Essay Sample on Climaxing and Resolution Short in North by Northwest

Introduction

The film "North by Northwest" by Alfred Hitchcock is an intriguing and captivating movie as evidenced by its sequel of events. It incorporates the use of biography, drama, and history which makes it even more fascinating. Hitchcock is a renowned filmmaker known for his movies which captivate the audience by impacting great suspense. In this particular movie, Hitchcock does an excellent job with the narrative ploy as well as the interjections of scenes to make the film the entire movie appealing. The screenplay introduces a witty, sophisticated advertising executive who has undergone a couple of divorces. He is glamorously dressed, and most ladies find him irresistible as well, and he loves alcohol. This executive is the chief protagonist who is introduced as Thornhill- the mad man (Rohdie, 2019). This paper seeks to clearly explain one specific shot that brings out the meaning and contributes to the main story of the film. The shot I chose from this film is the climax and the resolution.

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The climax and resolution are one captivating shot of the film. It is the scene which leads to the end and sums up the entire proceedings of the movie. In this case, Hitchcock did great work in capturing the emotions of the audience by leaving them in great suspense (Bound,2016). He makes the movie one of the most robust and powerful suspense sequences ever, extensively depicted visually. The author makes the play centrally focus on the principal characters Thornhill and Eve and leaves out the rest of the characters in the entire film. This leaves the audience with prompts on the happenings on the other characters in the movie right from the start of the film. This particular scene creates heightened suspense of the whole movie told majorly through the use of images and action. This scene includes Thornhill tracking down Eve. He finds her at the Van Damm mansion and reveals to her that her true identity had been discovered by the United States Intelligence. The U.S had decided that Eve would face the repercussions and would be thrown off the private plane as a result as she was supposed to leave the country on that particular day. With this specific word Thornhill and Eve escape and find themselves in the famous scene at Mount Rushmore. They managed to escape the chase scene, get married and live happily ever after.

The big sequences in the climax and resolution shot give a powerful and gripping series of scenes where the story is chiefly told visually as it incorporates more of visuals and actions and less of talking. It is the happenings that leave the audience to solve the puzzle as some of the things are revealed to the audience while they not known by the audience. This form adds to more dilemma as the characters do not know what will happen next. The movie incorporates this technique to involve and entice the audience as well. This revealing infers to audience knowledge, where Hitchcock creates a kind of scene where the viewers know more than what the characters are aware of. It is revealed that Eve is the sister to Van Damm, and this creates tension among the audience as there is a part where van Damm flirts with her. The pressure brings out some emotion as per most films' intent.

The climax and resolution as well reveal that when the story is over, it is over and there is no hanging around- this means that the story should be concise and point blank without meanderings wrapped around it. This is clearly depicted in the scene where Eve is hanging off Mount Rushmore, and the evil guys are dead; therefore there is nothing further to explain. A quick cut-off shifts to the train scene instead of focusing on the Mount Rushmore scene where Eve is dangling off the mountain. Hitchcock integrated this since it would have been anti-climactic to showcase the step- to -stop scenery with Thornhill pulling Eve to safety and the dialogue with the united states intelligence scene. Cutting off the parts as mentioned above gives the film a climatic touch to show that everything is over and this leaves the audience in a dilemma over what could have happened after the dangling scene.

The suspense was an essential aspect of this film as it keeps the viewer hooked to the movie (Lacey, 2016). Hitch's idea of creating a dilemma at the end was an impeccable one as it serves a vital role in having an impact on the viewer as well as bringing out the central theme of the story. Love as a theme in the film is brought through the abrupt change from a chase game to n ending scene where Eve and Thornhill fall in love and eventually get married. This sparks some emotions from the reader as it goes against some of their expectations as well as they wish that the chase would continue and not be ended by the unexpected romance.

In as much as many viewers would hate suspense, the ending of the movie "North by northwest gives a unique aspect to the film that would not have been achieved if there were regular endings. The suspense in the climax provides a unique sense to the movie as it will be like the familiar stories in which there as a chase to the end and where everything is explained to the core. The film ends with a train disappearing into the tunnel, and this leaves questions in the mind of the viewer as they wonder what will happen after that. Some viewers would even rewind the movie to prove if that was the ending or it was a glitch since the finish is such an unexpected one. Hitch used suspense to make the audience more concerned about the characters with whom they might have sympathized with. Use of uncertainty always enables the director to force the viewer to continue watching the movie to comprehend or see what would happen to their favorable characters.

The ending as well creates a sense of maximizing action and making out the most of the spectacle, where there are fewer dialogues and more of fighting. In this case, the audience can predict what would happen or what should not. Therefore, it creates a series of mixed reactions from the viewers as they are left to decide what would happen. For most people, this is what makes a movie outstanding and a masterpiece as portrayed by its unusual nature, instead of the usual story developments where one can easily predict the ending. Also, the suspense helps to spark fear out of the audience by the use of scenes where the characters are falling or are about to be severely hit. The maximization of the movie incorporates the use of suspenseful fear where Eve is left dangling on the cliff, and her fate is unknown by the audience. In this shot Eve's face is portrayed in closer and closer camera shots making the viewer sure that she is about to fall. All of a sudden, she is pulled to safety - but in another setting, which is in a train having romantic moments with Thornhill serves as a mastermind and abrupt move to spark an emotional turnaround of the viewers. When Hitchcock was inquired about the last scene, he explained that it was unreasonable to put the audience through horror and thrill without relief (Mogg, 2017. It is seen that the ending sparks a series of mixed reactions as it depicts both frightening and comic feelings. The comedy is used in such a way that it counters the effects of the horror and thrill caused to the audience.

Conclusion

In conclusion and resolution of the movie is one excellent shot which presents a series of events to make the viewer more interested but eventually ends. Hitchcock's North by Northwest is a masterwork of suspense, and that is what gave it great recognition and popularity. It triggers the interest of the viewer by integrating some elements which make it a great thriller film, for instance, a pair of deadly assassins. Eve dangling down the cliff, and a dangerous femme fatale.

References

Bound, K., 2016. 'Terror & tension 'psychophysiological suspense: defining a framework to measure cinematic suspense in 21st-century horror films (Doctoral dissertation, University of Nottingham).

Lacey, N., 2016. Introduction to film. Macmillan International Higher Education.

Mogg, K., 2017. Alfred Hitchcock. Screen Education, (87), p.78.

Rohdie, S., 2019. Alfred Hitchcock. In Montage. Manchester University Press.