Notorious

Plot synopsis:
In April 1946, Alicia Huberman (Ingrid Bergman), the American daughter of a convicted Nazi spy, is recruited by government agent T. R. Devlin (Cary Grant) to infiltrate an organization of Nazis who have moved to Brazil after World War II. When Alicia refuses to help the police, Devlin plays recordings of her fighting with her father and insisting that she loves America.
While awaiting the details of her assignment in Rio de Janeiro, Alicia and Devlin fall in love, though his feelings are complicated by his knowledge of her promiscuous past. When Devlin gets instructions to persuade her to seduce Alex Sebastian (Claude Rains), one of her father's friends and a leading member of the group, Devlin fails to convince his superiors that Alicia is not fit for the job. Devlin is also informed that Sebastian once was in love with Alicia. Devlin puts up a stoic front when he informs Alicia about the mission. Alicia concludes that he was merely pretending to love her as part of his job.
Devlin contrives to have Alicia meet Sebastian at a horse riding club. He recognizes her and invites her to dinner where he says that he always knew they would be reunited. Sebastian quickly invites Alicia to dinner the following night at his home, where he will host a few business acquaintances. Devlin and Captain Paul Prescott of the US Secret Service (Louis Calhern) tell Alicia to memorize the names and nationalities of everyone there. At dinner, Alicia notices that a guest becomes agitated at the sight of certain wine bottles, and is ushered quickly from the room. When the gentlemen are alone at the end of the dinner, this guest apologizes and tries to go home, but another of the Nazi group insists on driving him (to his death).
Soon Alicia reports to Devlin, "You can add Sebastian's name to my list of playmates." When Sebastian proposes, Alicia informs Devlin; he coldly tells her to do whatever she wants. Deeply disappointed, she marries Sebastian.
After she returns from her honeymoon, Alicia is able to tell Devlin that the key ring her husband gave her lacks the key to the wine cellar. That, and the bottle episode at the dinner, lead Devlin to urge Alicia to hold a grand party so he can investigate. Alicia secretly steals the key from Sebastian's ring, and Devlin and Alicia search the cellar. Devlin accidentally breaks a bottle; inside is black sand (later proven to be uranium ore). Devlin takes a sample, cleans up, and locks the door as Sebastian comes down for more champagne. Alicia and Devlin kiss to cover their tracks. Devlin makes an exit. Sebastian realizes that the cellar key is missing – yet overnight it is returned to his key ring. When he returns to the cellar, he finds the glass and sand from the broken bottle.
Now Sebastian has a problem: he must silence Alicia, but cannot expose her without revealing his own blunder to his fellow Nazis, who he knows would kill him for it. Sebastian discusses the situation with his mother (Leopoldine Konstantin) and she suggests that Alicia "die slowly" by poisoning. They poison her coffee and she quickly falls ill. During a visit from Sebastian's friend Dr. Anderson, Alicia realizes both where the uranium has been mined and what is causing her sickness (Sebastian and his mother prevent Dr. Anderson from drinking from Alicia's cup). Alicia collapses and is taken to her room, where the telephone has been removed and she is too weak to leave.
Devlin is alarmed when she fails to appear at their next rendezvous, and attempts to make a social visit. He sneaks into Alicia's quarters, where she tells him that Sebastian and his mother poisoned her. After confessing his love for her, Devlin carries her out of the mansion in full view of Sebastian's Nazi cabal. Sebastian goes along with Devlin's story that Alicia must go to the hospital. Outside, Sebastian begs to go with them, knowing that the Nazis suspect the truth, but Devlin and Alicia drive away, leaving Sebastian to face his erstwhile friends.

Tags: romantic, murder

Review:
Notorious has everything...inimitable Hitchcock moments, mystery, suspense, personal drama, high romance, passion, great character development, international espionage, nuanced acting, a visually stunning foreign locale, post-war period mystique, patriotism, fine supporting cast, a charmingly evil Claude Rains, a most sinister Mme. Konstantin, Grant at his most enigmatic and romantic, and Bergman her most alluring and luminous.
