North by Northwest

A corn field - 'North by Northwest'

Our late founder John Tunstill poses as a highly passable Cary Grant in a corn field - South by Southeast.

The opening credits, created by graphic designer Saul Bass and underlaid with the rousing score by Bernard Herrmann, fades over into the reflective glass facade of the office building Park Avenue 430, owned by the Bank of Montreal, followed by various street scenes in mid-town Manhattan.

Unable to attain the required height, Seth Belson settles from a ground level shot.

Office Workers leave their desks and head home. Discovered by Ron Glenister to be the doors at 393 Seventh Avenue, currently known as 11 Pennsylvania Plaza, in New York 10001.

Busy scenes fill the start of this production. The 53rd Street entrance to the subway in front of 673 Fifth Avenue as detailed on the NYC in Film website.

At the corner of 5th Avenue and West 42nd Street, where the view towards the New York Public Library is covered by the passing over bus of the Surface Transportation System, a Mack 45-DT type, delivered between 1948 and 1954.

Seth Belson reveals what's behind the bus.

At the West Side of Grand Central Terminal, located at 89 East 42nd Street in New York.

A brighter Grand Central captured by Seth Belson.

Two Women fight over a cab. If you have seen 1961's 'Breakfast at Tiffany’s' then you know we are at the corner of West 57th Street and Fifth Avenue. Behind the 1955 built Dodge Coronet taxicab the Bergdorf Goodman Building from 1928 can be recognised.

Looking northwards across the intersection of Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street.

The Master of Suspense misses his bus in this cameo on Madison Avenue between 44th Street and 45th Street, as No 2930 of Fifth Avenue Coach Lines, a General Motors TDH-4509 type from 1949, pulls away in front of his nose.

Seth Belson returned to the bus stop to find a number of changes.

After leaving his workplace at C.I.T. Financial Corporation, 650 Madison Avenue, advertising executive Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant) and his secretary Maggie (Doreen Lang) make their way to the Plaza hotel.

At Maggie's request, Thornhill grabs a cab without further ado opposite the corner with East 60th Street, while pretending the stunned customer next to the 1958 built Ford Custom 300 taxicab, that "I have a very sick woman here. You don't mind, do you? Thank you very much."

Thornhill gets out the cab at the side entrance of the Plaza Hotel, West 59th Street, sending Maggie back to the office. The Century apartment building from 1931 can be guessed behind the greenery of Central Park on the top right.

Entering the hotel, Thornhill walks along the Plaza lobby on the way to the Oak Room for his business lunch.

Believing he is George Kaplan, two of Vandamm's Henchmen kidnap Thornhill in the hotel lobby and force their perplexed victim into a waiting car on West 59th Street.

From Long Island's Old Westbury Road the 1958 built Cadillac Fleetwood 75 turns onto the access lane for the Townsend estate.

Looking from inside the car the Townsend mansion comes into view for Thornhill. But in reality we see the grounds of Old Westbury Gardens.

The car reaches the manor house, built from 1903 to 1906. This Hitchcock movie was the first feature film shot at Old Westbury Gardens, followed by Love Story' (1970), 'Arthur' (1981), 'The Age of Innocence' (1993), 'Cruel Intentions' (1999), 'Hitch' (2005) and others.

This is Old Westbury Gardens as it appeared when captured by Hamilton McMurray in September 2017 . . . no one forced bourbon on him during the visit!

Somewhere on the coastal road from Long Island, Vandamm's henchmen are dragging the rolling drunk Thornhill to the brand new Mercedes-Benz 220 SE Cabriolet.

But even looking in the opposite direction does not look very similar to the North Shore of Long Island. Presumed to have been filmed on the M-G-M studio back lot in Culver City by using matte painting and rear projection from the California coast.

After the drunk driving trial, Thornhill returns to the Townsend estate together with his mother and some Nassau County Police detectives to prove that Vandamm wanted to kill him. The almost new Ford Fairlane 500 stops by the front door of the manor, located at 71 Old Westbury Road, Old Westbury, Long Island, New York.

Later, our hero manages to shake off Vandamm's two bloodhounds for the time being, for which he snatches the already waiting 1957 Ford Custom Fordor cab from under the noses of the perplexed couple.

