Category: Alfred Hitchcock

"North by Northwest" (1959) ticks off a lot of Hitchcock’s favorite boxes: a Sexy Blonde; modes of transit (in spades); elaborate chase scenes; espionage; and a Wrong Man. And yet, it seems always to have lingered in the shadow of "Vertigo" (1958).

One thing that struck me the second time around was the arrangement of actors during the blackmail-over-breakfast scene, when Tracy attempts to squeeze Alice. It wasn't just that it looked familiar, but that the dynamic among the characters was familiar, too. It's an arrangement that's repeated in a few times in "Blackmail."