rating:
(out of
4 stars)United States; 1946
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock; produced by Alfred Hitchcock; written by Ben Hecht
Starring Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains, Louis Calhern, Madame Konstantin, Reinhold Schunzel
Below you will find a temporary review for this film. The real (better, more complete) review will be online very soon.
'Notorious' is one of Alfred Hitchcock's perfect films in the line of
'Vertigo', 'Psycho' and 'Rear Window'. It contains all of his favorite
themes, is technically perfect and stars two of the greatest actors of their
time (and all time), used in exactly the right way.
One of the stars is Ingrid Bergman. She is Alicia Huberman, a beautiful
alcoholic woman who's father is just send to prison for twenty years because
he was a Nazi spy. The other big star is Cary Grant. He plays an Agent named
Devlin. He asks Alicia to do an undercover job out of patriotism in Rio de
Janeiro. She has to pretend she likes Alex Sebastian (Claude Rains) and
makes sure she gets into his house. He and his friends, also Nazis, are up
to something, so the Americans think. Alex likes Alicia from the start and
although she has fallen in love with Devlin she continues her job, even when
Alex asks her to marry him.
I am afraid I would spoil things for you if I said more about the plot. Of
course Alicia and Devlin discover something in Alex's house, but Hitchcock
makes the film not about that. Of course it plays a part, it helps for the
mystery and the suspense, but the film has so many more themes. One of them
is Alicia and her alcohol, another is the way Devlin uses Alicia to get what
he want. Although you do not see it directly in the film, he basically asks
Alicia to have sex with a man she does not love. That also is a kind of
betrayal. Other things I leave for you to find out.
I think I liked everything about this film. The unusual way of introducing
Cary Grant, the famous kissing scene where the lips of Bergman and Grant are
not constantly touching, the perfect black and white cinematography that
includes some very terrific and famous shots, Bergman's splendid
performance. Grant and Rainsre are effective, and there is a nice little
performance from Louis Calhern. He plays Prescott, the boss of both Devlin
and Alicia. He makes every scene he is in a little better. Maybe the film
works a little different from other Hitchcock films like 'Psycho' and 'Rear
Window', suspense is created differently at times, it really does belong to
his best. It works the entire time, ending on a perfect note.