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Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains, Louis Calhern, Leopoldine Konstantin ... see more see more... , Moroni Olsen , Reinhold Schünzel , Ivan Triesault , Alexis Minotis , Wally Brown , Charles Mendl , Ricardo Costa , Eberhard Krumschmidt , Fay Baker , Bea Benaderet , Charles D. Brown , Eddie Bruce , Paul Bryar , Aileen Carlyle , Alfredo De Sa , Lester Dorr , Ben Erway , Almeda Fowler , Gavin Gordon , Virginia Gregg , Harry Hayden , Donald Kerr , James Logan , Leota Lorraine , George Lynn , Francis McDonald , Frank Marlowe , Howard Mitchell , Antonio Moreno , Fred Nurney , Garry Owen , Dink Trout , Emmett Vogan , Peter von Zerneck , John Vosper , Lillian West , Frank Wilcox , Richard Clark , Howard Negley , Tom Coleman , Warren Jackson , Tina Menard , Sandra Morgan , Alan Ward , Beulah Christian , Herbert Wyndham , Frederick Ledebur

Though Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious was produced by David O. Selznick's Vanguard Films, Selznick himself had little to do with the production, which undoubtedly pleased the highly independent Hitchcoc... read more read more...k. Ingrid Bergman plays Alicia Huberman, who goes to hell in a handbasket after her father, an accused WWII traitor, commits suicide. American secret agent Devlin (Cary Grant) is ordered to enlist the libidinous Alicia's aid in trapping Alexander Sebastian (Claude Rains), the head of a Brazilian neo-Nazi group. Openly contemptuous of Alicia despite her loyalty to the American cause, Devlin calmly instructs her to woo and wed Sebastian, so that that good guys will have an "inside woman" to monitor the Nazi chieftain's activities. It is only after Alicia and Sebastian are married that Devlin admits to himself that he's fallen in love with her. The "MacGuffin" in this case is a cache of uranium ore, hidden somewhere on Sebastian's estate. Upon discovering that his wife is a spy, Sebastian balks at eliminating her until ordered to do so by his virago of a mother (Madame Konstantin). Tension mounts to a fever pitch as Devlin, a day late and several dollars short, strives to rescue Alicia from Sebastian's homicidal designs. Of the several standout sequences, the film's highlight is an extended love scene between Alicia and Devlin, which manages to ignite the screen while still remaining scrupulously within the edicts of the Production Code. In later years, Hitchcock never tired of relating the story of how he and screenwriter Ben Hecht (who was nominated for an Oscar) fell under the scrutiny of the FBI after electing to use uranium as a plot device -- this before the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. A huge moneymaker for everyone concerned, Notorious remains one of Hitchcock's best espionage melodramas. In 1992, Notorious was remade for cable television; it goes without saying that the original is vastly superior. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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90% liked it

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94% liked it

34 critics

Unrated, 1 hr. 41 min.

Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock

Release Date: January 1, 1946

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DVD Release Date: March 13, 2001

 

Stats: 1,726 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (1,726)

  • cosmo313
    April 30, 2012
    cosmo313
    I'll keep this brief, as everyone has already said all that's needs to be said about this, and better than I can.

    It's a classic romantic espionage thriller, done in the classic Hitchcock style, and involving two of his favorite things: romance and suspense. This is typical stuf... read moref, done in the typical way, but to the Nth degree.

    An American secret agent named Devlin gets a beautiful woman with a tainted past named Alicia to help him take down the leader of a neo Nazi group. She falls in love with her target, but, not only is her life in danger, she feels upset that Devlin may or may not love her, and he's conflicted because not only does he love her, he can't really tell her since she goes so far as marrying her mark to bring him down..and trying to save her might not happen, and on and on.

    Pitch perfect performances (espeically Bergman's), a great set up, and some truly excellent cinematography (love the long take during the party scene), and some wonderful moments (drunk driving scene, et al) highlight what would otherwise be generic crap in the hands of any other director.

    Just go see it already. I can't think of any other way to recommend this than that.
  • fb1038944442
    December 30, 2011
    fb1038944442
    Notorious is an almost flawless movie that holds up in 2011 and seems completely fresh more than sixty years on. The characters are complex, due to a note perfect script by the great Ben Hecht, one of the great film writers, surprisingly naturalistic and intense performances fro... read morem film icons Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman and Claude Rains, and of course, Hitchcock's visual mastery.