Then their orders do arrive, and Alicia is assigned to infiltrate the house and the bedroom of the Nazi leader, Alexander Sebastian (Claude Rains).This movie delivers a very different kind of suspense from Hitchcock's more famous NORTH BY NORTHWEST.
Who but Hitchcock could imbue the innocent sentence, "I wish to talk to you," with such chilling power?This is one of Ingrid Bergman's best performances; Alicia is hardly perfect, but brave and lovely.
When a superior disparages Alicia for the lack of "character" she has shown by following the orders he himself has given her, Devlin sarcastically lashes out: "She may be risking her life, but when it comes to being a *lady,* she doesn't hold a candle to your wife, sir, sitting in Washington playing bridge with three other ladies of great honor and virtue."  Yet Devlin himself is often unsympathetic and harsh in his treatment of Alicia, and the unfairness of that treatment is sharply highlighted in a manner very sympathetic to her.Not to be overlooked is Rains' magnificent rendition of Alexander Sebastian, a villainous but human and rather weak man who genuinely loves Alicia.
Also superb is Leopoldine Konstantin as Sebastian's domineering, scheming mother.NOTORIOUS is intense and meticulously crafted, and benefits from the best acting in any Hitchcock movie.
In Alfred Hitchcock's 1946 film, `Notorious', Cary Grant plays T.R. Devlin, an American agent who employs the assistance of Alicia Huberman, (Ingrid Bergman) a German expatriate whose father has just been convicted as a German spy.
Rarely is a viewer treated to so much talent in all areas of film creation: Hitch directing, Gregg Toland photographing, Ben Hecht writing, Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman and Claude Rains acting.
Nominally, the film is about the OSS (the pre-natal version of the CIA) using a compromised young daughter of a condemned, unrepentant Nazi to infiltrate a cell of German expatriates in Rio de Janeiro just after the close of the Second World War. The plot hinges on some nonsense involving "uranium ore" stuffed in wine bottles in the cellar of Claude Rains' mansion.
Cary Grant proves to be a true soldier, spending much of his screen-time either expressionless or with his back turned to the camera (!), unselfishly giving the film to Bergman, even though his part is actually the more interesting one.
One of Hitchcock's most thrilling examinations of psychosexual ambiguity, with the Grant-Bergman relationship veering from an initial meet-cute to genuine (beautifully conveyed) mutual delight to sadistic manipulation  - he makes a whore of her and forces the fact again and again into her face, seldom giving an inch until the very end, where his change of heart has a largely tacked on feeling.
The main plot can hardly match the complexity of the central relationship, even though it's an excellently constructed yarn, with the fine set pieces of the party and the ultimate escape, which is essentially a battle between Rains and Grant for possession of the weakened Bergman - a finale which emphasizes how she's always been a prisoner, of her father's myth, of the male system, of her own emotions..
But I believe that the primary reason Notorious excels is because of the abiding friendship, professional respect and unrequited love that existed between Alfred Hitchcock and Ingrid Bergman as they stepped up to make the film.
Yet when Dev - ever the mercenary genius of improvisation - makes full use of Rains' approach and, pulling Alicia to him as they stand outside the wine cellar, orders her to kiss him, Bergman actually surpasses her own track record.Suddenly in the arms of the man she really loves she is overcome with emotion; and for one second, maybe two, she separates her mouth from his, and in an attempt to give voice to the indescribable and to forge, experience and register a moment of pure intimacy, she utters one word, his name,  'Dev!' and all hell breaks loose.
So much emotion conveyed with so little and in such a brief period of time.It is because of moments like these that Notorious is timeless - the film gets under your skin and into your psyche - and given the history of the film and her beautiful performance at the center of it, it is fitting that it should be Bergman.
