 The task of bringing this novel to the screen was originally  assigned to writer Ernest Lehman (qv) and director  Alfred Hitchcock (I) (qv). Lehman eventually went to Hitchcock and  told him that he couldnt come up with anything. Hitchcock told him  not to worry about it, that theyd do something else. Lehman said,  "But what about MGM?" Hitchcock replied "We wont tell them." That  "something else" that they came up with was  _North by Northwest (1959)_ (qv).