Notorious

1946

 

Why am I telling you to watch Notorious, out of all the Alfred Hitchcock movies out there? Ingrid Bergman, people. The glory that is Ingrid Bergman.

 

Bergman plays disgraced socialite Alicia Huberman, whom we meet outside the courtroom where her unrepentant father has just been convicted of treason. It’s 1946 and he still thinks the Nazis were great guys. So, yeah, he’s totally guilty. Alicia is as well, by association. At least that’s what the world thinks.

 

And if the world is going to cast her as bad, she’s going to live up to every bad thing it says about her. For example, on the night of her father’s trial she throws a party, wearing an amazing midriff-bearing striped top and drinking to forget. She’s sailing tomorrow, heading to Havana where with enough rum and the right parties she can forget it all.

 

But…there’s a mysterious man. We see him only from behind. He stays late, drinking, and by the time the other guests have left we realize two things: She’s hopelessly broken and he’s Cary Grant.

 

Cary is a government man by the name of Devlin. Just Devlin. And when Alicia wakes up hungover the next morning, he tells her why he’s there. “I’ve got a job for you.”

 

It seems there are Nazis in post-war Rio. Since they worked with her father they’ll assume she shares his sympathies and welcome her (because it would never dawn on them that a woman could form her own opinions).

 

Faced with a choice between a yacht to Havana and a spy gig in Rio, she chooses Rio. She chooses America. Honestly, she chooses Cary Grant. And I ask you, who wouldn’t? If a guy like that believes in you when nobody else does, you’re going to do things for him. Dangerous things.

 

Once in Rio, Alicia gets an apartment and cuts back on her drinking. Eight days have passed and she’s clearly trying to prove herself to Devlin. But she knows what he’s thinking: “Once a tramp, always a tramp.”

 

And she’s right, because here’s the thing—he believes she’s a patriot, but he also believes she’s a tramp. And this is going to play out for the rest of the movie. He admires her. He may even love her. But mostly, he judges her.

 

It kills Alicia that Devlin can’t see how much she’s trying to change. Finally, on a windswept hilltop, she confronts him. “You’re sore because you’ve fallen for a little drunk you tailed in Miami, and you don’t like it. It makes you sick all over, doesn’t it?” He does the only thing he can think of to stop her (accurate) accusations. He takes her in his arms and kisses her. I get the feeling we missed a lot in those eight days.

 

But while these two crazy kids are trying to work things out, a room full of old white men back at Spy Headquarters are making plans to pimp her out. They don’t just want Alicia to join the fun Nazi social whirl, they want her to seduce one guy in particular. And since she’s already damaged goods, she shouldn’t have a problem with that, right? Ugh.

 

Enter Alex Sebastian (Claude Raines, being his deliciously oily self). He’s a German, working to build the Nazi war machine up again. Also, he has the hots for Alicia from the old days (In Casablanca, maybe…? Sorry! Sometimes I can’t help myself.)

 

Anyhoo, being a Nazi has its perks, as Alicia finds when Sebastian invites her to a dinner party with the gang. He lives in a mansion with a sweeping staircase and a Teutonic mother. Played by Leopoldine Konstantin, she has a light accent, a Heidi braided crown, and distinct aura of evil. She’ll be trouble, mark my words.

 

Each tuxedoed Nazi at the party is more odious than the last. Central casting must have had a field day (“Send in the Arians!”). Alicia observes all. Sebastian is putty in her hands.

 

It goes on from there, but I’ve already said too much. Let me just tease you with the prospects of a wedding, Devlin crashing a Nazi cocktail party, some truly cold-blooded shit from Sebastian’s Wagnerian mother, and poison! You’ve got classic Hitchcock camerawork on that mansion’s marble staircase, Cary Grant in a tux, and hot and cold running Nazis—something for everyone.

 

What you don’t have is the Cary Grant you know from every other movie he’s ever been in. There’s no amused glint in his eye, no barely suppressed glee. Instead, aside from one or two moments, he’s cold, hard, and detached. He may love Alicia, but he’s also jealous, frustrated, and cruel. And why? Because Alicia did exactly what he asked her to do. That doesn’t sound like Cary, does it? You know who it sounds like? Hitchcock. I’m just saying.

 

Killer line

When Sebastian finds out Alicia is a spy, he has to keep it from his fellow Nazis. He knows they’ll kill him if they find out. His terrifying mother tells him not to worry. “You are protected by the enormity of your stupidity.” I’ve spent half my life waiting to use that line on someone.

 

More!

If you want to see Cary Grant lying to Ingrid Bergman in a completely different context, I can’t recommend their later film, Indiscreet, enough. It’s a frothy comedy with perfect timing and absolutely sparkling dialog. Plus, many occasions for Ingrid to wear amazing gowns and for Cary to do what Cary does best in a tux. Watch it!

 

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