Thornhill now knows that Lester Townsend works for the United Nations and he let be chauffeured there. The view towards the U.N. headquarters, situated between First Avenue and East River. The location appears in 'Percy's Progress' and 'The Statue'.

Unfortunately Rachel Bolton-King wasn't able to get in the correct position for an accurate shot due to new buildings and access requirements.

Thornhill climbs the the steps towards the General Assembly Building. By the way, because of missing authority permission Cary Grant was filmed hidden from the inside of a parked delivery van.

However, Vandamm's killers are already on his trail. While Valerian (Adam Williams) hooks up to Thornhill, Licht (Robert Ellenstein) is supposed to wait on 47th Street. The back projection behind looks south down First Avenue showing the smokestacks of the then Con Ed power plant with the Tudor City apartment complex on the top right.

Rachel Bolton-King returned to the location.

When Thornhill shows a photo with Vandamm to Lester Townsend, the U.N. delegate is ambushed by Valerian. When he collapses, fatally hit, Thornhill reflexively reaches for the stiletto in Townsend's back. Also the Delegates Lounge in the Conference Building with the behind matte painting of the Queensboro Bridge was completely reconstructed on the M-G-M sound stages at Culver City.

The Professor (Leo G. Carroll) as Head of the U.S. counter-intelligence briefs the meeting participants about the events at the U.N. It reveals to the audience what the ominous George Kaplan is all about. A very artificial perspective from the obviously Culver City sound stage towards the western facade of the Capitol in Washington D.C., because in reality the government bureau buildings are located in the southern periphery alongside Independence Avenue .

Later at the main concourse of the monumental Grand Central Terminal. New York Central Railroad executives ensure that the police keep an eye out for fugitive Thornhill aka George Kaplan.

Paul Riddell returned to Grand Central station to find that little has changed.

After informs his mother that he wants to take the overnight train for Chicago, Roger tries to get a sleeper ticket for train 25. However, the clerk from counter 15 secretly alarms the police, but Thornhill got wind of it and disappears. 'Superman', 'The Fisher King', 'Unbreakable', 'Men in Black', 'I Am Legend' and several others also spent time here.

Grand Central station 64 years later, captured by Paul Riddell.

So without ticket Roger makes his way to track 36, blowing past the gatekeeper with a cockamamie excuse about seeing some friends off.

Thornhill hurries onto the iconic red carpet along the Pullman 4-4-2 sleeper NYC 10006 "Imperial State". Actually filmed by using the blunt-end Pullman 10-6 sleeper SP 9053 or 9054 from Southern Pacific train 11/12 "Cascade", built in 1950 and also painted in two-tone gray. So we have the evidence, that this sequence was not made in the Grand Central Terminal, but in the M-G-M backlot 2 at Culver City.

The "20th Century Limited" on the so called Water Level Route along the Hudson River between New York City and Albany, NY, just passing by the then J.C. Turner Lumber Co. at Irvington, NY. The entire dialogue scene, like the other interior shots, was by means of rear projection, which was, however, made in daylight on location.

A look through the window of the dining car shows the Tappan Zee Bridge, inaugurated in 1955, in the distance, while Eve Kendall (Eva Marie Saint) means to Thornhill: "I never make love on an empty stomach". But this line has been dubbed over.

Thanks to the opened Dutch door of the observation lounge car, we have a great view along the 16-cars consist, while train 25 continues into the sunset in the long curve near the tiny Fish Island. The Bear Mountain ridge can be seen in the distance on the west bank of the Hudson River.

The streamliner reaches the south portal of the Breakneck Ridge Tunnel, situated north of Cold Spring, a village in the town of Philipstown, NY.

Arrival in Chicago's LaSalle Street Station reveals, that since a change from electric to diesel traction in Croton-Harmon, NY, the NYC engine E8A 4044, built in 1951 by General Motors at La Grange, IL, had been at the head of the "20th Century Limited".

Wearing the uniform of a porter he bribed earlier, Thornhill leaves the train together with Eve Kendall. On the right edge the still existing Printers Building is partially visible, but at that time located at Sherman Street.

