Hitchcock by Lehman: Dialogue Analysis of <i>North by Northwest</i>

MORIMOTO Hikari

doi:10.18917/eizogaku.111.0_28

<p>This article examines the dialogue in Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest (1959) and discusses its linguistic dimensions, while shedding light on the contribution of screenwriter Ernest Lehman. Regarding Hitchcock films, due to the director’s insistence on “pure cinema,” critics have tended to focus on the visual aesthetics. On the contrary, the poetics of dialogue and the film language have traditionally received little attention. In recent years, however, as the concept of auteurism has been re-examined, more attention has been paid to the work of the screenwriters who worked on Hitchcock films. Therefore, in light of these contexts, this article examines the dialogue in North by Northwest and discusses linguistic issues found in it. In the film’s narrative, the plot of a spy thriller set against the backdrop of the Cold War and the plot of the self-formation of the main character, Roger Thornhill, take place simultaneously. And language is a key theme in the plot of the latter drama, which is developed throughout the film. By shifting the focus from “Hitchcock, pure cinema, and images” to “Lehman, dialogue, and language,” this article attempts to offer a new interpretation of the film.</p>

Hitchcock by Lehman: Dialogue Analysis of <i>North by Northwest</i>

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