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This is the latest entry on my #SummerWithHitchcock project. The film follows Alicia Huberman (Ingrid Bergman), the daughter of a convicted Nazi spy, who is reluctantly recruited for a job by T.R. Devlin (Cary Grant). The job is to get closer to a Nazi organization established in Brazil and led by Alex Sebastian (Claude Rains).
The truth is that in terms of the film viewing experience, the "job" doesn't matter. What matters is that we care about the safety of both Devlin and Alicia as they get closer and closer to the organization. And Hitchcock being Hitchcock, well, he was a master in creating tension and suspense. The film is full of edge-of-your-seat moments that have you wondering "will they or won't they catch them?", and Hitchcock uses his best tricks and camera movements to achieve this.
Aside from that, the casting is great. Grant is perfect as the suave, no-nonsense agent, and Bergman is great as the tough-but-vulnerable lady. The cast is rounded out by Rains and Leopoldine Konstantin, who plays his overbearing mother and also a member of the organization. Both are menacing, but without falling into cartoonish territory. Those are just some of the things Notorious has in its favor, but the bottom line is that it's a pretty darn good thriller.
Grade:
NOTORIOUS
(1946, Hitchcock)
(1946, Hitchcock)
"People will laugh at you, the invincible Devlin, in love with someone who isn't worth even wasting the words on."
This is the latest entry on my #SummerWithHitchcock project. The film follows Alicia Huberman (Ingrid Bergman), the daughter of a convicted Nazi spy, who is reluctantly recruited for a job by T.R. Devlin (Cary Grant). The job is to get closer to a Nazi organization established in Brazil and led by Alex Sebastian (Claude Rains).
The truth is that in terms of the film viewing experience, the "job" doesn't matter. What matters is that we care about the safety of both Devlin and Alicia as they get closer and closer to the organization. And Hitchcock being Hitchcock, well, he was a master in creating tension and suspense. The film is full of edge-of-your-seat moments that have you wondering "will they or won't they catch them?", and Hitchcock uses his best tricks and camera movements to achieve this.
Aside from that, the casting is great. Grant is perfect as the suave, no-nonsense agent, and Bergman is great as the tough-but-vulnerable lady. The cast is rounded out by Rains and Leopoldine Konstantin, who plays his overbearing mother and also a member of the organization. Both are menacing, but without falling into cartoonish territory. Those are just some of the things Notorious has in its favor, but the bottom line is that it's a pretty darn good thriller.
Grade: