SHAKESPEARE

Synopsis

Feature film. A spy thriller taking it’s name from Hamlet’s line ‘I am but mad north-north-west’ (II ii). New York advertising executive Roger Thornhill (Grant) is kidnapped by a gang of spies led by Phillip Vandamm, who believe Thornhill is CIA agent George Kaplan. Thornhill escapes, but must find Kaplan in order to clear himself of a murder it is believed he committed. Following Kaplan to Chicago as a fugitive from justice, Thornhill meets a sympathetic but suspicious woman, Eve (Saint), on a transcontinent express train. Lured to a bleak prairie he is chased across a cornfield by a crop-dusting plane. Thornhill survives and later finds Eve and Vandamm together at an auction sale. The showdown involves a scramble across the giant sculptured features of Thomas Jefferson on Mount Rushmore. Some will argue that the connection to Shakespeare’s play is purely titular, but others have seen more significant parallels (see note on Stanley Cavell’s essay).

Language

English

Country

United States

Medium

Film

Technical information

Colour / Sound

Year of release

1959

Duration

136 mins; 12,256 feet

Credits

Director

Alfred Hitchcock

Producer

Alfred Hitchcock

Cinematographer

Robert Burks

Screenplay

Ernest Lehman

Music

Bernard Herrman

Cast

Cary Grant	Roger Thornhill
Eva Marie Saint	Eve Kendall
James Mason	Phillip Vandamm
Leo G. Carroll	Professor

Additional Details

Production type

Fiction Films

Plays

Hamlet

Keywords

Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)

Notes

General

Stanley Cavell, writer on film and Professor of Philosopy at Harvard University, has argued in his book Themes Out of School: Effect and Causes (San Francisco: North Point Press, 1984) that the Hamlet significance goes far beyond the titular. An excerpt from Cavell’s essay can be read by visiting http://www.uchicago.edu/research/jnl-crit-inq/issues/v7/v7n4.cavell.html

Production Company

Name

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Distributor (Sale)

Name

Retail outlets