How the Film North by Northwest Convey Espionage from the 1950s - Essay Example

? HOW THE FILM “NORTH BY NORTHWEST” CONVEY ESPIONAGE FROM THE 1950s? April 14, How the Film “North by Northwest” Convey Espionage from the 1950s? Introduction The Cold War era was the period of military and political tension between the US along with its allies and the Soviet Union. At the end of the World War II, the Soviet Union created the Eastern Bloc which comprised Eastern European countries for post war recovery. The US, on the other hand, aided the Western European countries for post war recovery and later formed NATO to contain communism. The two powers never had direct military action, but the period contained sets of high tension crises and race for supremacy. The Cold War era affected the culture of the US. Soldiers who served in the World War II returned home and started new lives and families. They started new businesses and the trade expanded along with job opportunities. The 1950s witnessed major events that was a huge leap and changed our culture and lifestyle. President Harry Truman approved production of the Hydrogen Bomb. 1951 saw the introduction of television and in 1958 the US launched its first satellite Explorer I. National Airlines started domestic passenger flights in 1958. These are major developments in a decade and have affected our culture and society. These were baby steps and foundation of events that led US to supremacy in culture, economy and military as well. The atomic explosions in the 1950s demonstrated power of the US and the Soviet Union and the events were the cause of escalation of the Cold War. The decade included the Korean War and the beginning of the space race. Along with these developments intelligence gathering accelerated and espionage activities increased. The decade was very active and it had profound effects on the culture as well. The culture of the time is fairly represented by the films. The paper, however, is aimed at studying the culture of the decade along with examination of Alfred Hitchcock’s film North by Northwest in context with the espionage activities at the time. Before examining the film in detail, it is necessary to give a brief plot along with introduction to characters. Alfred Hitchcock Alfred Hitchcock was an English born film director. His films usually centered on murder or espionage, with deception and chase sequences. Mistaken identity was common in his films. An innocent man wrongly accused of crime or espionage was a theme in many of his films. His greatest strength was his expertise in building and maintaining suspense. He used very elaborate with editing techniques and used camera viewpoints for his visual effects. The soundtracks were carefully chosen and edited.1 His thrillers maintained reality and believability which was different than other spy films of the time. Alfred Hitchcock was the main spy film director who made this genre popular in the 1930s. The Cold War era increased desire of audiences to see spy thrillers and the 1950s saw a major growth in this genre. Alfred Hitchcock made many of the spy films in the decade and depicted the espionage activities along with culture. Government operations along with operational style and activities of intelligence agencies were shown in the films. Spies and their work were mostly fiction but the films gave audiences an insight into the profession. Furthermore, the Cold War saw an increase in real world espionage activities and the intelligence agencies were very active at the time. The films, especially by Alfred Hitchcock came close to depicting real world scenarios in espionage and were liked by audience for being suspense spy thrillers. North by Northwest “North by Northwest” was a Cold War spy story released in the year 1959 by Alfred Hitchcock. The cast included Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint and James Mason. The film’s theme is of mistaken identity with an innocent man chased by an unknown organization. The main theme of this motion picture is espionage activity and shows some insight into government intelligence agencies operations. The film is considered as the most important spy film of the era.2 Plot The main character of the motion picture is Roger Thornhill, played by Cary Grant. He works in an advertisement firm and is kidnapped by mistaken identity. He is kidnapped by a foreign spy Phillip Vandamm, played by James Mason. Roger is accused of being a spy and linked to George Kaplan. He denies the claims and is framed in an attempt to stage a fatal car accident. He survives and is being arrested by police for driving while drunk. He tries to explain his situation to the judge the next morning, but the stage is changed and the police are tricked by actors and men of Phillip Vandamm. Roger tries to solve the mystery and attempts to find the answers. He traces his footsteps of last night and tries to find the name of his kidnappers. He is led to a man who is addressing the United Nations General Assembly. He reaches and finds out another incident of mistaken identity. During his brief interaction the man is murdered by knife and he is framed for murder. The film picks up pace and an adventurous chase starts. He becomes a wanted fugitive and hides from the general public. He boards the train in an attempt to run away from policemen. On board he meets Eve Kendall. They flirt and she assists him to escape capture. She aids in his escape from the train station and is revealed to be secretly working for Vandamm. She gives direction to Roger to meet up with Kaplan. He follows direction and at destination he is attacked by automatic weapons on a crop dusting airplane. He survives and traces his step back to Eve and finds her working for Vandamm. He survives another murder attempt and is led to a US spymaster who is also after Vandamm. The plot reveals that George Kaplan does not exist and is made up by US intelligence. Eve is also revealed to be working for the US intelligence against her husband Vandamm. George steps in the shoes of Kaplan to save Eve. He is flown to South Dakota and meets Vandamm as Kaplan in a cafeteria. He proposes an offer to exchange Eve and in turn would let Vandamm leave the country unharmed and without any interruption from intelligence agencies. When he tries to stop Eve from leaving, she shoots him with blanks to falsely depict his death. He intends to take Eve with him, but learns that she is departing with Vandamm to spy for US intelligence overseas. Roger is taken by US intelligence and locked in a hospital room to prevent him from interfering. He escapes and infiltrates Vandamm’s house and finds out that Eve’s cover has been blown and they intend to kill her. The plot also reveals that Vandamm uses artifacts from auction to smuggle microfilm containing secret information. He informs Eve of their intentions and they team up to escape the compound along with the microfilm. They are chased and reach Mount Rushmore monument where Vandamm is arrested by police. Espionage Activities Tracking Vandamm tracks the US intelligence agent George Kaplan. Even though he tracks the wrong person, but the activity shows observations by his men. They get information about his contact. Record of hotel stays at different states is recorded along with future planned meetings. Roger is mistakenly identified as Kaplan, but before being kidnapped he is followed and