Another very effective trick used in the party sequence is to cut between close-ups of Bergman to point-of-view shots that show off the vastness of the rooms, which make us feel her disconcertedness.The slow and deliberate pace of the main part of Notorious also allows for the effective staging of several suspense set-pieces.
You can also see when looking at scenes like the business with the key or the wine bottle why Hitchcock disliked last-minute twists – the suspense wouldn't work if the audience weren't aware of the actions and knowledge of all the characters.We have here one of the most stellar casts Hitchcock had ever bagged, with both Grant and Bergman at the height of their popularity.
Claude Rains too has a complex part, as a man who has to come to terms with his own gargantuan mistake, and it was his steady, deep performance that got the Oscar nomination.In the end though, it is Hitchcock's utter devotion to suspense over substance that is the Achilles heel of Notorious.
This is Exhibit A for that.Cast-wise, it's difficult to imagine not liking a film with Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains and Louis Calhern....but this story is just agonizing in its slowness and incredibly stupid in its romance angle.
This tale about the conflict among the love and the duty is set Rio Janeiro, Brazil, post-WWII;it concerns about an enticing spy(daughter of a Nazi convicted traitor)named Alice(Ingrid Bergman).She's sent by Chief(a cynical Louis Calhern)US government to marry an old spy called Sebastian(Claude Rains)adored by his mother(Konstantin) and Agent Devlin is assigned to survey her.It's a tense psychological drama with espionage and packs various set pieces with usual Hitchcock touches as the exciting love scene,the McGuffin-uranium,the final climax downstairs.The film is a tense thriller blending passionate romance,complex intrigue maintained throughout and a twisted and chillingly suspenseful ending.Here the ¨McGuffin is the uranium,for Hitch the McGuffin is a gimmick and isn't important in the writings,its origin is a Scottish name.Hitchcoch says in the famous interview with Truffaut(said to be his best film) that he along with the screenwriter(Ben Hetch) went to speak with famed nuclear scientific and later were pursued for FBI during months.
The actors give a magnificent performances all around.Ingrid Bergman(Under Capricorn,Spellbound) as distinguished and brilliant spy is marvellous.Gary Grant(Suspicion,North by Northwest,to catch a thief) as embittered and lovesick agent is sensational.The mommy's boy,Claude Rains(1889-1956) is top-notch,he was nominated to Oscar for his sensible interpretation.Besides Louis Calhern(1895-1956)(I confess) as cynic and elegant spy and excellent Madame Konstantine as possessive mommy.Wonderful black and white cinematography by Ted Tetzlaff(also director).The film is considered one of the finest Hitchcock romantic thrillers.It's remade for television in the 80s by Colin Bucksey with John Shea and Jean Pierre Cassel..
How can you get any better than The Master, Alfred Hitchcock, and arguably two of the greatest actors of all time, Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman?
He has collaborated with Hitchcock before in eight films, of which this is probably the best.It's a love story, no matter what the setting, and who better to star in a love story than Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman.
Hitchcock's able to get so much out of so little tension-wise, yet doesn't seem to ever lack giving the film as much a romantic vibe as even Casablanca, if not with a good shot of his usual wicked fun in doing a spy movie.
Notorious is one movie that do justice in every aspect .this movie grippes you from the start to the end .its a typical love story coated with extravagant specialty of Hitchcock's suspense and mystery but its for sure a mile high from Hitchcock's other triumphs , the script is magnificently written by Ben Hecht and the stardom cast really makes this movie something beyond legacy .
The slow, fluid, subtle, constant interplay between Cary Grant and Claude Rains (as Devlin the lover and Alex the husband) and Ingrid Bergman (as Alicia, the object of both men's desires) is breathtaking in its complex simplicity yet terrifying in its blunt attitudes.
