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6 comments
8 comments
Rank This Matchup or Comment/Reply Below
on 7/17/2009
now i've been fighting this one for a while now. i think i go with "north by northwest," but i love them both, and they're both so crazy different. why can't i just call it a tie?
on 8/13/2009
Got to go with exploding planes.
on 9/30/2009
Wow! Vertigo vs. North by Northwest?! How about my left leg or my right? Going with Vertigo even if I watch NXNW more often.
on 1/24/2010
One, North by Northwest, is deserving of being labeled a classic. The other, Vertigo, while still a more-than-serviceable film, is not even deserving of being named in the same breath as North by Northwest.
on 6/30/2011
"Serviceable"???
on 8/10/2011
'Vertigo' is my favourite classic title of all time. It's a truly beautiful film full of wonderful insights about the human condition. I'm not knocking 'North by Northwest' but it's less of a test on the intellect. I love Cary Grant but couldn't imagine him playing the James Stewart part in 'Vertigo', whilst I could see Stewart playing the Grant part in 'Northwest.' Any Hitchcock is better than none at all. But I still love 'Vertigo' and always will.
So tough to choose but Jimmy Stewart trumps all. Two great films.
on 12/31/2011
This is easy- Vertigo by far. I always thought North By Northwest is a little overrated; its very good, but I certainly wouldn't call it one of Hitchcock's three or four best films. Vertigo is just such a greater artistic achievement.
on 2/13/2012
Vertigo is a far better film
on 5/11/2012
Vertigo is a bit better, however I favor NxNW due to its pure enjoyability.
on 5/12/2012
Two great films, but Vertigo has the edge. I can watch it over and over and find new things each time. North by Northwest is compulsively watchable too. Each bring their own thrills. North by Northwest is Hitchcock's most wickedly humorous ride and Vertigo is most certainly his most demented. Seeing them side by side makes me want to set aside a night to watch them both back to back.
on 5/13/2012
North by Northwest is great fun and I love watching it every time, but Vertigo gets under my skin in a way that very few films do. It leaves me overwhelmed and breathless and remembering exactly why I love cinema.
on 7/14/2012
North by Northwest may well be my favorite movie of the 1950's.
Vertigo is Hitchcock's greatest masterpiece and North by Northwest is fun, but not on the same level of mastery.
on 9/4/2012
Hmm, I think I have to go with North by Northwest here. There are a handful of stretches in Vertigo where the movie gets a bit on the dull side. Critics who list it among the greatest films ever made are being overly generous (to say the least). The plot of North by Northwest may not hold up well under close scrutiny, but it is a consistently enjoyable film (though longer than it should have been).
on May 8
I'm ashamed to admit it, but thus far (as of May 2013), these are the only two Hitchcock films I've seen, and I'm definitely going with North by Northwest. Vertigo is a very groundbreaking film in terms of filmmaking, and indeed it is a very nice piece of cinema; everything about just screams "classic" when I look at it. On the other hand, while there is some interesting psychological stuff in there, it's just not particularly engaging and I don't find it hugely interesting. I agree with Caesar in saying that critics these days are overly generous to it; the fact that it recently replaced Citizen Kane in Sight and Sound's greatest films ever list is pretty unreasonable IMO. North by Northwest manages to be entertaining, even by today's standards, whilst also having the look, charm, classiness and sophistication of most "classic films". NxNW for me.
