'North By Northwest' movie scenes

A favorite of mine....

Re: The 2Oth Century Limited

* At GCT - Cary Grant tries to get a Century bedroom at AIR ticket window #11, upper level....correct window/location circa mid-1950's to do so ?

* Bedroom scenes - understand it was a studio mock-up. Was it copied at all accurately ?

* Diner scenes - appears to have been filmed 'live' on-board. Can anyone confirm just by watching the film ?

* Parlor car(?) scenes - was this a mock-up coach interior or filmed on-board a Century car ?

Why didn't the conductors check the restroom for a potential unaccounted for passenger ? And what little pads/books are they tabulating in that scene ?

* The unscheduled stop - looks like some small station just north of the Tappan Zee Bridge on the Hudson....phoney locale or real ?

* The E-units pictured - upon arrival in Chicago....E8's or E7's ?

* TOA in Chicago - mentioned passively AIR as 9:10 A.M. local time....accurate on-time for the Century ?

thanks in advance !

A little artistic license was probably used in the drawing room (bedroom scenes). It had enough room to move around camera and lighting equipment, etc. And the upper was big enough to hold Cary Grant, unscathed and unscarred in the closed position.
The Century had a 16 hour timing from GCT to LaSalle Street and was due at 9:00 am local time when the movie was filmed.
In the LaSalle Street arrival scene, listen for the announcement of the New York Special via Detroit. Sounds authentic.

eddie -

" In the LaSalle Street arrival scene, listen for the announcement of the New York Special via Detroit. Sounds authentic. "

Will do. Back to you on the clear sound of a steam whistle being sounded in the background as Grant and Eva Marie Saint disembark from the Century at LaSalle. Steam was gone by this time, no ?

On the bedroom/drawing room scenes....

Apparantly Grant didn't like the initial studio mock-up and recommended changes to Hitchcock that Hitch approved. Wonder if either had any direct charactoristics to the real thing....like light fixtures, upholstery, location of the lavatory ( and layout therein ) Obviously, camera & crew filmed the scenes from/thru the area where the window side of the room would have been had it been aboard an actual rail car.

BTW, the Century's consist all had 'names', did they not ? Do any coaches, diners, sleepers survive anywhere in 2004 ?

thanks.

"the upper was big enough to hold Cary Grant, unscathed and unscarred in the closed position."

Yes --- and with his suit unwrinkled. Only Grant could do it

....and not a hair out of place either !

He did break his sunglasses in two though.

LOL !

And, as I recall, the final train scene shows a Southern Pacific train, I think coming out of a tunnel (haven't seen the movie in a while). Reportedly it was a last-minute filming and they just went to a California lineside location to grab it. The rural highway shots where the airplane attacks the hero, supposedly in Indiana, were shot somewhere near Bakersfield, California, I think I read somewhere.

RE: "the final train scene shows a Southern Pacific train, I think coming out of a tunnel (haven't seen the movie in a while). Reportedly it was a last-minute filming and they just went to a California lineside location to grab it."

Almost correct --- the SP train is going into a tunnel. Every written analysis of Hitchhcock's work that has appeared in print points out that this is a deliberate item of "phallic symbolism" to end the film on a romantic note.

"The rural highway shots where the airplane attacks the hero, supposedly in Indiana, were shot somewhere near Bakersfield, California, I think I read somewhere"

Yes, somewhere around there.

Rr: filming locations....

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053125/locations

Rented the flick last night....

The E unit on the point on arrival in Chicago is #4044. Any history of note attached to this unit ? Scrapped ?

The Diesel in LaSalle Street Station # 4044 is an E8A.

I vaguely recall as a kid in the early 50's of being in an E8A between Albany and Poughkeepsie that the engineer pointed out where 4044 was involved in an accident and wound up in the Hudson River. I can't be sure but that is my best recollection.

Also, 4044 became Amtrak 261. Don't know anything further.

As stated in earlier posts, SP shot at end was done somewhere in Southern California, and the "Indiana" shot was done near Bakersfield. This was documented in a special on AMC some years ago.

The movie was made in 1958 then released in 1959, so there is a possiblity that a steam lcomotive could have been heard at LaSalle Street. Grand Trunk Western was still running some steam then, I am not sure if IC did.

Shots at LaSalle Street were done on a Sunday morning, so there wasn't any commuter traffic to disrupt shooting.

As in many Hitchcock films, it features the 'best' of whatever in the time frame it was shot.

Of course Cary Grant came out of that upper berth unscathed. After all, he gets dragged, drunked, chased by a plane, and only needed his suit 'sponged and pressed' after two days of that to go another day in the same suit, without even a change of shirt!

How about that 'love theme' music that starts in the later part of the dining car scene?

Still a great movie!

" Of course Cary Grant came out of that upper berth unscathed. After all, he gets dragged, drunked, chased by a plane, and only needed his suit 'sponged and pressed' after two days of that to go another day in the same suit, without even a change of shirt! "

LOL !!!

At least Leo G. Carroll bought him a pair of navy blue slacks, new loafers and a crisp new white dress shirt for the final 20 minutes !

No new socks or underwear though !!!

Even if the GTW was still running steam on passenger trains into Chicago in 1958, it is unlikely that a steam whistle would have been heard at LaSalle Street station since the GTW used Grand Central Station. LaSalle Street was used by the NYC and Rock Island (and Nickel Plate?). As for the IC, if it was still running steam in 1958 it would have been in freight service only, and its trains used Central Station.

Can someone please tell me one thing, were the scenes in Grand Central Terminal and the ticket window a very good mock up or were they actually taken in Grand Central Terminal?

Even if the GTW was still running steam on passenger trains into Chicago in 1958, it is unlikely that a steam whistle would have been heard at LaSalle Street station since the GTW used Grand Central Station.

Actually, the GTW used Dearborn Station along with the AT&SF, Erie, C&WI, C&EI and Monon Route. La Salle St was used by the NYC, NKP, and CRI&P, along with some Michigan Central trains. Steam was finished on the Chicago Division of the Grand Trunk in March of 1957. On the Detroit Division of the GTW, between Detroit and Durand, MI., steam lasted until March of 1960 in regular service. It was occasionally used after that date as back up power.

Charlie

Upper -

If they weren't than kudos to Hitch on one helleva Hollywood 'set' !

On several visits to GCT, I played around with my son on re-creating several scenes from the movie with our mini-cam ( including the scene in the lobby of the UN building ) at the same camera angles....even from above ( staircase ) of the ornate ticket window as Grant attempts to purchase a 'bedroom' on the Century. All was filmed EAXACTLY has Hitch did it.

The only scene(s) that I'd question as being 'on location' within GCT are those on the platform and those within the sleeping car of a waiting to depart 20th Century.