North By Northwest

Track Listing

01 - Overture (2:14)

02 - The Streets (outtake) (1:03)

03 - It's A Most Unusual Day (1:08)

04 - Kidnapped (2:15)

05 - The Door (0:52)

06 - Cheers (0:41)

07 - The Wilde Ride (2:49)

08 - Car Crash (0:21)

09 - The Return (0:25)

10 - Two Dollars (0:47)

11 - Rosalie (1:32)

12 - In the Still of the Night (2:23)

13 - The Elevator (0:45)
14 - The U.N. (1:01)

15 - Information Desk (0:50)

16 - The Knife (0:48)

17 - Fashion Show (5:19)

18 - Interlude (1:15)
19 - Detectives (0:28)
20 - Conversation Piece (3:03)
21 - Duo (1:09)
22 - The Station (0:53)
23 - The Phone Booth (1:14)
24 - Farewell (0:45)
25 - The Crash (0:53)
26 - Hotel Lobby (outtake) (1:21)
27 - The Reunion (0:51)
28 - Goodbye (0:54)

29 - The Question (0:46)

30 - The Pad & Pencil (1:03)

31 - The Auction (1:06)

32 - The Police (0:26)

33 - The Airport (0:58)

34 - The Cafeteria (1:14)

35 - The Shooting (1:06)

36 - The Forest (1:22)

37 - Flight (0:19)

38 - The Ledge (1:09)

39 - The House (3:11)

40 - The Balcony (0:44)

41 - The Match Box (1:59)

42 - The Message (0:21)

43 - The T.V. (0:40)

44 - The Airplane (0:58)

45 - The Gates (0:47)

46 - The Stone Faces (1:31)

47 - The Ridge (2:00)

48 - On The Rocks (2:23)

49 - The Cliff (1:37)

50 - Finale (0:46)

Orchestrated and Conducted by Bernard Herrmann

Performed by the M-G-M Studio Orchestra

Produced by Marilee Bradford and Bradley Flanagan

Released by Rhino Records on June 20th, 1995

Total Running Time: 64:49

I have a special affinity for Alfred Hitchcock. His films are truly classics of the American cinema, a special irony given that Hitchcock was British. His knack for suspense, twists, and even action are unparalleled. He began what would turn into the “slasher” genre with Psycho. And even at his worst, his movies are still eminently watchable. But one of the main reasons I feel such an affinity for the acclaimed director is that I was born on his birthday in the year that he died. Make of that what you will.

North by Northwest is a very successful thriller that Hitchcock made in 1959. It was an interesting take on what is essentially a political thriller (albeit with a leading character who is pretty much a nobody) in that it sports some of film’s all-time greatest action sequences (the crop-duster and the chase on Mount Rushmore being the most iconic). While the visuals sport the ever present Hitchcock flair, the presence of Bernard Herrmann, having been teamed up with Hitchcock for only four years (and four films) by this time, was just as crucial to the success of the film in the auditory spectrum.

Herrmann’s scores have the tendency to push the envelope in what kind of power an orchestral score can achieve. Nowhere is this more evident than in the "Overture" for North by Northwest. A heroically dark piece, the Overture hits the tone of the whole film right from the beginning. The rumbling drums, the ominous brass, and the dizzying string performances all come together to make a quick statement on what the viewer is about to witness on screen, just like a great opening cue should do. It’s no wonder that this piece can be found on countless compilation albums and is performed in so many film concerts worldwide. If Hitchcock films have any signature pieces, it would be this one along with the theme from Psycho. No two other pieces in Herrmann’s career have made such a lasting impression on the public at large.

It’s both a blessing and a curse that the Overture has made such an impression. And they are both for the same reason. Herrmann gets a lot of mileage out of it incorporating it into various cues throughout the run of the score. There are lots of references, sometimes to the whole piece, and other times to just different sections. It is rare for it to be repeated verbatim, which is nice, but by the end you’ll either be hooked on the piece completely worn out from it. It’s sort of in the same vein that John Barry repeats his main themes, but done with more variety here. Also of note is the love theme, a piece that is not touched on at all in the Overture (for obvious reasons). Its first appearance is in track eighteen ("Interlude"), and just like the Overture, Herrmann uses it to great (and constant) effect whenever the situation calls for it. Thankfully, the love theme encounters its own brand of variations along the way as well.

But North by Northwest, having previously described it as a sort of political thriller with action sequences, also has very interesting cues in this regard. It’s always nice to go back to the days when scores had to put forth their adrenaline rushes without resorting to backbeats and/or electronic effects. Herrmann does it well here with his orchestra, and these cues (with "The Knife", "The Crash", and "The Cliff" being the standouts) all go towards demonstrating how thrilling his score is for this film.

But between the Overture, the love theme, and the action sequences, Herrmann really keeps the music together with his tension building moments. It would be easy to just forgo everything but key sequences in the film and score the rest generically, but North by Northwest is a score that melds in so well as a whole that you can sit down to listen to it, and before you know it, you’re at the end. There are no sections that are left unloved by Herrmann’s compositions, and there is always that reference to the main themes that keeps the score consistent. The breaks in the flow come about through the source and outtake cues. These pieces are dated and fall completely outside of the mold of the film that their appearance is aggravating. Necessary for the album being complete, and I wouldn’t have it any other way, but they still remain as tracks to be programmed out.

This release by Rhino is a generally stellar treatment for such a grand, classic score. As I alluded to only a few sentences ago in another paragraph, this is the complete score, along with source and outtake cues. The quality is stellar for a film this old, and while the DVD release of the film sports a score-only track, it’s already here on album for your listening enjoyment. My only complaint would be that the hefty liner note booklet is mostly filled with a blow-by-blow description of the movie, with indications as to what sequence each cue represents. Nice for some, but I would have preferred more behind-the-scenes information or actual cue descriptions.

In summation, North by Northwest is one of the greatest scores by one of the greatest composers who has ever worked in the American film industry. And this excellent handling of the material on album should be had by any serious film score aficionado.