****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
Fans of NXNW who have not seen this blu-ray version should DEFINITELY make the effort to do so. The clarity of the blu-ray picture and sound surpass the high standard already set by the excellent DVD version and more than justify buying this pioneering spy caper anew.NXNW is rightly acclaimed as a classic and most definitely still delivers as an engaging and fun relic of its time, abundant in 1959 elegance, style, droll wit, & class. In many ways this (and its Hitchcock/Cary Grant predecessor To Catch a Thief [Blu-ray]) were truly the first James Bond movies, as becomes glaringly apparent after even casual comparison. Sean Connery's Bond was monumental, but it's just hard to imagine how the entire Bond series would have fared without having the suave, debonair Cary Grant there to blaze the trail as "The Cat" John Robbie in "TCAT" and of course as Roger Thornhill in "NXNW".Now let's concede up front: you MUST disconnect your plausibility radar and just go along for the ride with NXNW and all its howling impossibilities. Let's not even dig into them too much EXCEPT TO suggest that if you're looking to bump off a rival spy, are you REALLY going to try to lure him onto a dusty Indiana highway and try to puree him with the propeller of a biplane? How does it happen that Thornhill (Grant) and the rival agents (James Mason, Martin Landau, Eva Marie Saint) all wind up on the 20th Century Limited after Thornhill goes on the lam from the UN? For that matter, how likely is it that Thornhill even gets OUT of the UN after getting framed for the murder there? --NEVER MIND! You simply have to surrender to the night-at-the-movies popcorn FUN of it, and enjoy the rollercoaster of thrills, chills, romance & spy intrigue Hitchcock serves up here. Sure, it's easy to chuckle at the stratospheric "suspension of disbelief" necessary to properly enjoy NXNW but really I think it's a deliberate part of the fun and not meant to stand up to serious scrutiny.Cary Grant, in his fourth and final outing with Hitchcock delivers a knockout performance as the Madison Avenue adman on the run Roger Thornhill. James Mason shines here also as the oh-so-elegant (but deadly) "enemy agent" Phillip Van Damme, with outstanding support from his menacing secretary Leonard, played with beady-eyed malice by Martin Landau. Eva Marie Saint obviously owns the role of Eve Kendall, glamorous double-agent torn between her duty to maintain her cover and her growing love for Roger, but I personally still can't fully "buy" Eva as a "femme fatale" as depicted in NXNW. No complaints about her performance--she's excellent, and again, her name goes into immortality for this role, BUT I still think another actress would have been more credible as the "morally flexible" Eve Kendall than Eva Marie was able to project. By her appearance and temperament, I think Eva was much better matched to her "good girl" roles, as in "On the Waterfront (Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]", which played to her strengths much more than NXNW would allow. Hitch already had two better qualified actresses "in his company" already in Ingrid Bergman ("Notorious [Blu-ray]") and obviously Grace Kelly ("To Catch a Thief"). STILL--I'm just offering my opinion here; Eva was great and more than nailed the part.As other reviewers affirm, in many ways "NXNW" was the pinnacle of Hitchcock's career. All the stars converged for this one; OUTSTANDING cast, script, cinematography, locations and all those intangibles necessary to create a CLASSIC which no one can deliberately conjure into being. Let me pay special tribute here to that high-style Frank Lloyd Wright/"Mid-Century Modern" style chateau all the principals converge on prior to their "face-off" grand finale on Mt Rushmore! If such a house doesn't actually exist, well, it should! I'm willing to cast my vote for NXNW as Hitchcock's greatest film, but I respect anyone who prefers "Vertigo" or "Psycho (1960)" or maybe even another. No one's personal favorite is ever "wrong".HOWEVER--here, in this luxuriant 50th Anniversary blu-ray, we're privileged to enjoy what may prove to be the BEST restoration & presentation of this classic movie EVER. The colors, picture and sound are all STUNNING and exceed the already high standard set by the previous DVD release of NXNW. I see this as an absolute "demo quality" blu-ray disc, a tour-de-force of what the format can deliver to re-ignite our appreciation of these old movies through OBSESSIVELY fastidious restoration and renewal. (Another knockout example of classic movie restoration that will scorch your eyeballs with its beauty: Pillow Talk (Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy).)Blu ray EXTRAS abound here as well, including a fascinating documentary on the life & career of Cary Grant; obviously relevant and well worth viewer's time & interest. The NXNW documentary hosted by Eva Marie is the same one provided on the original DVD, but it is likewise a worthy and a great bonus feature to enjoy after seeing the movie again. My only gripe is that the sole commentary track, by writer Ernest Lehman, while certainly worthy of inclusion, isn't enough by itself. A film of the stature of NXNW deserves one or more commentary tracks by some historians or directors who can offer insight into the historical context of the Cold War, Hitchcock's intentions/techniques, NXNW's influence on its times and later films, etc. Stay tuned to see whether a 4K "Special Sixtieth Anniversary Edition" doesn't hit the Amazon pre-orders in 2019 to pick our pockets anew!Until such a re-release appears on the horizon, THIS 50th Anniversary Edition certainly remains the ABSOLUTE "Gold Standard" for seeing and re-discovering the excellence and fun of NXNW. If you've never seen NXNW before, maybe watch a Netflix or Amazon download (or check out a DVD from your local library); established fans of NXNW however, MUST see this exquisite blu-ray reissue to be awed by just what the blu-ray format is capable of with a movie you THINK you've already fully experienced and appreciated.Finally: in a world overrun with movie kitsch and "Gone With The Wind" Barbies, and other assorted junk, there are only TWO movie props I would like to have for myself: FIRST (and most essential) the gold phone in the lobby of the Plaza Hotel Cary uses to call up to George Kaplan's room. Second (and something I WOULD actually wear), how about one of the "red caps", the scarlet cabbie-style hats scurrying in herds in the Chicago train station where Cary & EMS disembark from the 20th Century. WHERE can I find either (or both) of those for my personal "NXNW" appreciation shrine?
