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39 Steps and North by Northwest Many people share the same point of view: spy movies belong to genre that has an integral right for existence. Sticky atmosphere of suspense make your blood still and chill you to the bone The genre is a mere adrenaline pumping. Why do people continue watching Hitchcock's spy movies? What power forces them to hold their breath trying to guess what will happen next? People watch movies belonging to this genre to take a rest from sweet and dull reality, to get a portion of adrenaline they will never get in a real life. Such films are the rescue from dull life, boring job and failures in personal life.
However, the rescue comes only when the film is really interesting and exciting. To tell the truth, I wouldnt call any of modern films really belonging to so-called art of suspense. All talented movies remain in the past. So lets advert to the past to dwell on two brilliant examples of classic films produced by Alfred Hitchcock: 39 Steps and North by Northwest. If you take life and cut all excessive parts out, you will get the films produced by Alfred Hitchcock.
Last century we were charmed by Dickens and Conan Doyle, this century is known for its new heroes. Alfred Hitchcock is a bright representative of cinematographic art. He is known as the maestro of horror productions. From time to time modern movie theatres invite the viewers for retrospective of Alfred Hitchcock. We can even celebrate a certain jubilee of his absence. Hitchcock's last film was produced more than twenty five years ago.
In Hitchcock's times he was often treated like a typical example of a bourgeois mass culture, an immoral maestro of horror and suspense. The thing amateurs often called horror was rather an intense stress, exertion, a nerve-strain that had to be present in any properly made film. Such nerve-strain was an internal mainspring of the films like 39 Steps and North by Northwest. To tell the truth, you will never find any scene of demonstrated violence in Hitchcock's films, with the exception of a shadow with the knife in Psycho. The probable explanation is that the British producer came to the United States and had to obey so-called Haynes codex the set of regulations and standards that included prohibitions for the demonstration of direct violence, prohibition of unconcealed erotic scenes, and prohibition of alcohol. There was a strict system of banned episodes.
There is an impression that probably because of those prohibitions Hitchcock became Hitchcock because he had to realize his skills within the limits of strict standards. Alfred Hitchcock had to create his films notwithstanding, regardless of but not due to those standards. All we call standards, rules, regulations, limitations, the rules of the game belongs to style. Remember Confucian art tradition in China, according to which an artist feels himself free when he is in a shell, where he can create his works by his own will but obeying the rules of style. Yet, recurring to Alfred Hitchcock and his films 39 Steps and North by Northwest, we have to examine the development of the cinematographic art through the prism of his comprehension of reality. To Hitchcock's time, there was a silent cinema.
During Hitchcock's time there was a down of a sound. Alfred Hitchcock started to work in early 20 s during the decline of a silent cinema. Maestro was luckily born in a definite chronologic context. It seems he filled up all lacking parts of cinematographic attributes by his creative works: starting with the genres where he became a founder and finishing with cinematographic constructions and techniques that became merely instructive manuals. When we see Hitchcock's 39 steps and North by Northwest we do not feel a thrill of sanctity.
The reason is that we already quite familiar with these techniques and style of action because of the films made by John Carpenter, de Palma, Spielberg, etc. At the same time, Hitchcock was not only the outstanding stylist, master of cinematographic shape, but also the maestro of suspense and spring-like action. I would like to cite one of his favourite sayings. He enjoyed saying that cinema is the life where somebody cut off all dull. Hitchcock turned out to be an ideally harmonic artist, who was successful in amusing and entertaining and, at the same time he managed to search for and to find solutions for the most important questions of human relations.
The cinema was split in two parts after Hitchcock's death: mass cinema and amateur, author, elitist cinema. Alfred Hitchcock managed to combine and balance the two. Lets take two films, 39 steps and North by Northwest. These films do not exemplify horror films. They are bright examples of the films full of suspense, spy, race and adventures.
Both of them are full of dialogues. Yet, the viewer will not find any sign of vulgarity or platitude. You will find no stamped and standard word combination. These films can be called a hymn to cinematograph. Besides, there is also a formal task.
