North by northwest is a 1959 thriller which shows a hapless New York advertisement executive who is mistaken by for a government agent who is pursued across the country while he looks to find ways of surviving.
The many fast paced action scenes show us that this film is a good example of a thriller. The plain scene creates tension as we are waiting to see who is going to meet Thornhill. As all the cars go by more and more tension builds. Thornhill starts to talk to one of the people waiting for the bus who suggest that a plane is crop dusting where no crops are growing. The plane then flies towards Thornhill following him through the crops and finally crashes into an oil tanker. Thornhill then steals a near by vehicle to escape from the scene. Tension is built in this scene as we are unsure of what is going to happen to Thornhill.
Thornhill is a resourceful hero as he uses sensible ways of out running the police and the villains. In the train scene he hides in the toilets when ticket inspectors and police are looking for him and steals a guard’s clothes to escape the train without being identified. Suspense is built up in this scene as we are unsure how he is going to escape the police on an enclosed train where it seems impossible to hide, but Thornhill along with Miss Kendall find places where he can hide. The fast pace scene where they quickly leave the restaurant helps to build up this suspense.
The red herring that is used in this film is that at first we think that Miss Kendall is just a women helping Thornhill escape the police, however we then think that Miss Kendall is one of the villains and is helping them to get Thornhill. We later find out that she is working for the government and is spying on the villains
A macguffin is a plot element that catches the viewers attention at the beginning of the film and drives to plot on. Major players in the story are willing to sacrifice anything to get to it despite the macguffin. The macguffin in this film is the tapes.
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