The Similarities Between Hitchcock’s Films and North by Northwest

North by Northwest is similar to many of Alfred Hitchcock’s other films. Like most of Hitchcock’s films, North By Northwest is a thriller and has a male protagonist that is seemingly in distress. For example in Read Window Lisa is the one that is put in danger but we do not see her distress, we see how much Jeffries suffers when Lisa is in distress. In North by Northwest Hitchcock uses this with Eve and Roger. Eve is the one that is put in the main part of the danger but she does not seem as worried about it as Roger does. Hitchcock uses this to show male suffering.

            Some minor things that pop up in Hitchcock’s films are cameos, idiotic cops, and meetings on public transportation. Hitchcock always has cameos in his films, most are so slight that if you are not paying attention you will miss him. Idiotic cops relate all the way back to a childhood problem that Hitchcock was involved in. These cops never see the true act of crime when it happens like in Blackmail when Alice is getting attacked and she has to kill the painter. Also the cops always seem to not realize what is going on at all, this is just a way for Hitchcock to show his dislike for cops. Many of the character meet on public transportation, trains and busses. Roger meets Eve on a train just like the characters in Shadow of a Doubt and The 39 Steps.

            The last thing that Hitchcock uses that I see in a lot of his movies is the stress on the ending male and female’s relationship. In the majority of his movies the ending couple relationship is somehow strained or put in a negative light. In North by Northwest at the end, Roger and Eve are more happily together than most of the other characters in his other movies. Eve though points out that marriages are not meant to last and Roger even is a good example since he has two ex-wives. In Blackmail Alice’s relationship ends up being strained with Frank at the end because of her ordeal. They are shown not separating from holding hands. In another movie at the end the two main characters are shown walking off screen holding hands but the male is shown with a pair of handcuffs on. The handcuffs stand for how the male will be tied down in his relationship with the female.