‘North by Northwest' celebrates 50th with Blu-ray, DVD formats

HOLLYWOOD — Who can forget those images — Cary Grant on a deserted highway being chased by a crop-dusting plane? Grant and Eva Marie Saint scampering over the president's noses on Mount Rushmore as they are pursued by a group of nefarious spies?

Then there's the pulsating score by Bernard Herrmann, one of the great screen composer's most evocative works.

In fact, Alfred Hitchcock's romantic thriller “North by Northwest” is so viscerally entertaining, it's hard to believe the classic is celebrating its 50th anniversary.

Warner Home Video on Tuesday released a 50th-anniversary edition of the film on Blu-ray and DVD.

Penned by Ernest Lehman, “North by Northwest” stars Grant as a “Mad Men” type (even Don Draper didn't look that good in a suit) who is mistaken for an international spy. He finds himself being chased by some truly bad guys (played by James Mason and Martin Landau) and the authorities, who believe he committed a murder. Saint is on hand as the cool blond love interest.

Landau, who won an Oscar playing Bela Lugosi in 1994's “Ed Wood,” appeared in “North by Northwest” as the henchman Leonard.

Hitchcock had seen him on opening night in Los Angeles in Paddy Chayefsky's play “Middle of the Night,” in which he played a macho musician.

“The next thing I knew, I got a call saying Mr. Hitchcock wanted to meet with me at MGM,” Landau says. “He greeted me nicely and took me on a tour of several offices because he had all the storyboards on the walls.”

Although Hitchcock was quoted as saying directors should treat actors like cattle, Saint and Landau say that wasn't true. But Hitchcock did live up to his reputation as a perfectionist. “The dresses, the jewels, every hair on my head he examined before he did the scene,” Saint said.

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