needed to work together and start delivering rather than talking about the government itself.His warning came after a turbulent week during which his government was engulfed by accusations of briefing against the health secretary, Wes Streeting, and reports of a major pre-budget U-turn.The prime minister’s spokesperson said on Tuesday: “He said distractions meant our focus shifted from where it mattered most, working every day in the service of the British people.“The prime minister said next week’s budget would prioritise rebuilding the economy, showing what the government stands for
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It is the hectoring tone, the “jeering quality”, in Nigel Farage’s voice today that brings it all back for Peter Ettedgui. “He would sidle up to me and growl: ‘Hitler was right,’ or ‘Gas them,’ sometimes adding a long hiss to simulate the sound of the gas showers,” Ettedgui says of his experience of being in a class with Farage at Dulwich college in south London.Ettedgui, 61, is a Bafta- and Emmy-winning director and producer whose credits include Kinky Boots, McQueen and Super/Man: the Christopher Reeve Story.Back then he was a 13-year-old boy at a loss as to how to handle what he describes as a sudden and inexplicable intrusion of antisemitism in his life.This is the first time Ettedgui has spoken in such detail of his alleged experiences, but he is not the only one
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Most potential Reform UK voters would back a one-off wealth tax on the very rich, polling suggests, with about three-quarters supporting windfall taxes on energy companies and banks.The figures, compiled by the Best for Britain thinktank ahead of next week’s budget, indicate that Nigel Farage might be out of step with many of his supporters.Farage has consistently pushed back against the idea of a wealth tax, arguing that higher earners and other rich people should not be targeted in case it makes them more likely to leave the UK.And while Farage is often critical of big business, the only plan for a windfall tax set out by Reform so far involves targeting renewable energy companies.According to a survey of more than 3,000 people who are considering voting for Reform, carried out by YouGov, 61% would support a one-off tax on UK households with net wealth above £10m
Reform would ‘cut benefits for EU nationals and hike NHS immigration surcharge’
A Reform UK government would block EU nationals from receiving universal credit, a move that would rip up the post-Brexit trade deal with Europe and risk potential retaliation from Brussels.It is among several proposals that will be announced by Nigel Farage at a press conference on Tuesday. The party claims its measures would save £25bn a year in total – enough to cover the supposed shortfall faced by Rachel Reeves in next week’s budget.Other proposed cost savings would involve cutting overseas aid to a maximum of £1bn a year – a 90% reduction from the current level of 0.3% of national income – and almost tripling the NHS surcharge paid by non-UK residents
Reform MP invites Mahmood to join his party, saying he ‘welcomes’ and ‘recognises’ her rhetoric – as it happened
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Shabana Mahmood puts the signs up: Britain is full. No blacks, no dogs, no Irish
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The Running Man to David Hockney: your complete entertainment guide to the week ahead