Chapter 1: Fanciful Notions

“As a matter of fact, that’s how I knew that Cary Grant had died. Every channel on TV was showing that shot of Cary running away from the plane. It’s strange, isn’t it, that such a distinguished career should be remembered mostly for that one shot?”

          -Ernest Lehman (2000) on the Crop Dusting Scene in NORTH BY NORTHWEST

Screenwriter: North By Northwest and Family Plot

Good Evening….

This whole damn thing started with a visit to the police. You have probably heard the story: Young Alfred Hitchcock is sent to a police station and put in a jail cell for five minutes then released. Upon his release, the jailer reputedly said to young Hitch, “That’s what we do to naughty boys.”

Despite this story having been called into question in many retrospectives and interviews with family and collaborators, let us assume it is not just a tall tale. As a young Hitchcock sat in that jail cell for the child’s eternity of five minutes, do you suppose that the young man had a tiny sense of who he would want to be. Not who he would be, but wanted to be. If it didn’t happen in that cell, it certainly didn’t take too long for the young man to figure out in his head who he would want to be in the most ideal of circumstances. Only thirty-seven years had to pass. Then in 1941, he was able to see that idyllic notion in the form of Archibald Leach… oh wait, sorry… CARY GRANT (cue to his name in lights bursting off a marquee).

It is safe to say that Cary Grant is the ideal Hitchcock leading man. A man of mystery or unexpected talent or fine crafted skill that is packed to the brim with charm, wit, and a dash of menace to throw you off. Not all these elements necessarily boil together in the same pot, but many tend to overlap to legendary perfection.  While Jame Stewart is very much a more grounded and realistic counterpart to Hitchcock, Grant is expressly there to emulate how the director wishes he was and may even see himself at fleeting moments. It’s not an uncommon occurrence for a director to find a frequent collaborator that seems to mesh well with the director and/or his inner aspirations,  nor would Hitchcock be the first to grasp that mantle in history, and it is not the only leading man collaboration in his career that holds high value. Yet undeniably, when you speak of Hitchcock, Grant comes to mind almost immediately because the four films they made together are a perfect pairing of Director and Star. Two of those specifically have been high at the top of the list for those who I reached out to for the companion podcast: ‘To Catch A Thief’ and ‘North By Northwest’.  The other two, ‘Notorious’ and ‘Suspicion’, are among the most celebrated of Hitchcock’s work, and while Grant is not the sole linchpin in these films, he is an undoubted ingredient films require to achieve their legacy. While it would be fair to say that you could possibly have put Grant in Stewart’s place for ‘Rope’ (1948) , you could not say the same for Stewart taking Grants place in a film like ‘Notorious’ or ‘Suspicion’ and you especially could never put him ‘To Catch A Thief’ or ‘North By Northwest’.

From the moment they start their cinematic journey together in 1941’s ‘Suspicion’, it is clear that Grant’s charm and notoriety as a screwball comedy master filled with charm is about to go through the ultimate transformation under Hitchcock. The films secret weapon is Grants then established persona and it plays to full effect as he devilishly glides through the story of the love struck Joan Fontaine suspecting him capable of murder in the pursuit of her inheritance. If the film had played out as the original novel ‘Before The Fact’ had, it would have seen one of the darkest turns by Grant in his storied career. It may have even changed his route to much more varied roles. One thought that occurs with Grant’s performances, especially in ‘Suspicion”, is that he is always hiding something inside. It may be his troubled familial past, his difficulty in keeping his many marriages in tact, or even the general psychological trauma for which he suffered by the former two. Regardless of the psychological pinpoint, Grant always possessed something haunted about him.  Up until Hitchcock gets hold of him, Grants mysterious nature was tampered down to the idea of the carefree bachelor or the suave, sophisticated fella who has wise crack or two despite hiding a tender side. The psychological factor in those contain amounts of fear and vulnerability. In ‘Suspicion’, he highlights Grant’s darker aspects by playing directly into our perception of his on-screen persona. We are not expecting him to be as conniving and selfish as purports and we immediately tend to be overtaken by his charm which acts as a smokescreen. If it weren’t for the conveniently happy ending requested by RKO Pictures, the films original ending would have driven that point home further. One of the most darkly beautiful moments in the film involves Cary Grant carrying up a glass of milk to Lina (Fontaine), which we the audience and Lina suspect has been laced with poison. Its a scene that further twists the audiences expectations of Grants persona and the character we are dealing with. The original ending would have seen Lina deliberately drink the poison Johnnie (Grant) gives her in the glass of milk after sending a letter to her mother detailing Johnnie’s actions while also professing that she loves him too much to let him be caught. Either way, it puts Fontaine in a weird position where she is granted utter character disservice due to the time in which it was made and the ending we have gives Grant an idyllic result for what is otherwise a devilish and twisted turn. The beauty is that none it feels lacking, it really is all there to enjoy and extrapolate.

