MovieChat Forums > North by Northwest (1959) Discussion > Sexual symbolism of the final shot...

Sexual symbolism of the final shot...

posted 9 years ago by barcham_99
28 replies | jump to latest

I watched this last night for the nth time. I have seen this movie so many times I have lost count but can never resist when it is running. But for the first time, maybe because I was very tired and it was around 3 am when it ended, but the final shot seemed to be filled with sexual innuendo. Thornhill and the new Mrs. Thornhill roll into bed as man and wife and then the scene shifts to a train entering a tunnel. For whatever reason, that just seemed to me to be so loaded with sexual meaning last night.

Now what I want to know is whether anyone else sees that scene the same way or if I simply have a perverted mind! LOL I've never noticed anyone bring this up in discussions of the film so it is probably the latter. 

[–] kbarada 9 years ago

Yeah, the dark tunnel being entered by the powerful locomotive does seem to have a sexual context. Not much imagination needed there. just wondering if you are sleeping single in a double bed or if you have a bed mate.

[–] movieghoul 9 years ago

Someone once asked Hitchcock if he used visual symbolism and he first answered Never, but then admitted: "Yes, once. The final shot of NBN is a phallic symbol."

[–] rekcilorf 8 years ago

What about the "fireworks" in To Catch a Thief"? Or the opening doors in "Spellbound"? They were supposed to represent Ingrid Bergman's reserved character "opening up to" Gregory Peck's advances. Kind of silly, but it's there.

[–] Owlwise (1536) 3 years ago

I don't find it silly at all.

[–] [deleted] 3 years ago

What about the knife in Psycho?

[–] leader-7 9 years ago

You've seen it a million times and it ONLY NOW occurs to you?

Really?

OMFG.

###

[–] Goughrew 9 years ago

The only way that scene could've been more obvious is if Hitchcock spelled out the words penis and vagina.

[–] cpmorr 9 years ago

Agreed. However, the average Joe in 1959 wouldn't have been so quick to pick up on subtext as they would in 2015. The genius of Hitchcock.

[–] ginbelt 9 years ago

the average Joe in 1959 wouldn't have been so quick to pick up on subtext as they would in 2015.

I don't think this is true at all; after all, people were no less intelligent in 1959 than they are today or in 2015, and they were just as preoccupied with sex as well.....the thing that's very different in more modern times isn't so much the audience, but the rules for moviemaking -- ie, how explicit a movie could be, what you can show that audience. Implying sexual intercourse in a way that any adult would understand was ok then, as long as certain words weren't used, and certain images weren't shown. What they were shooting for, I think --- and the extent of what was allowed then --- was something that all adults would immediately "get," but which would go right over the head of a kid. I agree with that last poster that the scene is pretty obvious as to intent, and I don't think Hitchcock was in any way trying to to obscure his subtext....just make it acceptable to the MPAA (and, maybe get some grins, too, at the end).

[–] vrabecj 8 years ago

I agree. There is quite a lot of sexual innuendo and suggestion in the precode movies. Even in the silent age, it was there. Sex sells and storytellers, whether in film or in print will get their point across.

[–] theoliverz65 8 years ago

More artistry involved in eluding the censors . That's one thing missing from today's movies and music.

[–] PopperTheKungFu-Dragon 9 years ago

I guess I'm dumber than the average Joe cos' it never occurred to me 

Poorly Lived and Poorly Died, Poorly Buried and No One Cried

[–] Owlwise (1536) 3 years ago

I think the average Joe in 1959 would have been very quick to pick up on the sexual symbolism, as it was part of filmmaking during the Hays Code, and much of the fun was seeing how directors got around that code with cleverness, wit & style.

[–] nd12strngs 9 years ago

Sometimes a train in a tunnel is just a train in a tunnel.

[–] Ghetto_Defendant 9 years ago

Yes, you're correct. But in this case, it stands for something else ;-D

[–] cajayson8301 9 years ago

Sometimes a train in a tunnel is just a train in a tunnel.

Not when two passengers are playing tonsil hockey in a discrete location!

When God made Tom Cruise, he was only joking.

[–] nd12strngs 9 years ago

I've been on Facebook all day and I tried to find the like button here. D'oh!
But still I must respond.
Playing tonsil hockey on a movie set in front of cameras, lights, a full crew, and millions of movie watchers meets your requirements for a discrete location?
Yikes!

[–] kurt7825 9 years ago

its just a train in a tunnel

[–] cajayson8301 9 years ago

LOL I actually noticed in on my first viewing! I believe they reference this unique scene in that lovemaking scene from "The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear" where Leslie Nielsen and Priscilla Presley give into desire and showing a train entering a tunnel, as if to state soon Leslie's "train" would enter her "tunnel"

It's not just you. I have a feeling most picked up on this over the years, including from the initial movie screening. What I love is this also pays homage to Hitchcock's filmmaking...he often employed subtle nods over various themes and, considering the side storyline of their love affair, it was only fitting Hitchcock devised a sexual innuendo at the apex of their relationship

When God made Tom Cruise, he was only joking.

[–] pjpurple-1 8 years ago

There;s a funny scene in the nineties sitcom Wings that uses the train/tunnel symbolism.

The airport mechanic was Lowell. He was always confused about things, not too sharp. But he was convinced that his wife Bunny was cheating on. (turned out he was right about that)

He asked some of his friends at the airport to explain the meaning of a dream he had.

I'm paraphrasing but he said something like he saw a train go through a tunnel, then another, then another and then another. What do you think that means?

One of the pilots, Brian, said "You're afraid of heights." lol He wasn't serious of course. But Lowell believed him.

[–] paulsdhart (277) 4 years ago

believe they reference this unique scene in that lovemaking scene from "The Naked Gun 2 1/2:

Yes they did XD

[–] valis1984 8 years ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9_wOOr-_Mk

Watch from 16:35.

"It is a good thing for an uneducated man to read books of quotations" Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

[–] ecarle (14979) 4 years ago

"It is a good thing for an uneducated man to read books of quotations" Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

---

Good quote!

--

Hitchcock himself said that he devised the train into tunnel shot.

4 years previously -- and also in the heavily censored Hays Code era -- Hitchcock segued from a sexy kiss between Cary Grant and Grace Kelly out the window to a explosive burst of colorful fireworks across a night sky. Again with the sexual symbolism -- and the suggestion(if you seek it) that Grant and Kelly actually had some sex. Did they do that in 1955?