North by Northwest
Action! If there’s one word associated with cinema, the tension of movie sets, and the focus of attention, it’s this one. Action is very often at the heart of popular cinema: Harold Lloyd hanging from the clock hands in Safety Last! (1923), Cary Grant threatened and strafed by a plane in North by Northwest (1959), Franka Potente gasping for air in Run Lola Run (1998)... Westerns, swashbuckler films, martial arts or adventure flicks, thrillers, all these genres rely on action—sometimes frenetic, sometimes meticulously measured.
From movies by Sergei Eisenstein to Gilles Carle, from John Ford to John Boorman and Werner Herzog, via Paul Verhoeven, Kathryn Bigelow, Park Chan-wook, Érik Canuel, and Nicolas Winding Refn, this series will take you through the full range of emotions, from laughter to thrills, from fear to satisfaction.
Winner of the Silver Shell for Best Director for Alfred Hitchcock, 1959 San Sebastián Film Festival
Roger Thornhill, a talented and influential advertising executive, is mistaken for a man named Kaplan and kidnapped by criminals. He manages to escape, but is then hunted down, with the police also hot on his heels. A chase ensues across the United States: Thornhill searches for Kaplan while trying to shake off his pursuers. Another masterclass in pacing and suspense by Hitchcock!
Alfred Hitchcock
Born in a working-class suburb of London in 1899, Alfred Hitchcock began his career in the film industry as an intertitle designer. He then held various positions on set, including assistant director. He was given his first projects as a director by producer Michael Balcon, including the acclaimed The Lodger in 1927. Hitchcock then directed the first British talkie, Blackmail, which was a great success. The following films made him one of the most popular British directors of the time, appreciated even in the United States. Producer David O'Selznick invited him to Hollywood, where he directed, from Rebecca in 1940 to The Birds in 1963, from studio to studio, his most famous work. This American career was only interrupted by the war effort (Hitchcock participated as a director and editor) and by the last great success of the director, Frenzy, shot in Great Britain in 1971.
Bio & photo: Cinémathèque québécoise
