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North by Northwest poster

Movies that feel likeNorth by Northwest (1959)

Advertising man Roger Thornhill is mistaken for a spy, triggering a deadly cross-country chase.

If you loved North by Northwest, the closest films we have are Dial M for Murder (1954), To Catch a Thief (1955) and Adrift (2018). All three share North by Northwest's tense and romantic feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Day of Wrath (1943).

🍅 97% Rotten Tomatoes★ 8.3 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Alfred Hitchcocktenseepicromantic
8 of 12 streaming nowAmazon Prime Video · Hulu · Criterion Channel

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If North by Northwest hit the spot, these will too

Dial M for Murder poster
Dial M for Murder
1954 · dir. Alfred Hitchcock
🍅 90%★ 8.1thriller · crime · drama

The same hand behind both of them: Alfred Hitchcock

The difference: Trades the scale of North by Northwest for an angle of its own

When her American lover visits London, a wealthy woman’s jealous husband hatches a plan to murder her and inherit her fortune.

To Catch a Thief poster
To Catch a Thief
1955 · dir. Alfred Hitchcock
🍅 95%★ 7.4mystery · romance · thriller

Both are Alfred Hitchcock's work, and they rhyme

The difference: Easier on the scale than North by Northwest

When a string of jewel robberies hits the French Riviera, suspicion falls on retired thief John “The Cat” Robie. To clear his name, he sets out to trap the copycat himself—entangling a wealthy widow and her beguiling daughter in a seductive game of pursuit, deception, and desire.

Adrift poster
Adrift
2018 · dir. Baltasar Kormákur
🍅 70%★ 6.6thriller · romance · adventureHulu

Both land tension and scale at once

The difference: The scrappier of the two with critics

Tami Oldham and Richard Sharp couldn't anticipate that they would be sailing directly into one of the most catastrophic hurricanes in recorded history. In the aftermath of the storm, Tami awakens to find Richard badly injured and their boat in ruins. With no hope of rescue, Tami must now find the strength and determination to save herself and the only man she has ever loved.

Suspicion poster
Suspicion
1941 · dir. Alfred Hitchcock
🍅 97%★ 7.2mystery · romance · thriller

Romantic thriller in both cases

The difference: Leans harder into mystery than North by Northwest does

A sheltered heiress falls for a charming playboy and elopes with him, but soon discovers his gambling vice and mounting debts. As his lies deepen and those around them meet mysterious ends, she begins to suspect that her husband’s affection may conceal a deadly motive—and that she could be his next victim.

Sorcerer poster
Sorcerer
1977 · dir. William Friedkin
🍅 84%★ 7.7thriller · adventure

Adventure built on tension, twice over

Four men from different parts of the globe, all hiding from their pasts in the same remote South American town, agree to risk their lives transporting several cases of dynamite (which is so old that it is dripping unstable nitroglycerin) across dangerous jungle terrain.

Young and Innocent poster
Young and Innocent
1937 · dir. Alfred Hitchcock
🍅 100%★ 6.8thriller · romance · mystery

Both lean on romance more than on thriller

The difference: Made in the 1930s, in a different era of the craft

When a young writer is falsely accused of murdering a famous actress, he escapes custody and joins forces with the daughter of a police constable to prove his innocence.

From Russia with Love poster
From Russia with Love
1963 · dir. Terence Young
🍅 97%★ 7.3action · thriller · adventurePrime Video

Both are working the same pair: assassination, spy

Agent 007 is back in the second installment of the James Bond series, this time battling a secret crime organization known as SPECTRE. Russians Rosa Klebb and Kronsteen are out to snatch a decoding device known as the Lektor, using the ravishing Tatiana to lure Bond into helping them. Bond willingly travels to meet Tatiana in Istanbul, where he must rely on his wits to escape with his life in a series of deadly encounters with the enemy.

Notorious poster
Notorious
1946 · dir. Alfred Hitchcock
🍅 96%★ 7.9drama · crime · mystery

The same preoccupation in both: espionage

In order to help bring Nazis to justice, U.S. government agent T.R. Devlin recruits Alicia Huberman, the American daughter of a convicted German war criminal, as a spy. As they begin to fall for one another, Alicia is instructed to win the affections of Alexander Sebastian, a Nazi hiding out in Brazil. When Sebastian becomes serious about his relationship with Alicia, the stakes get higher, and Devlin must watch her slip further undercover.

Marnie poster
Marnie
1964 · dir. Alfred Hitchcock
🍅 78%★ 7.1thriller · mystery · romance

Tense adventure, and it commits to that

Marnie is a beautiful but emotionally withdrawn thief, stealing from employers before disappearing under new identities. When her new boss, Mark Rutland, discovers her secret, his fascination turns to obsession, and he blackmails her into marriage, convinced he can cure her. But as he probes deeper into Marnie’s fractured mind, long-buried fears and compulsions begin to surface.

Day of Wrath poster
Day of Wrath
1943 · dir. Carl Theodor Dreyer
🍅 100%★ 8drama · history

Common ground: fugitive

In a Danish village in the early 1600s, a young woman named Anne, whose mother was thought to be a witch, develops sympathy toward an old woman, Marte, who is accused of witchcraft. The intervention of Anne's older but kindly husband, Pastor Absalon saved her mother -- but now, urged on by his overbearing mother, he refuses to help Marte. When Absalon's son returns home and is attracted to Anne, it's a matter of time before her family destiny catches up with her.

The Time Machine poster
The Time Machine
1960 · dir. George Pal
🍅 77%★ 7.5thriller · adventure · fantasy

Thriller with a pulse of scale, in both cases

A Victorian Englishman travels to the far future and finds that humanity has divided into two hostile species.

Vertigo poster
Vertigo
1958 · dir. Alfred Hitchcock
🍅 94%★ 8.2mystery · romance · thriller

Romantic adventure, and it commits to that

A retired San Francisco detective suffering from acrophobia investigates the strange activities of an old friend's wife, all the while becoming dangerously obsessed with her.

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The best-reviewed films that share North by Northwest’s defining feeling.