Sixty-five years ago, Alfred Hitchcock released his stylish, brilliantly self-parodic espionage thriller, which changed every Hollywood action production in its wake. A successful Madison Avenue executive (Cary Grant) is mistaken for a Fed by foreign agents (led by James Mason, villainously debonair) and pushed into a cross-country medley of imposing set pieces. Wryly referred to as the first James Bond film, this VistaVision marvel deploys the director’s familiar-sounding The Wrong Man plot structure but exaggerates every detail—including Bernard Herrmann’s kaleidoscopic score and Saul Bass’s kinetic opening title sequence—on a dizzying scale, taking us everywhere from the posh and modernist interiors of New York City and Chicago to a vast, flat, Midwestern cornfield to, finally, the gigantic faces of Mount Rushmore above Rapid City. Also starring Eva Marie Saint, Martin Landau, Leo G. Carroll, and Edward Platt.
Restored by Warner Bros in collaboration with The Film Foundation.
Scanned in 13K by Warner Bros. at Motion Picture Imaging laboratory, from the original 8 perf 35mm VistaVision camera negative. Restoration work completed in 6.5K. Newly restored version approved by The Film Foundation.