Lobby card:North by Northwest

"The Master of Suspense weaves his Greatest Tale!" boasts this ad. And it's very likely true. Between the critical successes of "Vertigo" (1958) and "Psycho" (1960), Alfred Hitchcock was arguably at the height of his career when he made "North by Northwest" in 1959. Part suspense thriller and part romantic comedy, the film stars Cary Grant, James Mason, and Eva Marie Saint. Cary Grant plays advertising executive Roger Thornhill, who is chased across the country by spies, who think he's a double agent, and by the police, who think he's an assassin. Convinced that two sinister men (James Mason and Martin Landau) are trying to kill him, Roger flees and subsequently meets the attractive Eva Marie Saint on a train. North by Northwest has become as famous for its wry and suggestive repartee as for the nail-biting suspense of scenes like the climax atop Mount Rushmore. Smaller in scale than the typical movie poster, this lobby card was used to advertise the film on a stand or easel in a theater lobby.