When the two Detectives from the New York State Police come towards them, the real sleeping car NYC 10006 "Imperial State" also comes into view. Built in 1939 by Pullman-Standard, the carriage with four single compartments, four double bedrooms and two drawing rooms was later sold to the Illinois Central and finally scrapped by Luria Brothers & Co. in 1970.

LaSalle Street Station by the end of the tracks. At that time it was quite dark inside the train shed. Actually there is the shadow of a doubt, because the "bulldog nose" in the "lightning stripe" scheme looks like a mock up of the New York Central E8A-unit in Capture 38, which obviously standing partly outside of the train shed roof.

Looks like the original train concourse in LaSalle Street Station with the platform gates to the right, from where the police detectives are rushing in to look for Thornhill, who must look like a porter.

Undoubtly the main waiting room in LaSalle Street Station, where Eva Marie Saint is on her way to see Cary Grant for send him to the middle of nowhere. There are some pretty details to see, like the train arrival board above the information bureau, which schedules some Rocket services by the Chicago & Rock Island and a long-distance train from New York (Hoboken) by the Nickel Plate Road. The then structures and facilities of the terminus station disappeared when it was demolished in 1981.

A Greyhound Scenicruiser of GMC type PD 4501 for Indianapolis leaves our hero behind at the remote bus stop on U.S. Highway 41 somewhere in the endless prairie of Indiana at the gates of Chicago, Illinois. According to Production Designer Robert Doyle, the establishing shot was taken from a tall crane, combined with matte painting for covering a town (and a mountain range) visible in the far distance. The visible lagoon is part of what was once the largest freshwater wetland complex in the western United States.

Not only Thornhill glances very sceptical, albeit for different reasons. Because the inaccurate bus stop sign makes us suspicious. Reportedly, this prelude to one of the most famous sequences in Cinema History was filmed in California's Central Valley. While the now Corcoran Road stands in for Highway 41, Cary Grant waits at the intersection with later Garces Highway, 30 kilometres west of Delano, Kern County.

Garces Highway, on Route 155, and Corcoran Road sent in by Mike del Gaudio.

Meanwhile, like Thornhill, a Stranger (Malcolm Atterbury), having been dropped off in a car, seems to be waiting for somebody. So Roger crosses the road to speak to him. But of course the laconic answering local doesn't know any George Kaplan and is just waiting for his bus. After the 1950 Flxible VisiCoach leaves together with the local, Roger is now also wondering about the crop duster plane, which has been spraying fields that have already been harvested in the background for some time.

As soon as the bus is out of sight, the N3N biplane, built by the Naval Aircraft Factory in Philadelphia and flight by crop duster pilot Bob Coe from Wasco, attacks Thornhill in zero altitude flying. Although Roger is running for his life, he cannot shake off the aircraft that is now firing at him with a machine gun, supposedly by Vandamm's henchman Licht. The inconspicuous dirt road was later expanded as access lane to the now Kern National Wildlife Refuge.

So Thornhill hides in the nearby corn field (in fact made by corn stalks "planted" by Wasco High students). When he notices an approaching gasoline tanker and tries desperately to force the truck to stop. Despite the emergency braking, Roger is knocked over by the Magnum Oil truck, whereupon the low-flying biplane uncontrollably collides with the trailer and goes up in flames. The terrific crash was apparently made on the M-G-M sound stages by using scale models.

As soon as Thornhill has made a little distance between himself and the 1951 White-Freightliner WF-64, the trailer already explodes. By the way, according to an interview with Hitchcock's daughter Patricia, she revealed that her husband was working for the Magnum Oil Company at the time of filming.

Back to the "Windy City" at dusk, the police find the abandoned Dodge Pick up, that Thornhill has "borrowed" by one of the drivers, who had stopped because of the Oil truck inferno. Shot on the southern corner of East Congress Plaza Drive with East Ida B. Wells Drive. While in the centre background one of the two Equestrian Indians (the Spearman) is visible, the skyline along South Michigan Avenue shows the following buildings from left to right: Auditorium Building (part of Roosevelt University), Studebaker Building, Chicago Club building, Metropolitan Tower, Santa Fe Building, Chicago Orchestra Hall, Borg-Warner Building (brand new at the time), Peoples Gas Building, Willoughby Tower, Mather Tower, Carbide & Carbon Building, Wrigley Building, 333 North Michigan building and the almost new Prudential Building (with the red neon sign).

