I did not think it was possible but I have found an Alfred Hitchcock film that I was not all that impressed with. I suppose there had to be one. We can't all be perfect. While the story has an excellent premise, I just did not find it terribly thrilling. Being a Hitchcock film I was expecting it to be more tense than it is. Part of the problem is that Hitchcock tells the story at a rather leisurely pace. I found it to be far too long and needed some more editing to make the story seem more tense. Despite that the film is quite well made and looks really impressive. I quite liked the premise and the way the story unfolds. Things are not explained as explicitly as they are today. Although I must admit that there was one major plot point that I missed. The film is very much a product of its time. You only need to look at the character of Roger Thornhill. In the 1950's a man could get away with being the way he is but I think now he would be considered strange and possibly gay.
I'm ashamed to say that I have not seem very many Cary Grant films but from what I've seen he is a very good leading man. Cary odes an excellent job here and he draws you into his plight so that you really come to care about what happens to him. Eva Marie Saint is very good. Her performance is very subtle but handles the verbal sparing with Cary nicely. James Mason does very little as well but still manages to exude a great deal of menace with his character. Martin Landau is also very good at what is effectively just a henchman role.
For me this is not one of Alfred Hitchcock's best films but it is still a lot better than many films released today.
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