North by Northwest

[christoph404]

Originally Posted by christoph404 But you could go North-northwest when the wind is southerly.......(but only if you are slightly mad)..... North by West is a compass direction as is North-northwest, but you are right about North by Northwest not being correct terminology, I think Hitchcock only realised the mistake after the film was released but no one really noticed and I think some clever French film critic saw the Shakespeare connection in the title and Hitchcock didn't argue with that!

As Batman has mentioned,there is a popular view that the title is a nod to Shakespeare but there is also a view that it is totally coincidental as I think the connection was pointed out after the films release by the critics and Hitchcock said...." oh yes, thats right, well spoted"......