tracked by Vandamm’s men. The basis made for tracking is simply hotel records and on field observation. The film shows that the era was not advanced in Human Intelligence (HUMINT) methods. Same basic principles of Human Intelligence in World War II were used. The intelligence in the era relied primarily on human sources and Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) was used at higher level at a national scale.3 Recruitment The film gives an insight into recruitment process of the intelligence agencies. Eve was married to Vandamm and was a complete civilian. The plot reveals that she was contacted by intelligence agents and told her that she was “valuable.” She started spying on her husband and passed on critical intelligence to the agencies. This act represents recruitment process by intelligence agencies. The process is even in use to date. Spymasters or agents typically operating in a target or own country use these tactics. They observe possible parts in communication with the target. Any troubling issue or sign is used as an indicator that the relationship is not solid and can be exploited. Spymasters typically recruit these people as their spies.4 They are trusted by the target and are the best source of information on any subject. Furthermore, another incident from the film can be linked with the recruitment process. Kaplan is an intelligence agent whose identity is unknown. Roger is mistakenly believed by Vandamm to be George Kaplan. The spymaster uses this incident to his advantage and asks Roger to fill into Kaplan’s role. He is a civilian asked to perform espionage for the country. These two incidents from the film highlight the recruitment process by intelligence spymasters. This process is the basis of Human Intelligence (HUMINT) and is the key to penetrate the target without suspicion. These sources are mostly civilians and exploited to provide information and even carry out espionage against the target. Intelligence Smuggling The film points towards the issue with the smuggling of microfilm by foreign intelligence through Vandamm. The microfilm is smuggled into an artifact that is bought in an auction. The auction is used as a decoy and the artifacts bought in auction make it least suspicious way of smuggling information. Deception has been a major part of intelligence operations. The World War II saw use of codes and messages disguised in crosswords and even newspapers.5 The Allies communicated with the French underground before D-Day through these methods and radio was also an important tool to send coded messages. In this way the information intended is covered in different layers of protection and cannot be accessed or decoded easily. The smuggling method used in the film is least suspicious and hard to find for intelligence agencies. It is to be noted that material information has to be smuggled as opposed to signals communication. The film also gives an insight into the technology of the time. Today we can send information through secured channels in everyday routine, but the technology of the time did not allow for transferring information wirelessly. At the time reconnaissance photos were sent to be analyzed in detail in special units. These units were trained to analyze satellite as well as on ground observations and are in operation today as well. But the improvement in reconnaissance equipment over time has made the task comparatively easy. Decoy Agents The film gives an insight into decoy agents. George Kaplan is supposed to be a decoy agent to divert attention of Vandamm from the real agent. Fake records are maintained and hotel rooms are booked to create a decoy. This is an uncommon practice in intelligence operations and Alfred Hitchcock probably made up this intelligence tactic.6 Decoys are made only when the suspicion on real agents arises and they are usually real field agents used for observation from a distance. They intentionally give away some of the clues to divert attention. In the film, the decoy agent George Kaplan was nonexistent in real life. Scene Analysis The most interesting scene which gives an insight into government operations and in particular intelligence agencies is analyzed. Roger is wrongly accused of assassinating a diplomat. He registers his name as George Kaplan to meet with the diplomat. The scene shows an office of “US Intelligence Agency” and five senior members meeting. They discuss the newspaper highlighting the killing of UN diplomat by Roger. They find out his name registered with George Kaplan. The scene reveals that George Kaplan is a decoy agent to protect their real on field agent. They are happy on the fact that the decoy agent has become alive and has done a very good job of distracting attention. They look into the possibility that Roger could be killed by police or Vandamm’s men. Instead of protecting him, they decide not to interfere because revealing the plot would endanger the real field agent. The scene puts an insight on the operations of a decoy agent. In this case the agency was maintaining record of hotel reservations and depicting fake movements. The agency spends funds to maintain the activities of a decoy agent. They decide to let Vandamm chase the decoy, in order to divert suspicion from the on field agent working in close proximity of the target. The board also mentioned killing of two agents who were exposed. Their identity could not be protected and they were killed by Vandamm. The scene is perhaps the most direct account of US Intelligence Agency planning and discussing an espionage activity. The scene also depicts that at the time, the Human Intelligence was the primary source and the Intelligence Agency protected their agents even by endangering others. Conclusion The motion picture depicts the intelligence operations of the time in an adventurous and real life situation. The film maintains believability and suspense. It presents a detailed account of the culture and customs of the time. It’s a window to the 1950s and the change in culture and society can be realized after watching the motion picture. The film is essentially a spy thriller and presents a very realistic peek into intelligence operations of the time. Some of the tactics are still in use today. Human Intelligence was the key source for espionage and the time demanded extreme steps and innovation in the field. The launch of the first satellite in the decade changed and revolutionized the intelligence operations. Implementation changed over time with technology, but this film reminds us and presents very accurate information on intelligence operations and their conduct at the time. The film is a work of art that has preserved the history of the time and presents the plot in an adventurous story. Bibliography Britton, Wesley. Beyond Bond: Spies in Fiction and Film. Connecticut: Praeger Publishers, 2005. Chandler, Charlette. It’s Only a Movie: Alfred Hitchcock, a Personal Biography. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2005. Hulnick, Arthur. Fixing the Spy Machine: Preparing American Intelligence for the Twenty-First Century. Connecticut: Praeger Publishers, 1999. Johnson, Loch. National Security Intelligence. Massachusetts: Polity Press, 2012. Ryan, Cornelius. The Longest Day. New York: Simon and Schuster Paperbacks, 1959. Spoto, Donald. The Life of Alfred Hitchcock: The Dark Side of Genius. London: Harper Collins, 1983. Read More