Notorious

Notorious is a classic Hitchcock film from the time when he concentrated on story and substance rather than pop-art stylism. Not to knock some of his later important films but I find my favorites to be the polished gems from the 1940s like Rebecca, Shadow of a Doubt, and Suspicion over later films like Vertigo, Marnie, and The Birds. Of course complaining about them is like whining about flaws in a diamond that can’t be seen by the naked eye. It might drop the value a bit for a discerning consumer, but it is still a diamond.

Notorious brings together all of the things that made the studio system great. An A-list director is able to work with three A-list actors with whom the director is familiar. These three actors form the points of a triangle of romance and intrigue. First there is Ingrid Bergman. Bergman had already worked with Hitchcock starring in the 1945 film Spellbound. She had also appeared in the impressive Gaslight as woman beleaguered by her husband, which might have influenced her role here. Bergman was at the height of her career having just been in The Bells of St. Mary’s and just before the tabloid fodder that came out of Joan of Arc. Her Alicia Huberman is the notorious character of the title. Alicia is a partying German immigrant living in Miami whose father has just been convicted as a Nazi sympathizer. The CIA approaches her to do her patriotic duty as a spy for her adopted land and sends her to Rio to ingratiate herself with other German ex-patriots, of a potentially Nazi sympathizing persuasion, to find out what they are up to.

Cary Grant worked with Hitchcock in Suspicion as the cool and detached husband of Joan Fontaine. Here Grant again plays a reserved character as by-the-books CIA agent T.R. Devlin. Devlin is Alicia’s handler and the two fall quickly in love before she receives her assignment. Of course Alicia, as is her nature, throws herself into the affair stating that she is a changed woman and that she won’t be the runaround partier that she was when Devlin found her in Miami. Devlin may be just as involved but he won’t admit to it. He proceeds with stern looks and subtle tests of her affection leaving her free to choose to help the CIA without objecting to the questionable nature of the work. Alicia is of course broken up about this apparent dismissal of her feelings and her love and turns instead to her work with relish.

This work and the nefarious Nazi sympathizers have a marked effect on the story. The ringleader, and Alicia’s contact, is Alex Sebastian. Sebastian is played beautifully by Claude Rains who brings both refinement and shrewd calculation to the role as both a loving and devoted man and a murderous politico. Rains had not been in a Hitchcock film previously but he had a widely varying resume playing in horror films (The Invisible Man, The Wolf Man) adventures (the Adventures of Robin Hood, The Sea Hawk), and mainstream dramas (Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and Casablanca). Rains excelled not only in playing the bad guy, but in playing ambiguous characters whose actions and motives may be swayed by events.

The film is small in its scope. It is a love triangle between Alicia, Devlin, and Sebastian. Alicia throws herself to the cause agreeing to marry Sebastian for the good of the country. Talk about throwing yourself on the grenade. But more than a love story or a story of intrigue Hitchcock gives us a film that is signature Hitchcock. Only Hitchcock could make late drives, or cups of coffee, or afternoon meetings in the park feel heavy with dread.

This film has a number of notable distinctions. It contains one of the longest kisses in film history and would not have passed the censors except that it is broken into more ‘acceptable’ pieces by the editing of the film. It also has one of the most famous shots in filmdom, a grand crane shot that comes down a sweeping staircase over a lavish party and zooms and zooms until it is focused in on a small key clutched in a nervous hand. No one could build suspense in the audience like Hitchcock. He always said that a bomb is not suspenseful. Two people sitting above a bomb having a normal conversation while only the audience sees the ticking bomb, now that is suspense. And no one has done it with as much style since. Notorious also features a three foot cup of coffee. The cup is a trick to make a cup of poisoned coffee look as big as the actor in the frame lends an even greater sense of doom to the character.

Notorious isn’t as slick as Vertigo and it is in black and white but it is a marvelous movie that showcases one of Hollywood’s greatest directors at the height of his game. It also shows the remarkable talents of three of Hollywood’s most bankable and dependable stars. Add a great story to boot and some glamorous sets and costumes and Notorious is a film of pitch perfection and immense enjoyment.