About 3.5 kilometres northwards in the Gold Coast district, Thornhill crosses East Goethe Street to reach the Ambassador East hotel, located at the corner with North State Parkway and East Goethe Street in Chicago, Illinois and, at that time, famous for the Pump Room club.

On his way to the Shaw & Oppenheim Galleries Roger gets out the Checker Taxicab at the Michigan Avenue Bridge (now DuSable Bridge). Looking south towards North Michigan Avenue the mighty silhouettes of Prudential Building (in the left distance), 333 North Michigan building, Carbide & Carbon Building (in the centre distance), London Guarantee Building (with Mather Tower behind) and 35 East Wacker Drive building (in the right distance) can be recognized.

After the turmoil caused by Thornhill during the auction, where Vandamm had bid for a small Pre-Columbian statue, filled with the "MacGuffin", he was arrested by the police, but then chauffeured to the airport at the behest of The Professor. So the new Ford Custom 300 patrol car arrives at Chicago Midway Airport, situated in the south-west of the city and then still one of the busiest airports of the world.

While Cary Grant is looking through the binoculars on the outside terrace of the Mount Rushmore Visitor Center, located in the Black Hills of South Dakota, he said to Leo G. Carroll next to him: "I don't like the way Teddy Roosevelt is looking at me!" Then he heads to the corner of the Memorial View Building, from where his has an overlook towards the parking lot.

Thornhill watches Eve Kendall, along with Phillip Vandamm (James Mason) and his secretary Leonard (Martin Landau), who are just arrived and now on their way to the visitor centre cafeteria to meet George Kaplan (Thornhill, you know).

The view in direction of the Buffalo Dining Room, as the Professor and Roger leave the terrace and take their positions inside to let begin their "show" for Vandamm. After the Rapid City newspaper announced that there was going to be shooting around inside the Memorial View Building, the authorities restricted the filming permit to the visitors outside area.

Eve with Vandamm and Leonard behind them just enter the panoramic restaurant, obviously a perfect mixture of studio set and matte painting backdrop. But the little Boy next to Mason is not that one, who later covers his ears as Eva Marie Saint draws a pistol to shoot blanks at Cary Grant.

The real restaurant where, fortunately, there was no shooting whilst Hamilton McMurray was having lunch.

In the general commotion, Eve Kendall leaves the Buffalo Dining Room unmolested, while Vandamm is held back by Leonard so as not to be involved in the murder. So she grabs Vandamm's 1958 Lincoln Continental Convertible onto the visitor parking lot to escape. From 1991 the entire visitor centre was completely redesigned and greatly expanded, with a large parking garage being built.

Hamilton McMurray provides this view of Mount Rushmore.

In this day-to-night shot, probably using by Blue Screen technique, a Chevrolet Two-Ten taxicab from Rapid City, South Dakota, drives the winding road towards Mount Rushmore to carry Thornhill to the Vandamm property, situated on the backside of the monument.

Our hero on his way to rescue Eve from the clutches of the foreign spy ring on his own. According to screenwriter Ernest Lehman, filmed on M-G-M stage 5 with matte paintings of Vandamm's extraordinary bungalow, inspired by famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright, who died the same year this film was released.

Chased by Vandamm's henchmen, Roger and Eve are forced to climb down the National Memorial. This unforgettable sequence was filmed entirely in Culver City, with the gigantic full-scale studio mock-up used for it being 10 m high and 45 m wide.

Mr. and Mrs. Thornhill take a train ride to start their honeymoon. A final shot with a highly symbolic character, indeed. And definitely made by day-to-night technique to show a night train. What can be seen, however, is one of the Southern Pacific Daylight services, which was taken in the Los Angeles area. In my opinion SP train 99 "Coast Daylight" would be an option, here pulled by two FP7 class diesel locos in different colour schemes, called "Black Widow" and "Bloody Nose", followed by a Harriman baggage car in the two-tone grey Cascade scheme and two articulated coaches in the famous Daylight scheme, taken in the section through the Santa Susana Mountains.