2024 Blind Spot Series: Notorious
Official synopsis: The daughter of a convicted German spy (Ingrid Bergman) is asked by American agents to gather information on a ring of German scientists in South America. How far will she have to go to ingratiate herself with them?
This might be the least Hitchcocky Hitchcock film I've come across yet. I think going into it I expected it to be higher on the suspense and less on the romance and it's quite the opposite.
Watching this made me want to reshuffle my Blind Spot list to add more of Ingrid Bergman's filmography. She's amazing in this. I felt bad for how self destructive her character was and wanted nothing but good things for her. Though I feel like I'm going to be in the minority with the next bit...
I did not like Cary Grant in this. At all. I didn't believe for one second that Devlin was actually in love with Alicia because Grant always looked like he was staring off into space. They didn't have the chemistry required to sell me on this and it felt like Ingrid was doing all the heavy lifting.
Thankfully the actual story was much more engaging than the romantic parts, so that saved it for me overall. It won't crack my top 3 Hitchcock, but it was a fine way to spend an afternoon.
Grade: B-
I was originally going to have this film as my Blind Spot for this year but was unable to find the Blu-Ray as I ended up with Rebecca which I will watch in October. I might do it for next year's Blind Spot as I'm still trying to work on what films to do for next year as I have made 2 selections so far.
ReplyDeleteI found this on Tubi! There was actually quite a few there that I had not been able to find before, so I'll be using that as a resource. The ads are short enough to where it doesn't ruin everything.
DeleteSorry I had to split this in two because it’s so long!
ReplyDeleteI agree that Ingrid is the MVP in this! While this isn’t my fave film of hers, that would be Casablanca, it is my favorite performance. Her work is so complex but then Alicia is an extremely complicated character, and she makes a great effort (without appearing to) to find all the intricacies of the role.
I cannot agree about Cary Grant though. Despite Cary’s elegant exterior masking it somewhat Devlin is up to the point when he meets Alicia by necessity a cynical closed up hard case who has walled off his emotions. So, when confronted with feelings he would rather not experience he pulls back into a wary guardedness to prove to himself as much as anyone else he doesn’t need her. I think that is why until the last sequence he seems so disengaged in his interactions with her.
Ingrid is brilliant and rightly holds the spotlight, but I’m surprised you didn’t mention the other power couple in the picture, Claude Rains and Madame Konstantin as Alicia’s prey and ultimately persecutors! Alex Sebastian is an awful person, a Nazi who is willing to participate in murder not just of underlings but his own wife, however Claude makes him weirdly sympathetic in certain ways. It’s a very skillful piece of work and how he failed to garner an Oscar nomination (to me he should have won for this) is beyond me. Even as magnetic and eye catching as he is whenever Mme. Konstantin slithers into a scene as his dragon of a mother, she owns the film full stop. Her character is an emotionless machine, she doesn’t even seem to love Alex just expects fealty from him to complete their mission, but the actress’s steely perfect timing captivates.
The plot is a good one which turned out to be more prescient than Hitchcock realized. When the government reviewed the script, a frequent practice at the time because of the war, some agents came to Hitch to enquire about his use of uranium as the MacGuffin. Since the mineral is a key component of the atomic bomb, they were suspicious and supposedly shadowed Hitchcock for several months afterwards.
The film is beautifully shot with the justly famous scene of the party narrowing down to Ingrid clutching the key in her hand a highlight but there are many other instances. Saboteur will always remain my favorite of Hitch’s films, followed closely by Rear Window, but this is in my top ten of his pictures.
I’m completely on board with you including more of Ingrid’s films in your viewing!!! A magnificent actress whose starring career was interrupted by what now seems a ridiculous scandal. She left her husband (their marriage had been troubled for some time) and had a baby out of wedlock with Roberto Rossellini while making a film with him in Italy, the fervor was so strong she was even denounced on the floor of the Senate! They married and she continued making films in Europe mostly with him in the director’s chair, but she was blackballed in Hollywood until the offer came almost a decade later for the film Anastasia, which won the second of her three Oscars, and she didn’t physically film another picture in the States until 1969.
