Modern in Film - North by Northwest
Tuesday, September 11th, 2007 at 12:15 am 
By Ryan BrownI had to take a minor detour today on my drive home as a film crew had blocked the road. This is not uncommon in my neighborhood, apparently Friday Night Lights often uses Hyde Park homes as backdrops. Perhaps the 50’s bungalows and mature trees of the area are a good fit for the plot (I haven’t watched the show).
What does Friday Night Lights have to do with modern architecture? Well, their shooting in Hyde Park made me think about the importance of architecture in film.
This was reinforced tonight when I finally watched a classic movie that’s been on my “Must see” list for years - North by Northwest. This film was written and directed by the great Alfred Hitchcock, and stars Cary Grant. I won’t spoil the plot for you, but I will say I enjoyed the movie.
What stood out the most? The home of the villian (Vandamm):
I immediately googled the home after watching the movie, as I thought it may have been designed by a Frank Lloyd Wright student. I was close. Flickr user Stewf found this excellent article about the home in Jetset magazine. Here’s an excerpt with some interesting points:
Modernism at the Movies: The Vandamm House in Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest
by Sandy McLendon
The set designers on “North by Northwest” were Robert Boyle, William A. Horning, Merrill Pye, Henry Grace, and Frank McKelvey. It has not been possible to sort out exactly which of these men was responsible for the house design, but whoever did it did his homework. The final design was of a hilltop house of limestone dressed and laid in the manner made famous by Wright, along with a concrete cantilever under the living room area. The house was correctly situated just under the top of its hill; Wright was famous for saying, “of the hill, not on top of the hill.” The house’s massing- heavy with limestone in the rear where the house met the hillside, light with glass and concrete at the free end of the cantilever- was also correctly Wrightian.
To the knowing, the design contained one element that would not have been used by Wright; there were steel beams supporting the cantilever. Wright would almost certainly have come up with an unsupported cantilever, as he did at “Fallingwater”, but very few viewers would know that. It is also possible that the mass audience requirements for “North by Northwest” dictated the use of the beams; Hitchcock may have felt that a true Wright cantilever would distract audiences from the plot, making them wonder what on earth was holding the house up, instead of focusing on the action. In the event, the beams also served the plot by giving Cary Grant a way to climb into the house.
The entire article is definitely worth a read, it provides a lot of insight into Hitchcock’s message and motivation for creating the Vandamm home. Of course I’d also recommend watching the movie - North by Northwest.
Let me know if you’ve seen it in the comments!
