North By Northwest 1

Today in class we watched the first section of North by Northwest, a film directed by the famous Alfred Hitchcock. Hitchcock is known for his ability to 'thrill' the audience, creating scenario's that are not only suspenseful, but chill you down to your bone. With a reputation like his, I would have imagined the films to far surpass my expectaion of a 'good ' film.
As of right now, I cannot comment on my feelings towards the film because it is still too early to fully understand the genius that could have been part of the directing. I can, however, describe why I think the intro, so far, is definitely effective.
As my English teacher likes to say, "Films can be read as books." Until this point I honestly did not fully understand why he thought so. Yes, film is a form of literature, but are they not purely for our entertainment purposes? No. I can already see how North by Northwest can be read like a book. The beggining of the movie before we even see any actors, the crossing lines in the background portray a sense of structure, fitting, and importance. The next images that flit through the screen are the bustling streets of city life, showing people moving with purpose and conviction. It creates a sense of order within chaos. Everyone had somewhere to go or someone to see, and there was no room for disruption.
I though that these scenes were a great way to open the entire movie. Even though I have only seen the first 20 minutes, I can already understand that the initial montage depicted the way Roger Thornhill, main character, used to live his life. Hitchcock has so far lived up to my expectations of him.