ReplyDeleteI am fairly sure you’ve seen Casablanca as one of your Blind Spots, but I would recommend these films of hers as a good starting point:
Indiscreet (1958)-A romantic repairing with Cary Grant (they were great friends behind the scenes, he accepted her second Oscar for her when she was unable to return from Italy) in a much lighter but still glamorous setting.
Fear (1954)-The best of her films with Rossellini.
Gaslight (1944)-Psychological drama set in Victorian England (this is where the term originated) won Ingrid her first Oscar and introduced Angela Lansbury to the world (and garnered her the first of her three Oscar nominations) as the saucy housemaid at only 18.
The Bells of St. Mary’s (1944)-Sequel to the film “Going My Way” was a monster hit when released. Her role as the saintly Sister Mary Benedict worked against her when the scandal erupted because that image had become so indelibly fixed in the public’s consciousness. It’s a lovely, sweet film though.
Anastasia (1956)-Ingrid plays a woman who may be the Russian princess rumored to survive the assassination of the royal family.
Cactus Flower (1969)-Delightful comedy, though very much of its time, of dentist Walter Matthau convincing his nurse (Ingrid) to pretend to be his wife so he can avoid marrying his mistress (Goldie Hawn-who won Best Supporting Actress for her role).
Autumn Sonata (1978)-She returned to her native Sweden to film this bitter drama of mother/daughter conflict for Ingmar Bergman (no relation). It was her final theatrical feature.
A Woman Called Golda (1982)-Made for TV film of Golda Meir’s life journey to become Israel’s prime minister. She was dying during the making of the film (she had discovered a lump in her breast but the doctor she went to see brushed her off and by the time a proper diagnosis was made it was too late) but she is compelling in the film which was released posthumously.
There’s also Murder on the Orient Express (1974) which I adore, and which won her the third of her Oscars, this time for Supporting Actress, though it was more of a career acknowledgement award which even she didn’t think she deserved. She gave a magnificent acceptance speech (it’s on YouTube) where she basically hands the prize to Valentina Cortese for her work in “Day for Night.” The film is totally worth seeking out, but it is not one of her most memorable performances.
Others might mention 1943’s “For Whom the Bell Tolls” based on the Hemingway story but I found it an incredible slog with the usual deficit that he didn’t know how to write female characters.
I read that about the Uranium! It reminded me of when the makers of Cannibal Holocaust has to present their extras to a court to prove they didn't actually kill them in their movie lol. I just can't with Grant though, I was so utterly unconvinced by everything he was doing. Bergman's career getting thrown off by that does seem insane, especially by today's standards. I did indeed watch Casablanca, which I loved! I will definitely being adding more of her films to my list. Fear and Gaslight are already there!
DeleteI'm late here and..I still have to see this Hitchcock film so I can't comment. I love Bergman and love all the films Joel mentioned but I would add Intermezzo. She made the Swedish version and then the Hollywood version with Leslie Howard which ais the one I saw. It's quite good and mature for its time. She really knew how to play the conflicted woman.
ReplyDeleteI watched Notorious! I watched it again, with my hubby. I'm more in line with Joel. The one who does carry the film is Ingrid but Cary Grant is one complicated character and person. I think, Hitchcock tapped into Grant's issues with women that stems from his mom " leaving" the home. His dad told a young Grant that his mom left and later, said she died his alcoholic dad actually placed her in a mental institution without Grant knowing, only finding out in 19e5, when he was a film star. Grant even said his issues with women was a result of his mom I can see Grant's aloofness and coldness in this film above all the others I have seen.
ReplyDeleteMy hubby, on the other hand agrees with you about Grant's character and couldn't believe this is a Hitchcock film. He felt there were a lot of holes in the story too
Grant's mommy issues sound like they should've been daddy issues. I don't know, he just didn't work for me in this.
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