(Enlarge) Cary Grant is on the run again in Alfred Hitchcock's 1959 thriller "North By Northwest," remastered now in high-definition.

Madison Avenue culture is a blip on the ol' radar screen again, thanks to AMC's cable-TV show "Mad Men." So it's interesting to track its picture of early '60s male corporate hegemony alongside a contemporary take on the breed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1959's "North By Northwest" -- just released by Warner Home Video in a pristine 50th anniversary edition.

The bar opens around mid-morning inside the executive offices at the Sterling Cooper Ad Agency, giving "Mad Men" the jump on the competition across town at "North By Northwest." There the cosmopolitan account exec played by Cary Grant has to wait until lunch for his shmoozing of clients to begin down at the Plaza Hotel, where Cary claims to have "several bartenders depending on me."

The Sterling Cooper boys vacillate between shock and awe over their secretaries, who must demonstrate superiority at what they do even while signaling their willingness to steer clear of the male realm. Cary Grant's Roger O. Thornhill (the "O" stands for nothing) would be lost without his secretary, even insisting that she ride with him in the back of a taxi with her steno book and appointment calendar at the ready. He clings to her like a mother-substitute, and indeed, his last words to her are to telephone his mother for him to arrange their next meeting.

"Mad Men's" Don Draper walked out on his mother after the war and now spends a great deal of time haunted by his loss. Despite appearing decisive and self-reliant, Don is a needy son of a gun; he may resent his own impulsive womanizing because it reminds him how much he still needs mothering.

Roger O. Thornhill (did we mention the "O" stands for nothing?) has little idea what a weak hand his life has dealt him until he is mistaken for a spy and kidnapped by goons sent by suave enemy agent James Mason. When he escapes, he begins a mid-life odyssey to adulthood, leaving "Mad Men's" zeitgeist of buttoned-down neuroses behind and seeking a new identity in world cinema at the unparalleled intersection known as "North By Northwest."

If you haven't been on that journey in recent memory, it's time to reserve a private compartment aboard the new "North By Northwest" 50th Anniversary Edition (Warner Home Video, not rated, DVD $24.98; Blu-ray Disc $34.99). Shot in the distinctive, wide-screen format of VistaVision, it has always been one of the most handsome color films in the MGM catalogue. The new high-definition restoration reveals richer, more stable colors and warmer skin tones.

Both standard DVD and Blu-ray versions also include two new documentaries -- one on the film's innovations and the other a look at the Hitchcock touch -- plus a "making of" special from the year 2000, a full-length biography of Cary Grant, a running commentary by screenwriter Ernest Lehman, a music-only track and more.

"In the world of advertising, there's no such thing as a lie, there's only expedient exaggeration," observes Roger Thornhill wryly. But it's no exaggeration to call the movie he appears in a masterpiece of escapist entertainment, and it hardly requires a copywriter to add that this is its finest video incarnation ever.

One final comparison with "Mad Men": If both Mrs. Don Draper (January Jones) and Roger Thornhill's cool blonde chaser, Eve Kendall (Eva Marie Saint), appear tailored from a similar bolt of cloth, that's because each is a stand-in for Hitchcock's bunker-buster bombshell of choice, Grace Kelly.

Columbia goes film noir

Good news! Now Sony is rummaging through its underworld vaults for more stacks of film noir currency. The first payoff comes this week in the new "Columbia Pictures Film Noir Classics, Volume 1" (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, not rated, five-DVD set $59.95).

"The Big Heat," starring Glenn Ford and Gloria Graham, is the only one of the five 1950s-vintage titles available on DVD before. Of the debuts, "Five Against the House," about a dated plot by Korean War buddies to stick-up a Reno casino, ends in a psychological muddle. But that leaves three other newcomers to reduce collectors to pools of slobbering gratitude.

To me, the strongest debutante here is Don Siegel's 1958 entry, "The Lineup," an evocative look at a vanished San Francisco, based on the radio show-turned-TV-series about Bay Area cops. After a 20-minute stretch of investigative legwork into a smuggling operation, the focus shifts to the arrival of two out-of-town sociopathic killers -- played with sweaty gusto by Eli Wallach and Robert Keith -- and things quickly come to a hard-boil. As an extra, crime writer James Ellroy takes part in perhaps the most profane and politically incorrect commentary ever to accompany a mainstream video release.

Another strong impression is created by 1958's "Murder By Contract," with Vince Edwards starring as an ultra-cool hired assassin whose string of successful hits may come to an end under the pressures of a ticking deadline. This very spare and stylish character study has economical cinematography by Lucien Ballard ("The Wild Bunch") and a lone electric guitar score reminiscent of "The Third Man."

The Stanley Kramer-produced psychological thriller from 1952, "The Sniper," sets the tone of the collection with its stark, black-and-white look at a rooftop predator with a telescopic rifle. All five films are good-looking examples of filmmaking where script and attitude meant more than marquee names. Extras are minimal, though short introductions by the likes of Martin Scorsese, Christopher Nolan and Michael Mann, plus two separate commentaries by film noir expert Eddie Muller, make this a grade-A contender for the collectors shelf.

Also new on DVD

"The Taking of Pelham 123" (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, rated R, DVD $28.96; Blu-ray Disc $39.95). Tony Scott's solid remake of the 1974 hostage thriller (itself remade for TV in 1998) benefits from intense acting by John Travolta as the criminal head case and Denzel Washington as the MTA controller caught in his tense ransom demands. Scott accentuates the contrast between the sterile, well-lit, high-tech world of the subway officials and the dark, dirty, dangerous world of those underground trains. The DVD includes several behind-the-scenes extras on both worlds.

"Night of the Creeps" Director's Cut (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, not rated, DVD $19.94; Blu-ray Disc $27.95). Fans of this cheesy 1986 sci-fi cult hit have finally gotten a clean, colorful video transfer to swoon over. The tongue-in-cheek thriller about an invasion of outer space slugs menacing two separate generations of teenagers builds to a sort of zombie fest of makeup gore and laughter. Bonus features include a commentary by writer-director Fred Dekker, a cast commentary, an unused ending and other deleted scenes, plus several "making of" featurettes. In short, Sony has taken the script's catch line, "Thrill me!," to unexpected lengths.

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