Don't Ever Leave Me.

Notorious is another critically acclaimed Alfred Hitchcock film. I knew the film was suppose to be good, and I can't say I was disappointed. The film's plot hooks you right from the beginning like most of Hitch's films, and keeps you entertained till the end. The characters were all likeable and interesting, but they were not Hitchcock's best. I think the only real problem the storyline had was that it seemed a little dated at times. Hitchcock's direction was amazing throughout the entire film. All of the ariel shots in Rio and Miami were beautiful. And Alicia's collapse/hallucination towards the end of the film was brilliant. Hitch definetly gave some outstanding work on his part. The film's acting was all great. Cary Grant played Devlin well, but it was probably not his best performance. While Ingrid Bergman was slightly annoying at first she quickly grew on me and pulled off Alicia very well. Rains and the rest of the supporting cast was great just as well. Overall, Notorious may not be Hitchcock at his best; but the intriguing plot, spot-on direction, and enjoyable performances will impress audiences.

Romantic and courageous Ingrid Bergman at her best

Cary Grant is playing more than just the charmer he played in so many other films. Here he is an American agent working with his beloved Ingrid Bergman as she spies on Nazis in Brazil in 1946. Nazis have located uranium, and they are unrepentant and still ambitious to finish what Hitler started. In 1946 the Cold War with the Soviet Union hadn't begun yet, and America's enemy was still thought of as Germany.

The plot seems farfetched to us today because we know that the Soviets replaced the Germans as our rivals, but when the film was made it would have been very believable and important.

Ingrid Bergman is assigned the task of going into deep cover in a Nazi nest in Brazil. One of her former boyfriends is now an important member of that nest. The plan is to stage a rendezvous between Ingrid and her German acquaintance, and have her report back to Cary and crew about what she learns.

The Nazi, Claude Rains, instantly falls back in love with Ingrid. Who wouldn't. They marry. The only problem is that Cary and Ingrid are in love.

Why would Ingrid marry Rains? Because Cary is unable to tell her that he loves her. It is an odd part of the story, an apparent weakness. We have to stretch a bit in order to excuse the writing, so I'll just call it a weakness of the script and move on.

The key to the whole spy story is a wine closet. This is yet another weakness in the writing. How did Ingrid and Cary know that the key to everything was the wine closet? Because they read the script, that's how.

Suffice it to say that at the end Cary must rescue his damsel in distress in a house full of Nazis.

Ingrid Bergman is superb in this film. She makes the film. Her romanticism and her expressive face make this film. Cary Grant is a bit wooden, as Hitchcock had to balance romantic leading man with a James Bond type, and also had to make him undemonstrative in order to justify Ingrid's betrayal of him. We're walking a tight line here, and it shows in the wooden quality of Cary's acting. The fact that he didn't really succeed in the role is probably due to the awkwardness of the script. But Ingrid is good enough for the both of them.

The "ending" of this film isn't really shown. What will happen to Claude Rains isn't shown. There are some very suspicious Nazis asking to speak with him, a door closes behind them, and our movie is done.

Despite the script problem that dictates that Cary Grant can't tell Ingrid he loves her because he "just can't", therefore draining the blood out of his character, this is a top notch film highlighted by a wonderful performance by Ingrid Bergman.

Hitchcock and Bergman at Their Zenith in Brilliant Thriller

It's difficult to identify the exact pinnacle of Alfred Hitchcock's masterworks, especially as he had a most fruitful period during the 1950's until the 1960 classic "Psycho", but 1946's "Notorious" is arguably his most perfectly crafted and cast film. First, there is a sharp, intensely plotted script by the estimable Ben Hecht that focuses on Alicia Huberman, the daughter of a convicted Nazi spy, and T.R. Devlin, an American agent hired to convince Alicia to spy on a clandestine group of neo-Nazis based in Rio de Janeiro. This means she would have to seduce and eventually marry Alex Sebastian, a key group member who has never gotten over Alicia in his heart.

This triangle is embodied by three stars at the height of their powers. A primarily poker-faced Cary Grant portrays Devlin close to the vest and charismatically hides his emotions under a veil of cold arrogance. In a series of scenes that pierce with a subverted eroticism, Devlin falls in love with Alicia but cannot find the courage to admit that to himself or to her. Claude Rains, on the other hand, imbues Sebastian with such an open romanticism and sad streaks of jealousy that we can actually sympathize with a Nazi war criminal a year after WWII ended, quite a daring feat within the film's historical context.

At the vortex, though, is Ingrid Bergman, who probably gives her most accomplished performance as Alicia. At the time, she was deified as the chaste Mother Superior in Leo McCarey's harmless "The Bells of St. Mary's" with Bing Crosby. Bergman turned a smart corner here as a "loose" woman in love with the bottle until she is transformed by her love for Devlin, at which point, she becomes a stylish decoy to draw the naïve Sebastian to her alluring charms. Ethereally beautiful and constantly pained, she conveys much of her character's feelings through her eyes and subtle facial expressions because she and Grant portray two people who can't admit they desperately want to be together even if her life depends on it. Their failure to communicate leads to Alicia sinking deeper into the morass of some nasty espionage business that ultimately puts her life in jeopardy.

The chemistry between the two legends is palpable, especially in the then-controversial, three-minute kissing sequence that put censors into a tizzy. However, above all, this is a Hitchcock film, the film is filled with his genius for ingenious subjective camerawork and suspenseful set pieces, the latter perfectly illustrated by the party sequence at Sebastian's mansion starting with an unbelievable dolly shot right into Alicia's hand clasping the cellar key, which she passes to Devlin to find what is being hidden in the wine bottles. There are intriguing performances on the sidelines with Louis Calhern as the head of the American agency in Rio and the intimidating Madame Konstantin as Alex's ice-cold mother, both displaying a Machiavellian spirit to get what they want.

The Criterion Collection has done another masterful job with their DVD package, including an alternative audio commentary track featuring renowned Hitchcock scholar Marian Keane providing insightful scene-specific analysis and film historian Rudy Behlmer. As was common with movie hits of the day, the movie was recreated in condensed form for radio, and the 1948 Lux Radio theater adaptation starring the voices of Ingrid Bergman and Joseph Cotten is included as well. There are also lots of still photos, a collection of trailers and teasers, and even production correspondence and script excerpts of deleted scenes and alternate endings for the more anal-retentive among us. This is a true classic and required viewing for any fan of Hitchcock, Bergman, Grant or Rains.