    It's the story of a 'party girl' (Bergman), the daughter of a Nazi who is recruited by Cary Grant as a mole into a Nazi ring in Brazil. She is impelled by allied intelligence to marry Rains and infiltrate the inner circle. The love story is touching and deep and all subtext. When Grant rescues a poisoned Bergman and tells her his actual feelings, there's wasn't a dry eye in my house. Well, I was watching alone, but you get the idea.

    The only aspects of this film that are dated for me, oddly, are the Hitchcockian trick shots, which must have seemed at the time like the future of film. In fact, the 'auteur style' have been superseded by the need to draw attention away from the director. Today most films (well, not the Marvel superhero movies, but you get the idea) try to convey hyper realism, especially for this type of movie - the espionage thriller (case in point: see 2011's Tinker, Tailor... a similar film in subject matter, but a completely diverging type of film making, striving for a flat, documentary style.). What Hitchcock called 'pure cinema' does not really exist today.

    Rent or order this film on demand and you will not be disappointed. Other Hitchcock films have better set piece scenes and memorable single visual sequences, but this film, literally has it all for its entire duration: emotion, humor, stunning B & W cinematography and complex characters (with megawatt charisma) that we care about.
  • fb1664868775
    November 13, 2011
    fb1664868775
    Hitchcock's classic espionage film contains beautiful black and white images and amazing camerawork.
  • sergioogarcia
    August 18, 2011
    sergioogarcia
    An incredible story about a spy that put her life in danger after a clumsy process to unmask a group of international criminals. Only Hitchcock can delivery so fantastic camera movements an the great suspense at the end of the movie. The story is fantastic, Academy award nominate... read mored. Ingrid Bergman as usual very good acting and beatiful. I miss her. I've seen better Cary Grant movies, this one he's not at his best.
  • spielberg00
    June 24, 2011
    spielberg00
    The usual Hitchcock suspense--multiply it instead by about 20.
  • kiriyamakazou
    March 5, 2011
    kiriyamakazou
    One of Hitchcock's finest. Notorious follows a young woman going undercover, after her father is arrested for treason. Just before going undercover, she falls for Agent Devlin, the man that has recruited her. What may come across as a spy espionage thriller, is really a romance i... read moren which two people wrestle between their romance and their professional lives. It also has early signs of feminism, as Grant refuses to tell OR ask Bergman to do anything. Everything is up to her, and her journey sees her becoming reliant on herself, and not the pain she causes herself and others. Having watched Lust, Caution) this film seemed tame. But luckily Bergman and Grant are able to deliver the lines with venom and spite that makes it just as uncomfortable to watch. The way Bergman says "You can add another playmate to my list?" and Grant's facial expressions are all we need to get a punch to the stomach. Best of all is Rains. He deserved his nomination for this performance. We are told he is the villain, but he does come across as charming in the least presumptuous way. He genuinely loves Bergman, which makes his betrayal a hard thing to watch. He is also wrapped up in a world that is hard to pull away from, making him such a tragic character. The final scene is simply glorious, and shows Hitchcock for the master that he is. The climax is three people walking down the stairs, but they are a nerve shattering few minutes on screen. The facial expressions, the dialog, it's all so brilliant.
  • stevenecarrier
    February 13, 2011
    stevenecarrier
    "Notorious" is wickedly suspenseful and beautifully shot. Carey Grant is great as usual here but it's Ingrid Bergman who steals the picture. There is no better Alfred Hitchcock film that perfectly sums up his sensibility as a director. If you don't like "Notorious," you simply ca... read moren't love Hitchcock- it's everything that makes him legendary (thrills, mystery, comedy, romance and one hell of a McGuffin).
  • ajv2688
    October 18, 2010
    ajv2688
    What else can I say except that this is yet another one of Hitckcock's great movies of the 1940s! A must see.
  • webalina
    August 6, 2010
    webalina
    This is both a suspenseful spy thriller and one of the most romantic movies I know. Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman make sparks fly as T.R. "Dev" Devlin and Alicia Huberman, both as American agents investigating Nazis in Rio and two sides of a love triangle, with the 3rd side occup... read moreied by Nazi Alex Sebastian, played by Claude Rains, with a side dish of evil in Sebastian's she-wolf of a mother, played by Austrian actress Leopoldine Konstantin.

