As a devoted Hitchcock fan, I am embarrassed to admit that it was only tonight that I first saw Notorious, his 1946 spy thriller starring Ingrid Bergman, Cary Grant, and Claude Rains. As Jimmy on South Park would say, "Wow, what a great movie."
Set in the very year it was made, the story was quite timely: the daughter of a convicted German spy is recruited by the State Dept. to become a spy herself. She is sent to Rio de Janiero to try to uncover the very people her father was working with, a group of Nazis with dastardly plans. At first Alicia rebuffs the idea, stating only that she wants to get drunk and have fun, but her contact, played by Cary Grant, is very convincing. Soon they are in Rio awaiting their instructions, and of course they have fallen in love. When they are told that the assignment is for Alicia to seduce one of the Nazis in order to infiltrate his inner circle, jealousies abound.
This classic is both an edge-of-your-seat suspense drama and a complex romance. Unlike Hitchcock's later work, it features none of the gimmicks that we know him for. This is quite simply a great story. Ingrid Bergman is so beautiful and sympathetic as a virtuous patriot disguised as a lush and a floozy. Don't let a dragging exposition deter you from this very satisfying flick. And see if you notice that the word Nazi is never even spoken.
2 comments:
Is this the one where Bergman is permitted by Grant to drive drunk at the beginning? I especially loved Claude Rains mother. She was the most interesting and sadistic character to me because she realized her sons new wife had both betrayed their country and broken his heart. Solution: let's SLOWLY poison her.
I went on kind of a Hitchcock kick myself about six months back. Having already seen the heavies: Psycho, Vertigo, The Birds, Rear Window, North by Northwest. I went for some of his older classier work and found some excellent films there as well: Rope, Rebecca, The Lady Vanishes, and Lifeboat.
I still want/need to check out: Frenzy, Dial M for Murder and Strangers on a Train.
You are so right: Claude Rains' mom has a screw loose. They poison her coffee, which adds to the theme of beverages being evil! (The plutonium is hidden in wine bottles, and of course Bergman is a total drunk.) The drunk-driving scene really disturbed me.
I think Vertigo is my favorite Hitchcock, right up there with Psycho and Rope. The first half of The Birds is so good; it seems like a different movie altogether than the last half.
Strangers on a Train is pretty ridiculous but very enjoyable. It's the movie that inspires Billy Cristal in Throw Momma From the Train!
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