I saw North By Northwest for the first time the other day, and it was much more fun and breezy than I expected. You can really draw a straight line from that to the Coen Brothers.
I’ve always felt NBN was pretty much the prototype for the whole Bond franchise.
I felt that way as well, to a point. I find it tricky to nail down the exact nature of the relationship since Grant’s performance swings much farther into pure comedy than even the jokiest Bond actor; in spite of being pre-Bond, tonally speaking it plays almost like a Bond pastiche. The influence is undeniable, in any case.