We can see a silent cinema parallel to a sound cinema. 39 steps and North by Northwest are often compared to each other. Although the plotting is not the same, the scheme is quite similar. The heroes of both films are innocent people who are accused of murders. Both main heroes are pursued by police. Both of them are involved in spy efforts to get access to secret information out of the country. Both male heroes (Cary Grant in North by Northwest and Robert Donat in 39 Steps) meet beautiful women (Eva Marie Saint in North by Northwest and Madeleine Carrol in 39 Steps) as they move across the country (from New York City to Mount Rushmore and from London to the Scottish moors respectively). 39 Steps can be called the exceptionally British, whereas North by Northwest is more American. 39 Steps is influenced by Russian and German film producers to a great extent, whereas North by Northwest is more Hitchcocki an.
Both 39 steps and North by Northwest film effects seem very natural. Yet, just compare them to the modern color films with broken up heads, throats cut and dismembered body parts. Modern mass viewer gets used to such pictures. The scientists worked out the formula that allows defining a perfect film of action. This formula combines elements of realism, gore and suspense, plus shock value, to measure how talented a film is and according to it, 39 steps can be called a classical perfect movie.
Why is 39 steps so interesting and attractive for millions of people with different tastes and predilections? This film definitely cuts through all the typical films like a red-poker through a human eye. 39 Steps lets the viewer to not only feel the psychosis and violence of the heroes, but appreciate the seeds from which the suspense originates. 39 Steps (1935) enjoyed great success. Both critics and viewers liked the film very much. An easy adaptation of the novel John Buchan embraced not only suspense but also attractive entertaining romance and comic episodes that served as a perfect method to intensify the atmosphere of suspense and fear.
The exciting scenario had many unbelievable events. According to Hitchcock's interview by Frances Trufault, Hitchcock was more interested in the way to intensify emotions than in realism and logical consequence of the plot of 39 Steps. The materiality of Hitchcock's fantasy makes us feel the adrenaline pump. The fantastic details in 39 Steps become so realistic that it seems you can touch them.
The unreal events are not only deeply involved into Hitchcock's reality but the reality under his artistic interpretation gains fantastic features. Lets revert to the plotting of The 39 Steps. Richard Hannay, a citizen of Canada, goes to a London Theater to watch Mr. Memory, a man with a photographic memory. He watches the demonstration by Wylie Watson when a fight takes place and somebody starts to shoot.
People start to panic and Richard Hannay finds himself near a beautiful lady, Annabelle Smith. Annabelle explains him that she is a spy and she is pursued by killers who have the task to assassinate her. Annabelle tells to him that she managed to uncover a plot by people who wanted to steal the secrets of British militaries. Among other details, Annabelle whispers to him that the head of the secret spy organization 30 Steps is the man who misses one of his fingers. The next morning a Canadian wakes up and finds a woman dead, killed by his knife.
He escapes from the house pretending that he is a milkman and leaves for Scotland by train. There, In Scotland, Richard Hannay decides to find a person without a finger. In train, Richard Hannay discovers that police is trying to catch him and that the policemen are on his trail. Accidentally he enters a compartment and finds there a lady, Pamela. He kisses Pamela to escape the pursuit. However, the girl manages to release herself from his embrace and betrays him to policemen.
The man has nothing to do but to jump from train onto the Forth Rail Bridge. Richard Hannay spends a night in the family of farmers. The farmer gives Hannay his Sunday coat and the farmers wife explains him where he has to go. In that house Hannay finds a person he looks for, Professor Jordan, who tries to shoot him. Jordan is sure that he killed Hannay and leaves the house. Fortunately, the bullet didnt reach its aim as the farmers prayer-book becomes an obstacle on the bullets way and Hannay remains alive.
He goes to the policemen and tries to explain the story. The policemen dont believe in fantastic story as they are quite familiar to Jordan. Hannay has nothing to do but to jump through the window and to escape. Thats the way a mad race continues Hitchcock depicts and skillfully embodies psychological and emotional experiences in a striking manner. In 39 Steps he resolves the problem both formally and stylistically: Hitchcock managed to give the idea of a spy movie with brilliant stylization, where psychological constructions are mixed together.
