North by North West

North by Northwest
The film North by North West is an American spy thriller written by Ernest Lehman and directed by Alfred Hitchcock. We see actors Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint and James Mason follow a story of mistaken identity and murder. Alfred Hitchcock managed to display the conventions of a thriller well in this film, as we are exposed to both the Enigma codes (Levi Strauss) and Binary opposites .. The main character Roger Thornhill (played by Cary Grant) experiences tribulations as he tries to find the people behind his kidnapping, framing and attempted murder.
On his adventure he finds himself meeting a seductive yet sinister woman in Eve Kendall (played by Eva Marie Saint) who he believes is trying to aid his escape from the police after he is framed for murder.



Roger
In this film, like many other thrillers Roger is presented to us as the underdog. In the beginning he has little understand of what is going on as he has been set up. We see him force fed alcohol, and ending up in a police station. In there, he tries to explain to them what has happened but they do not believe him, This leads to him to seek out the people that have set him up, alone. Whilst doing this, Roger finds himself being set up yet again, but this time for murder.

Roger and Eve
In North by Northwest we see Roger and Eve cross paths many times, by the first time was by far the most signifcant in the film. When they first met, we are left to think that Eve is a happy-go-lucky young woman, but find out she is a snake in the grass. In this scene we see the two main actors flirting, Each cut within this scene are long, at around 5-6 per edit we know that there isn't much going on, and there isn't a lot of tension. Also, in this scene we see Eva or Eve Kendall, deceiving Roger Thornhill, he is left to think that she is a genuine woman trying to help him, not knowing that she is working with the company that is trying to kill him. She manages to have his trust after he spent one night with her in her carriage, which let to her leading to a point where his attempted murder will happen. This scene fits in with conventions of a thriller because we see romance between two characters.

Roger starts to realise something isn't right about the where a bouts of the meeting place that Eva had set up for when no cars are stopping to meet with him. But by then its too late. Another man that was waiting for a bus across to Roger points out that the crop duster is spraying dead crops and before Roger knows it, it is flying towards him. The crop duster chases Roger around for a long time, firing the gun they have on board towards Roger in attempts to kill him. This is similar to many other thrillers because we see that Roger has 0 resources and experience in this type of situation, but he immediately is able to adapt and find a way to get rid of his enemy. in this scene he does this by stopping a truck which the plane flies into after chasing him. Crafty.

During the film, Roger and Eve's meetings havent been great ones, where they each end up with Roger almost being killed, but this time is different. In this gif we see Roger and Eva meeting again. We can see the sequential code being put to use here because of the action happening, and the quick short cuts. Also, as viewers we are left in suspense, thinking that she actually shot Roger and that he was going to die and that the film would be over, but of course its just acting. The short time that she spent with Roger left her with an emotional attachment, which is why she decides to go against the people that she is employed by and tries to help Roger get out of the confusion that he found himself in.