Olivier and Fontaine at their best and wonderful Florence Bates as Edythe (love the spelling) Van Hopper.

Pure unadulterated magic every time.

Couldn't agree more JK and I was always amazed that we never knew the name of Fontaines character as anything but Mrs De Winter, genius. And how scary is Danvers!


Baz

And Sanders is deliciously slimy too.

Yes that trick of never naming the heroine is genius - that was Daphne's.

Of course, Hitchcock added that 100% directorial genius.

Mind you, I never spotted his cameo. Was that one of his few movies where he didn't do a cameo?


**Two minutes later after GOOD OLD WIKIPEDIA (where would we be without it?)...

"Walking near the phone booth just after George Sanders makes a call."

Now this has REALLY got me intrigued - here's the Wiki entry for North By Northwest...


"Possible cameo dressed as an elderly woman on the train while Cary Grant hides in the lavatory (unconfirmed, most probably actress Jesslyn Fax)."

I shall now have to go and buy the DVD just to check!!

I shall now have to go and buy the DVD just to check!!

... or check this list:

http://www.videouniversity.com/hitchcok.htm

Which says (thank you DJ)...

"North By Northwest
Missing a bus during the opening credits."

I'm really into this now. Silly me!