The film tries to express life using compound sharp-cut episodes and the analysis of emotional nuances. Hitchcock's 39 Steps is really impressing and interesting. It seems that this film is a strange horror-narration, as far as a lot of producers prefer making classic melodramatic films with happy-end. Hitchcock doesnt describe the realistic effects only to win the interest of the viewer. He tries to arouse the new attitude towards his films and attempts to focus attention on more documented narration that create the element of reliability in combination with deep psychoanalysis and realistic retrospective. All these features create the compound genre of suspense and its stylistic unity. 39 Steps proves that Alfred Hitchcock doesnt make dull and united films.
Everything he creates is full of drama, emotions and feelings. North by Northwest (1959), in contrast to 39 Steps is not a simple spy film. It is a spy comedy, that had great influence on modern cinematograph in general and James Bond movies in particular. Due to its influence on future Agent 007 films, North by Northwest belongs to one of the most famous classical spy comedy films that defined the basis of Hitchcock's glory and public recognition. This film is a fruit of imagination, embodied in a comedy manner. The plotting is quite similar to 39 Steps, with few differences.
Roger O. Thornhill (a Madison Avenue advertising executive) is erroneously taken for George Kaplan, a government agent who never existed. Roger O. Thornhill has to escape in order to survive.
He is pursued by members of organization who want to assassin him as they are afraid that he will uncover their plans. He was caught by two people at Plaza Hotel (New York). Those people take him to Lester Townsend's house, where he speaks to a person who introduces himself as Townsend. That man, in reality, is not Lester Townsend but Philip Vandamms. Roger O.
Thornhill tries to explain that there was a mistake and says that he is not the agent and his name is not George Kaplan. Vandamms orders his people to kill Thornhill as he doesnt believe him. Vandamm's people force Thornhill to drink a large quantity of whiskey and throw him to a car. Vandamm's people consider that when police will find Thornhill in a stolen car, they understand that there was a car accident but not the murder.
Thornhill manages to survive in an accident and is arrested by police and further is accused of drunk driving. Thornhill tries to prove that somebody kidnapped him and forced him to drink bourbon. They do not believe Thornhill, especially as they get information that Townsend is a diplomat at the UNO. The only way to prove that he is not guilty is to find a real George Kaplan. Thornhill asks his mother to help him and comes back to Plaza Hotel.
There, in the room where George Kaplan stopped before, Thornhill finds a small photograph of a person who, probably, is that Townsend. Again, Thornhill has to escape the pursuit. He goes to the General Assembly building where Townsend was supposed to be. Thornhill finds Townsend and discovers that Townsend is not the man Thornhill spoke to in Lester Townsend's house. To find what is going on, Thornhill shows the photo of the man to Townsend.
At the same time, one of Vandamm's people strikes Thornhill with knife and leaves the body to Thornhill who automatically takes the knife from the body of a victim. A photographer accidentally passes by and takes a photo of Thornhill, victim and a knife in Thornhill's hand. Again, Thornhill is forced to run towards new adventures. North by Northwest is the adventure of Hitchcock's creative fantasy, allegory of constant dramatic voyage to the unknown world that lies beyond the everyday empirical experience of emotional-psychological dimension. Due to thoroughly chosen system of detailed depiction Hitchcock formulated the principles of cinematograph in a manner of suspense-intensifying experience. The visual style of North by Northwest (1959) is vivid and thrilling.
The film is full of emotions. Each phrase is chosen thoroughly to create a special impression on the viewer. Visual style is a bit gloomy; however, the film episodes have bright hues and flesh tones. Although Hitchcock decided to limit his thematic diapason with the genre of suspense melodramatic films and disappointed some of critics by lack of seriousness or interest to some important social problems, Hitchcock can be undoubtedly related to a number of extremely talented producers. A perfect master of technique, a stylist with unmistakable personal popularity, the greatest artist in visualization cinematographic style, Alfred Hitchcock can not be called simple a Maestro of Suspense. It is not necessary to share a kind of adoration from the side of French critics belonging to the New Age generation who examine Hitchcock only as the explorer of metaphysical fears.
Hitchcock's art is superior to all definitions.
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Research essay sample on 39 Steps And North By Northwest
