North By Northwest

A quick note of something that Brenda pointed out a couple days ago is that earlier this week Sony bought M-G-M. I remembered that when the M-G-M lion came up on the screen as the movie started.

This is the first movie I've watched as a requirement for the university film class I'm taking. We were instructed to keep in mind the aspects of "story" while watching. I'm not entirely sure what my professor meant when she said that, if she wants up to be able to deconstruct the plot structure in to themes and symbols, identify wether it is Realist or formalist, or just be able to rehearse plot and character.

One of the great things about studying Hitchcock is that he is very methodical and deliberate, he doesn't throw in vast ammounts of unneeded detail. Characters that are unimportant are marginalized and only those who have some value to the progression of the story are given serious consideration in the frame of the camera. I think that this piece in particular is an excellent example of good storytelling becausee it progresses at an even pace, even going to the extent of putting each of it's three acts in a different physical location: New York, Chicago, and Grand Rapids, the cropduster being part of Chicago as Thornhill returns to Chicago after the attack. One of the things that I'd find interesting to consider a little bit more in depth would be the aspects of character development through a film. In the case of this film the characters are believable people. Even when double identities are revealed, they fit in suit with the character we know in a very instantly acceptable way. Which I suppose, as I think about it, is the only way to do things properly. In cases I can think of where the revelation is, perhaps, a little more jarring it is still believable, or at least acceptable, though it may take some conscious thought, ie. Fight Club or The Spanish Prisoner. But this isn't supposed to be a breakdown of character, but a breakdown of story. I guess I'm going to have to go home and review the reading for this week, as I read it two weeks ago. Ah well, I'm so hard done by.

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