    Hitchcock wanted to film a really long kiss between Grant and Bergman but had trouble with the censors, so he instead filmed them in a clinch as they exchanged lots of short kisses while never wandering too far from each other's lips. The result? A love scene more erotic than the the longest of regular kissing scenes. The scene near the end where Dev rescues the near-death Alicia and carries her down the stairs to safety makes me swoon every time. One of Hitch's very best films.
  • lewiskendell
    July 4, 2010
    lewiskendell
    "You're sore because you've fallen for a little drunk you tamed in Miami and you don't like it. It makes you sick all over, doesn't it? People will laugh at you, the invincible Devlin, in love with someone who isn't worth even wasting the words on."

    This is an excellent movie. T... read morehat's all you really need to know. This is going to be one of my gushing reviews, because I absolutely loved Notorious. If you'd rather not sit and read through a few paragraphs of nothing but praise, you can stop now.

    I thought I had seen the best of what Hitchcock had to offer. I had already watched most of his most popular movies, and the last few lesser known films of his that I had watched were good, but not great. I expected Notorious to be of similar quality. I was completely wrong. By the end of the movie, it had jumped right up to third on my list, behind only Rear Window and Psycho. It's just that good.

    Notorious is essentially a spy-thriller with an excellent, mature love story weaved throughout. I won't reveal many details, to preserve the story, but it's one of the very best of its kind. A wanton party girl (and daughter of a recently uncovered Nazi traitor) is pressed into service for the U.S. and used to spy on a sinister but nebulous Nazi plot in Brazil. That may sound like familiar territory for the genre, but most of the films that came later and copied it don't manage to be nearly as fresh and well-made as this movie from 1946.

    Two more things absolutely have to be mentioned, and I'll be done: Ingrid Bergman's performance and the ending. This was my introduction to Ingrid, and holy $@*!, this lady could act! I finally understand her inevitably high position in any credible list of the best actresses in the history of Hollywood. The majority of the acting burden rests on her shoulders, and she pulls it off effortlessly. Her character is completely different in the beginning, middle, and end of the movie, and she's consistently excellent throughout. I'll be seeing more of her work, that's for sure.

    As for the finale, it's one of the most tense, suspenseful, menacing and masterful that I've ever seen - and there's nary a gunshot or an explosion to be had. There's not even much of a confrontation. If you want to know why Aldred Hitchcock is considered to be one of the greatest directors ever, watch that sequence.

    If you love spy movies, you must watch Notorious. If you love classic movies, you must watch Notorious. If you want to love classic movies, you must watch Notorious. Basically, you must watch Notorious. Watch it.

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Critic Reviews

Bosley Crowther
January 1, 2000
Bosley Crowther, New York Times

Check up another smash hit for a fine and experienced team. Full Review

Roger Ebert
January 1, 2000
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious is the most elegant expression of the master's visual style, just as Vertigo is the fullest expression of his obsessions. Full Review

Walter Chaw
March 6, 2012
Walter Chaw, Film Freak Central

writing about it is almost as intimidating as pretending that there's anything new to say about it. But here goes. Full Review

James Plath
February 11, 2012
James Plath, Movie Metropolis

Romantic melodrama. If contemporary viewers think of "Notorious" in those terms, it will still strike them as the classic it's become. Full Review

Kevin Carr
February 6, 2012
Kevin Carr, 7M Pictures

as much of a romance as it is a spy thriller Full Review

Matt Brunson
January 25, 2012
Matt Brunson, Creative Loafing

Second only to Psycho as my favorite Hitchcock movie. Full Review

Emanuel Levy
April 28, 2011
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com

Hitchcock's second masterpiece (after Shadow of a Doubt) is a richly dense meditation on romantic love, featuring exquisite performances by Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant. Full Review

Jeffrey M. Anderson
February 13, 2009
Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid

A nearly flawless espionage thriller that has been mimicked many times since, but never equaled. Full Review

Wally Hammond
January 16, 2009
Wally Hammond, Time Out

It's the accuracy, efficiency and control of Hitchcock's direction that most impress. They enable him to dovetail the film's thriller format and romantic story to dizzying, expressive and unique effect. Full Review

January 16, 2009
Film4

A glorious exercise in film style, where virtuoso camerawork combines with the characters to create a wonderful harmony of visuals and narrative - and where the complexities of character and story exi... Full Review

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