"Simple story" made into "a gem" (Ted Prigge) with "the maximum effect from the minimum of elements" (Francois Truffaut) that absorbs its audience through the attention paid to single details to visuals and haunting camera-work that gets its climax with the close-ups of the objects, the 'non human' characters of the movie.A BOTTLE of champagne (with its prelude of explosion), a KEY (with its hold of entry into the hidden secret) and a GLASS (with the relief from reality or senses in jeopardy) constitute wonderful tools for the MacGuffin, Hitchcock's plot device which is not only mysteriously uncovered by both the characters and the viewers but also powerfully evokes the repression and hypocrisy of the super-villains of the time, the Nazis.
Within a variety of blonde beauties that Hitchcock selected for his thrilling stories, it is not the first time Ms Bergman was cast in the Hitchcock film (she had been cast one year before in SPELLBOUND), yet, her role in NOTORIOUS is rightly placed along the world acclaimed masterpiece CASABLANCA.
Peter Viertel who met Cary Grant while NOTORIOUS was being filmed observes that Hitchcock saw something more in the actor, something more in his face, something far more than a leading man.
If art cinema thrives on emphasising the ordinary or seemingly unnecessary and making it come across as quite broad and epic then Notorious succeeds at exactly this at certain times, specifically when champagne and champagne bottles are involved as tension and foreboding is racked up.Made during America's 'Golden Age'; the classical Hollywood era, Notorious delivers an interesting story second to an equally intriguing character focus revolving around T.R. Devlin (Grant) and Alicia Huberman (Bergman), one an agent and one wrapped into helping said agent and his organisation in tracking down some Nazis whom have escaped to South America.
I must say that this is probably due to the Hitchcock touch, that provides the movie with lots of style and flair as well as some incredibly well build up and executed sequences.The movie has some real classic thriller moments, such as a sequences involving champagne bottles (not going to spoil any more of it) and a great memorable ending.Like basically all '40's and older movies, the movie starts of rather slow and formulaic but once things really start to take off (from the moment on they land in Rio) the movie just grabs you by the throat with its story, characters, atmosphere and thriller moments.It's one fine looking movie with some real great camera-work.
The story is somewhat slow, and at times is even uncomfortable, but it is held together by the director's masterful planning, along with some good writing and a high-profile cast.The plot concerns an espionage assignment, but the thrust of the movie is really much more about the persons involved, and about how they are affected by the job, than it is about the spy scenario itself.
His daughter Alicia Huberman (Ingrid Bergman), who is notorious for her affairs and drinking problem but loyal to her country, is contacted by the cynical government agent T.R. Devlin (Cary Grant) for an assignment in Rio de Janeiro spying a network of Nazi's friends of her father.
Nevertheless Alexander discovers that she is a spy and together with his mother, they slowly poison her to avoid raising suspect in the other Nazis."Notorious" is a good movie of Alfred Hitchcock and nostalgic for those like me that were born in Rio de Janeiro.
"Notorious" is often hailed as one of Alfred Hitchcock's finest productions, and with a cast that includes Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, and Claude Rains, why shouldn't it be?
Dull and boring:  the cardinal sins of filmmaking, sins that Hitchcock had previously committed with "Rebecca," and would commit again with "The Paradine Case," "Stage Fright," and "Under Capricorn."  The "master of suspense" did not earn that title through those films, and there is little suspense to be found in this supposed "espionage thriller" that is, in fact, a romance.Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman smooch up a storm while resident villain Claude Rains steals the acting honors as a Nazi spy.
I personally do not see the great appeal of Cary Grant and I feel like another male actor, one with a more emotional side, would have played Devlin better..
The story centers around Alicia (played by Ingrid Bergman) and Devlin (Cary Grant).
What follows in the storyline revolves around the question, how far will both Alicia and Devlin go in order for the mission to be a success?Despite the fact that Notorious' writer, Ben Hecht, was nominated for a 1947 Academy Award for best original screenplay, I feel that majority of the story is told through the movement and placement of the camera.
