Cary Grant’s Disguise in North By Northwest (1959) is Quite Poor, I Think

This issue is part of a month-long Alfred Hitchcock marathon I’m doing as a fundraiser for The Women’s Fund of Greater Birmingham! I will be watching the Master of Suspense’s final 30 films (and writing a poem about each one over on Facebook), so I will be writing about four of those films here. If we’re not Facebook friends, you can donate to The Women’s Fund here.

Note: This issue contains minor spoilers for North By Northwest. As in, things that happen early on in the film. I don’t think it’s a big deal in terms of ruining the movie, but you have been forewarned.

Y’all ever seen this movie North By Northwest? It’s pretty good. Some might say it’s Hitchcock’s finest. (But not me! I can’t ever quit Psycho, no matter how hard I try.)

North By Northwest might just be peak handsomeness for Cary Grant. His character, Roger Thornhill, is an ad man in Manhattan, which means he’s almost certainly an inspiration for Don Draper in Mad Men. (Please miss me with your articles about Matt Weiner talking about Roger Thornhill, nerds, we don’t do research here.)

Anyway, Cary Grant’s handsomeness is actually important to the plot here, because he is framed for murder around the end of the first act, and then he has to go into hiding, which is very hard to do when you’re handsome.

Now, I am starting to realize that maybe I just have a thing about bad disguises in movies.* But I am not wrong when I tell you that Cary Grant does an extremely poor job of attempting anonymity while running from the law.

First of all, he doesn’t even try to alter his attire. Now, I realize that humans were much more distinguished back then and that adults didn’t exactly travel on planes and trains in sweatpants and t-shirts, but my guy could’ve done something about that suit, which is extremely well-tailored and eye-catching. Get rid of the jacket, switch into a Polo and some shorts, something!

Different clothes can only get you so far, though. A real master of disguise would do something to change his physical appearance.

But what does Cary Grant do? He puts on a damn pair of sunglasses. Cary Grant looks like a buffoon wandering around a train station in his shades, which does prompt a pretty good joke, but it does a rather poor job of actually masking his identity. (He is, again, very handsome.) He should’ve done more. He could’ve done something to his hair, or at least worn a damn hat, come on.

Here’s what kills me though.

Cary Grant meets Eva Marie Saint on this train, who agrees to help him (or does she?). She goes to make a phone call on his behalf once the train gets to Chicago, and what does Cary Grant do? He takes a tiny little razor from the train car, he goes to the public bathroom, and he shaves his damn face.

Sure, it was totally normal back then for adult men to be obsessed with shaving their faces and maintaining their smoothness, so much so that they would do it in public restrooms at transportation facilities. But what are you doing, Cary Grant? Your facial hair is the one natural disguise you have at your disposal! This is the easiest and most obvious way to change your appearance—if you have a beard, shave it; if you’re clean-shaven, let that thing grow. Stubble is your friend when you’re on the run, man!

Cary Grant somehow made it from New York City to Chicago without being exposed, even though his face was on wanted posters throughout the city or whatever. But ain’t that just the hubris of handsome men—thinking they’re invincible no matter the circumstances. What a way to live.

*If you recall, there’s an understandable excuse in The Princess Bride, which is that it’s just for laughs. But I am pretty sure that’s not what Hitchcock was up to here!

North By Northwest is now streaming on HBO Max, and it’s available to rent elsewhere.