Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant) takes a seat in the train's dining car at Eve Kendall's (Eva Maria Saint) table in Hitchcock's North by Northwest.

"...honest women frighten me," confesses Roger Thornhill.
"Why?" Eve asks.
"I don't know. Somehow they seem to put me at a disadvantage," replies Roger.
"Because you're not honest with them?" Eve asks.
"Exactly!" Roger responds tersely.
"Like that business about the seven parking tickets?" Eve asks, as her eyes look Roger over.
Roger smiles. "What I mean is...the moment I meet an attractive woman, I have to start pretending I've no desire to make love to her," Roger says.
"What makes you think you have to conceal it?" Eve asks.
"She might find the idea objectionable," Roger answers.
"Then again, she might not," Eve snaps back.
Roger smiles. "Think how lucky I am to have been seated here," he says.
"Luck had nothing to do with it," Eve says seductively.
"Fate?" Roger asks.
Eve shakes her head. "I tipped the steward five dollars to seat you here if you should come in," she replies with a seductive grin on her face.
"Is that a proposition?" Roger asks, a bit surprised by her forwardness.
Eve smiles. Her eyelids flicker. "I never discuss love on an empty stomach."
"You've already eaten," Roger replies.
"But you haven't," Eve whispers shyly, staring squarely at Roger.

Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant) and Eve Kendall (Eva Marie Saint), North by Northwest, 1959

"A seduction begins with a skillful banter of words. When one has been intellectually cornered, he or she acquiesces and concedes to the sexual advance." -The Terms of Surrender

What ever happened to the lost art of conversation? Eva Maria Saint's seduction of Cary Grant on the train in North by Northwest may not just be one of the most famous seductions in cinematic history, it exemplifies a flawless model of how a amorous conversation should really flow between the two sexes. Good-looking people dressed up, engaging in the most alluring, seductively charming conversation: the French actually embellished the art of banter in the 18th century.

The civility and formal discourse of conversation has never been a strong suit in the West, when the descriptive nature of possessive nouns has replaced noetic conversation at most American dinner tables. Quel dommage! While American bar-talk vernacular might be devoid of English formalities or all the graces and gentry of the French language, none can argue that a seduction sounds better laced with a foreign accent or whispered delicately, dressed in fashion of another language. You needn't wonder why all the operas were written in Italian or French.

The last time I was in France, a French girl seduced me and I guess I've never recovered from the bliss of the encounter or from the thick French accent that painted her voice. We laid in bed, made love, flirted and she taught me all the nuisances of the French language. It was a sublime rainy evening.

Now, every time I meet a beautiful girl, I wonder if she's from France. I just want to walk up to her and whisper those magical, musical words in her ear:

"Parlez-vous Francais?"

-George Kaplan

EX Vitals
Fact 1: 220 million people in the world speak French. It's the 6th most spoken language on Earth.
Fact 2: France is the most popular tourist destination in the world. The U.S. is second.
Fact 3: France has a 99% literacy rate. The U.S. has 96%.