Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant), an urbane, sophisticated Madison Avenue exec, finds his life turned upside down after he’s mistaken for a spy named George Kaplan. Narrowly escaping the clutches of the nefarious Philip Vandamn (James Mason), Thornhill finds himself in even more trouble when he’s framed for the murder of a UN Ambassador. Forced to stowaway on a train bound for Chicago, Thornhill meets a cool blonde named Eve Kendall (Eve Marie Saint), who may or may not be working for Vandamn.

NORTH BY NORTHWEST, alongside FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT (strange choice- I know) probably ranks as my favorite Alfred Hitchcock film. While it’s not as deep as VERTIGO, or as chilling as PSYCHO, it’s probably the most fun film Hitchcock ever made. It’s a perfect blend of suspense, comedy, adventure and romance, anchored by a career best performance from star Cary Grant- who, to this day, remains a classic icon of cool.

Grant’s one of those icons, like Humphrey Bogart, or James Cagney that’s truly one of a kind. The only modern actor I can think of that compares to Grant, in terms of suavity is probably George Clooney, but even that’s stretching it. There was really something special about Grant. Here, despite the fact that he was in his mid-fifties by the time the cameras rolled, Grant was truly in top form. He's slick without ever seeming like he’s posing, charming without being arrogant, and heroic without being over the top- all the while maintaining an everyman appeal that a lot of his contemporaries did not possess. Put him together with Hitchcock- and you can’t lose (and sure enough they didn’t, with all of their films together being excellent in one way or another).

I really can’t over praise this film. There’s a reason why it's such a beloved classic- as it really is a perfect film. Despite running a lengthy 2hrs and 15min, the film feels leaner than lean. Hitchcock was a master at pacing, and he doesn’t waste a single frame. The two action set pieces, one being the famous crop-duster chase, and the other being the final climax on Mount Rushmore- put anything out of most modern action movies to shame. Despite the fact that I’ve probably seen this dozens of times over the years, I found myself biting my nails over and over again.

Video: Presented in its original 1:66:1, VistaVision aspect ratio in 1080p, this blu-ray is nothing short of revelatory. I couldn’t believe how incredible this looked. The original DVD looked pretty sharp back in the day, but this blows that out of the water. It looks so sharp that I could actually see the stitching in Grant’s famous gray suit. This is one of the first films Warner Bros., has re-issued with an 8k transfer, and after seeing this, I hope all of Hitchcock’s films get the same treatment. This is honestly, one of the best looking blu-ray's I've ever seen.

Audio: The film gets a crisp new Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track, with Bernard Hermann’s classic score being particularly well represented (it even gets its own isolated audio track). There’s also a host of foreign dubs. My only beef is that I would have liked Warners to include the original 1959 mix for posterity’s sake- but that’s a minor issue, as the new mix is extraordinary.

Extras: Considering its stature, it’s not a surprise that we get ourselves a hefty selection of bonus features. First and foremost is a surprisingly candid PBS American Masters documentary on Grant called Cary Grant: A Class Apart running just under ninety minutes. It’s a phenomenal look at Grant’s life and work- with no stone left unturned. EVERYTHING is addressed here- including all the gay rumors, and his LSD experimentation.

We also get a new documentary on Hitch, The Master’s Touch: Hitchcock’s Signature Style , running just under an hour, with input from directors William Friedkin, Guillermo del Toro, Curtis Hanson, and Martin Scorsese. These directors return in another featurette called NORTH BY NORTHWEST: One For The Ages

Ported over from the previous DVD, we get an audio commentary with writer Ernest Lehman , and yet another documentary- the forty minute Destination Hitchcock: The Making of NORTH BY NORTHWEST . Completing the set, we get trailers , which Hitchcock hosts himself, as was his custom, trading off his newfound celebrity status from ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS, and some vintage TV spots .

Truly, this is a perfect disc. It’s a perfect film with a perfect transfer, perfect extras- heck, even the book style casing in perfect. I really can’t recommend this one highly enough. Easily the best blu-ray of the year so far, and one I’ll be spinning often in the years to come.