Grant and Hitchcock evolve that idea of twisting perception with ‘Notorious’ and refine it to a much more complex realm. Telling the story of a woman who is to extract information from a Nazi spy ring by seducing and marrying one of its higher ups, ‘Notorious’ puts on display a fascinating conundrum to put Grant in opposite the luminous Ingrid Bergman. Prior to her mission beginning, the film quickly gets Grant’s Devlin  and Bergman’s Alicia together after a series of incidents where they spit venom back and forth until the tension falls on them like a ton of lovely bricks. While ‘Notorious’ never asks us to believe as an audience that Devlin is not conflicted and emotionally wrung by Alicia’s choice to carry out the mission of seduction and eventual marriage. But because we are primarily in Alicia’s shoes throughout the film, we are drawn into her realm of trust. While our assumption lies in the fact that Grant will rescue her and leave the diabolical Sebastian (Claude Raines) to his doom (Spoiler Alert), the tension that Hitchcock weaves throughout in the matters of trust can put you through the shoes of not entirely trusting Devlin. Consequently, you can also look through Devlin’s eyes and not trust Alicia, albeit for superficial reasons that are abundant at the top of the film. From Alicia’s point of view, the audience sees a sophistication of that dark charm that ‘Suspicion’ held while also possessing a relatable trait in Grants performance that borders on Anti-Hero. It is not quite that, but has a slight bent in its direction. From Devlin’s point of view, Hitchcock plays on the audience’s knowledge of Grant once again by putting us in Grants position of his suspicions when it comes to Alicia. Hitchcock was smart enough to know that with Grant in the part, they would automatically be put back into the familiar trope where Grant is pursued and Grant, generally does not pursue. The flip in ‘Notorious’ is that Grant, unlike many times in his career, does pursue Alicia. It isn’t overt, but Devlin’s care for Alicia cannot be masked by mere swagger and charm alone.  Grant thusly, may have been able to tap into his own personal experiences to add this subtle touch with Hitchcock’s guidance. Hitchcock also knows to play up Grants romantic side in this film, simply because: That kiss on the balcony is one that (for this authors money) could only be achieved if you have Grant and Bergman involved.

The darker natures of Grant then flip to a much more familiar face when the 50’s roll around. In ‘To Catch A Thief’, Grant plays John Robie, a master cat burglar who earned a reprieve of his crimes after serving in the war effort and is settled in retirement until a copy-cat burglar emerges and puts Robie under suspicion. The film then briskly walks through Robie’s mission to clear his name and try to avoid the pursuant Frances Stevens (Grace Kelly) from stealing his heart (Tee Hee, cause he’s a Thief, but she’s gonna… never mind, I’m delirious with stupidity). ‘To Catch A Thief’ is a Hitchcock affair that is light on his signature elements. From story to visual it is much more a romp than expected with his name at the head of it all. That doesn’t mean there isn’t stuff to chew on in regards to Grant. While it would be wrong to say that this is an exact representation of what Hitchcock wants to be, it like ‘Notorious’ and ‘Suspicion’ have blended elements that are natural to Grant to use as a conduit for Hitchcock’s purposes. He’s charm machine who gets Grace Kelly at the end, that alone is an answer. Additionally though, we are seeing elements of the chase that Grant briskly walks through in way that almost no other Hitchcock leading man is allowed to do.  That’s purely because Hitchcock likes these characters and shows it. From Grant’s angle, he is able to directly use his previous skills as a Vaudevillian acrobat both as character background and stunt work during the films rooftop climax. Even when the film is not infused with copious Hitchcockian vibes, the connection between dream and reality is a tight bond that allows the collaboration to flourish.

The culmination of all this lies in the tale of an ad executive who has to clear his name of murder and espionage even if he has runaway from crop dusters, endure James Mason, and  hang off the side of Mount Rushmore to do it. ‘North By Northwest’ has been described as the “Ultimate Hitchcock Film” and to a large extent it is. It’s also the film where the Hitchcock/Grant hybrid is unified in near perfect sync. The films inherent concept and structure of  the unextraordinary man in an extraordinary situation is prime for this director to play around with his internal imagination and flights of fancy. Thanks to the three previous collaborations, Hitchcock fully knows how to utilize Grant to his liking and it additionally compliments Grant’s ability to draw from the persona and reality. Grant’s Richard Thornhill is a man who has not grown up and is unable to handle the smaller details of his journey in addition to the broader ones within the spy plot. Upon nearly being killed in a car wreck and getting forcibly drunk at the hands of henchman Martin Landau, he lands in prison and the first call he makes is to his mother. While it is unrealistic to try and connect a thread to his own past familial trauma, it is interesting that Hitchcock is able to place his overbearing Mother trope into the film with the help of the genius Jessie Royce Landis, who is easily the best Hitchcock mother character in this and ‘To Catch A Thief’. The more solid thought though is that Grant is able to draw upon his own instability that is covered by the charm filled persona. In a sense, this fantastical world of impossible espionage and danger contains a realistic performance. Real in its portrayal and real in its devotion to the dream-mold Hitchcock blesses Grant with. And of course it delves right back into playing with the trope of Grant as the pursued rather than pursuer of Eva Marie Saint. While Saint does pursue him, Grant has to chase her more often than not to connect the dots of his predicament. In essence, Hitchcock and Screenwriter Ernest Lehman have broken almost entirely with the Grant tradition to suit this mold that Hitchcock plays with on most pictures. ‘North By Northwest’ is by and large the film that people remember the duo for above all else and it is not hard to see why when you see the aspirations of two men put thusly on the screen.

With all four of their collaborations  you see two trains stopping side by side at the same station that are able to work together on their brief stays, the desire of Grant to dig deeper and the desire of Hitchcock to dream bigger. Not every Hitchcock/Actor relationship would be this positive and prosperous (as we will discuss later in the series), but this is one that helps cement the simple reasons we still go to the movies. After all: haven’t you ever dream about getting caught up in spy caper and traveling the  country with a sense of adventure and danger and getting to defeat the bad guy at the end?

As the film ‘Suspicion’ begins the four film collaboration with a train in a tunnel before the light reveals Grant on screen across from Fontaine, ‘North by Northwest’ ends with Grant pulling Saint up to the upper berth as the train slyly goes into a tunnel. A cheeky bookend to a legendary run on celluloid.

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Till the next article… Good Night.