Notorious (United States, 1946)

When modern movie watchers think of Alfred Hitchcock, they often focus on his work from the 1950s and 1960s, but some of the director’s most accomplished films came earlier. Arguably his best pre-Rear Window outing was 1946’s Notorious, the first U.S.-funded movie that provided him with an opportunity to (mostly) escape from under the thumb of David O. Selznick. With full control, Hitchcock used this creative freedom to craft what some consider to be every bit the equal of the Master of Suspense’s “Big Four:” Rear Window, Psycho, Vertigo, and North by Northwest.

When Seliznick sold Notorious to R.K.O. midway through pre-production, it arrived with its dream cast in place. Headlining the production were two frequent Hitchcock collaborators – Ingrid Bergman (in her second of three outings) and Cary Grant (his second of four) – as well as the director’s good friend, Claude Rains. For Bergman, this role solidified a reputation that had been in ascent since Casablanca (which also featured Rains). For Grant, already one of Hollywood’s leading men, this provided him with an opportunity to burnish his reputation.

Although a thriller at heart, Notorious relies heavily on the romantic and sexual chemistry between its leads. Grant and Bergman share this in spades; in fact, one can make the argument it’s stronger than that between Bergman and Bogart in Casablanca. One of Notorious’ best-known scenes features a “three minute kiss” that Hitchcock choreographs with enough pauses to allow it to circumvent the Hays Code’s demand that no kiss lasts longer than 3 seconds.

Speaking of Code-skirting, an activity at which Hitchcock was a master, Notorious is able to detail some salacious activities by relying on innuendo. As the director proved repeatedly, the Code wasn’t an impediment for a filmmaker who understood its limitations and could get around them. By the time he made Psycho, the Code was starting to break down, which allowed him to do things he had never previously been able to attempt.

Notorious was written in 1945 with World War II still fresh in the minds of everyone including Hitchcock and his screenwriter, Ben Hecht. At the time, although the Soviet Union was beginning to rise in an adversarial relationship with the West, the Cold War was in its infancy. The defeated Nazis remained the enemy, even decapitated and routed. Rumors claimed that splinter cells were finding safe harbor in South America and, although it’s true that many surviving Nazis fled there after the fall of the Third Reich, they were typically more interested in laying low than pursuing Hitler’s dream. (Adolf Eichmann being one high-profile example.) For a movie in search of a universally despised villain, an expatriate Nazi proved to be a perfect choice for Hitchcock and Hecht.

Notorious opens in April 1946 (specifically, as the opening caption informs us, “Miami, Florida, 3:20 p.m., April 20, 1946”). Alicia Huberman (Bergman), the daughter of a convicted Nazi spy, is an American patriot but her familial associations have resulted in the widespread suspicion of her loyalties. This ambiguity makes her an ideal recruit for special agent T.R. Devlin (Grant): he has been tasked by his boss, Paul Prescott (Louis Calhern), to gain Alicia’s trust and cooperation. The goal is for her to seduce Alex Sebastian (Rains), a Nazi operative living in Rio de Janeiro. Sebastian is part of a spy ring whose motives have something to do with uranium and whose ends would seem to be either to bring down the Allies or restore Germany (the exact nature of the scheme is never made specific, since it falls in McGuffin territory). While waiting for the mission to begin, Alicia and Devlin fall in love. This results in a romantic triangle in which only Alex’s feelings are clear: he is besotted with Alicia. She pretends to be infatuated with him because she loves Devlin but believes he only cares about the job. Devlin hides his love for Alicia, prodding her to sleep with Alex (and eventually marry him) even though it eats at him inside.

Notorious is as much a melodrama as it is a thriller with the characters’ emotions on full display for the audience, if not necessarily for one another. Despite effectively acting as her pimp, Devlin finds it difficult to send Alicia off to Alex’s bed. He attempts (although feebly) to convince Prescott that she is unsuitable for the job. Meanwhile, Alicia recognizes what she must do to worm her way past Alex’s defenses (she openly references Mata Hari at one point) and does it because she wants to be worthy of the trust Devlin has placed in her.

Notorious becomes increasingly tense as it races toward a climax in which Alicia’s life hangs in the balance. At this point, Devlin ceases to be a bystander and jumps into action. Although there’s suspense aplenty during the final 10 minutes, there are no fights or shoot-outs. (In fact, the movie is noteworthy for its almost complete lack of on-screen violence.) Devlin springs a meticulously thought-out trap that results in a bittersweet ending.

When it comes to visual presentation, Hitchcock enjoyed pushing the envelope throughout his career, whether toying with the “single-shot” approach of Rope, the voyeur’s p-o-v in Rear Window, the spinning vortex in Vertigo, or the seemingly bloody shower scene in Psycho. Here, there are two notable sequences. The first is the painstakingly choreographed kiss. The second is a brilliant tracking shot that starts high above a ballroom and dives down to a key grasped in Alicia’s hand. It’s ostentatious to the extent that it calls attention to itself but is effective nonetheless.

There are a few aspects of the story that seem dated and/or rushed. The romance between Alicia and Devlin develops too quickly and Alex, despite being involved in a dangerous and risky endeavor requiring great secrecy, is too trusting of his old/new love, especially with Devlin hanging around. Notorious also introduces a recurring theme in Hitchcock movies about the controlling influence of a mother figure. Although she’s no Mrs. Bates, Alex’s mother (Leopoldine Konstantin), has a less-than-benign influence on her son’s politics and actions.

Notorious represented a second collaboration for Hitchcock with screenwriter Ben Hecht, one of Hollywood’s most in-demand authors. Following a positive working relationship developed with Spellbound, they were able to assemble the script for Notorious quickly and with minimal drama. The movie was successful upon release and became a foundational block in the reputations of Bergman and Grant. Their chemistry in combination with Hitchcock’s unerring sense of how to manipulate the audience allows this movie to work for modern audiences far better than many of its contemporary releases. Notorious has stood the test of time and deserves the labels of both a classic and one of Hitchcock’s most formidable early American productions.

Notorious (United States, 1946)