Notorious
With Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains.
US, 1946, 35mm, black & white, 101 min.
Print source: Disney
Proclaimed by Truffaut to be “the very quintessence of Hitchcock,” Notorious stands as one of the director’s unquestioned masterpieces and one of his most brazen explorations of sexual power and insecurity. Ingrid Bergman plays Alicia, the daughter of a convicted Nazi spy who, in the wake of her father’s conviction, falls into a life of drunken cynicism and loose morals. Enter Cary Grant as Devlin, an American secret agent who appeals to her patriotism and recruits her for a mysterious mission in South America. While waiting in Rio de Janeiro for the details of the mission, the pair fall in love, only to be crushed by the true nature of her assignment: to infiltrate a Nazi spy ring by seducing one of its members, Alexander Sebastian. Torn between duty and passion, and poisoned by pride, Devlin alternately woos and spurns Alicia, who takes ever-increasing risks to discover Sebastian’s dark secret. Scripted by the legendary Ben Hecht, the definitive romantic thriller features some of Hitchcock’s most masterful filmmaking.
Part of film series
Screenings from this program
Vertigo
To Catch a Thief
The Trouble with Harry
The Paradine Case
Stage Fright
Rebecca
Notorious
Rear Window
Dial M for Murder
Lifeboat
Saboteur
Murder!
Family Plot
Under Capricorn
The Man Who Knew Too Much
Spellbound
Strangers on a Train
Torn Curtain
Suspicion
Shadow of a Doubt