Claude Rains, who made a wonderful co-star with Bergman in CASABLANCA a few years before, makes a nice Nazi, though the true villain is undoubtedly the mother played by Leopoldine Kanstantin.Check out Hitchcock's genius in the 360 degrees shot of Cary Grant.
Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman carrying on long conversations throughout the film is not my idea of a great movie.
The plot is set up effectively in the first half an hour, presenting our two heroes Devlin (Grant) and Alicia (Bergman) as people who while come from very different backgrounds but share an impenetrable bond from when they first meet till the end of the film.
This relationship these two characters share is the finest thing about 'Notorious', the chemistry between Grant and Bergman and the story of unrequited love they tell through it is a mastery of subtlety and gesture, particularly towards the end of the film.
Sometimes using this technique for the final of a film works well, but if feels like the story and characters need more explanation sometimes it can do substantial damage to a picture and I believe this is the case with Notorious.
With Cary Grant at the helm as the distant secret service agent, Bergman as the loving tormented female figure, and Hitchcock behind the cameras, this film delivers.There is lots of adventure, suspense scenes well put together and effective, acting and dialog solid...But amidst all the action there is at the center, at the core of the events a love story, contorted and complicated but which really makes the whole film.
It stars Cary Grant as Devlin, an FBI agent, and Ingrid Bergman as Alicia Huberman.
Alfred Hitchcock directed this suspenseful WWII romantic thriller that stars Ingrid Bergman as Alicia Hubermann, who has taken to a reckless lifestyle after her father was revealed to be an enemy agent.
For Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant's second Alfred Hitchcock film.
There is much to admire in this restrained and unsentimental story of a patriotic American woman named Alicia Huberman who agrees to spy on her traitorous father's NAZI associates.Cary Grant is excellent as her hard-edged agent-handler Devlin, who fights his feelings of love for Alicia.Claude Rains gives his usual superb performance as the NAZI who completes the eternal triangle.The Ben Hecht/Cliford Odets script, Alfred Hitchkock's direction, and the Ted Tetzlaff/Gregg Toland cinematography are all first rate.But it is Ingrid Bergman's mesmerizingly erotic performance that sets this movie apart.
The characters are complex, due to a note perfect script by the great Ben Hecht, one of the great film writers, surprisingly naturalistic and intense performances from film icons Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman and Claude Rains, and of course, Hitchcock's visual mastery.
One of the very best works of the American period of the great Alfred Hitchcock with both fist-class names in Hollywood, Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman .
Golden moments of thriller, which managed to be written as one of the greatest masterpiece of Hollywood Golden Era. Hitchcock rocks in that film, Ingrid Bergman gives her best performance ever, Cary Grant suits perfect his role and Claude Rains gives his best performance.
I love both Ingrid and Cary Grant in everything they have performed.Furthermore, Notorious is a finely crafted, sumptuously produced romantic thriller that has the distinction of featuring director Hitchcock, and stars Grant and Bergman at their collective best.
What makes this movie so amazing is that Claude Rains, the Nazi, is nicer to Ingrid Berman than Cary Grant is.
There are three things about this film that make it especially noteworthy, and they are (in no particular order):  Ingrid Bergman, Cary Grant and Suspense.
Of course, Bergman and Grant fall in love, and this is the real point of the film.Hitchcock uses many of his regular techniques: rapid editing to evoke suspense, long pull-in shots to direct the audience's attention, and his "mother figure" motif.
This is the movie that made me fall in love with Ingrid Bergman and Hitchcock.
About the interpretations I have to say that I really liked the interpretation of Cary Grant who played as Devlin and the interpretation of Ingrid Bergman who played as Alicia Huberman.Finally I believe that "Notorious" is a good movie to watch and spend your time on it but do not expect much from it because you are going to be let down.
As a thriller, it's right up there with Hitchcock's best films; as a romance it's one step up from mediocre (well, maybe a step and a half, but only because we're talking about Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant here).