stanley cavell, american philosopher, teaching at harvard, wrote on hitchcock's film North by Northwest an essay, in which he tried to apply theories he first developped in his book 'pursuits of happiness'. on the one hand the connection is because of cary grant, on the other because he sees shakespeare's hamlet as one of the inspirations for the plot. while cary grant was younger when he did the romantic comedies bringing up baby, the philadelphia story and the awful thruth, in hitchcock's film he is a star with a past, not at least in hitchcock films. i try to show on this website to trace all the scenes from hitchcock films cavell mentions and make it therefore easier to see, what cavell has had in mind. 
stanley cavell, american philosopher, teaching at harvard, wrote on hitchcock's film North by Northwest an essay, in which he tried to apply theories he first developped in his book 'pursuits of happiness'. on the one hand the connection is because of cary grant, on the other because he sees shakespeare's hamlet as one of the inspirations for the plot. while cary grant was younger when he did the romantic comedies bringing up baby, the philadelphia story and the awful thruth, in hitchcock's film he is a star with a past, not at least in hitchcock films. i try to show on this website to trace all the scenes from hitchcock films cavell mentions and make it therefore easier to see, what cavell has had in mind.
filmstills illustrating stanley cavell's 1981 essay on hitchcocks 'north by northwest' published in the 'critical inquiry'