North by Northwest: The maturity of the modern movement in America

Abstract

The 1959 film North by Northwest shows the transformations undergone b y the countr y since the Second World War and the form in which design gav e a r esponse to the ne w paradigm. Aerodynamic forms continued present in industrial objects despite the fact that the futuristic dreams of previous decades had disappeared, and the profession was consolidated as it became specialized in order to respond to new market demands. The article analyses the aesthetic changes that occurred in the 1930s and their future influence, as well as the different tributes to modernity that Hitchcock makes in his film: the profession of designer, the Twentieth Century Limited express, architecture, transport and the American lifestyle.