I think Alfred Hitchcock is one of the best film directors in the world. He's on a list of all the greats like: Cecil B. DeMille, Orson Welles, George Cukor, Woody Allen, Billy Wilder, Howard Hawks, Martin Scorsese, and Steven Spielberg.
Hitchcock is known for a specific kind of film, mostly mysteries and thrillers. Most of his movies are crime, drama, and horror. He also likes to work with the same people for instance Cary Grant has worked with Alfred Hitchcock four times. Those four films have all become great successes like Suspicion, Notorious, To Catch a Thief, and North by Northwest. Hitchcock also features a lot of blond actresses such as Grace Kelly and Ingrid Bergman who each worked with Hitchcock three times.
The film I'd like to talk about today is Notorious which was released in 1946. Notorious stars Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, and Claude Rains.
Notorious was one of the best films ever directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Notorious combines espionage and romance which makes for a compelling yet suspenseful film. Notorious is a post - war film about patriotism and a Nazi German terrorist group that has uranium. Alicia Huberman, the daughter of a convicted Nazi sympathizer must go undercover to save her country of a potential threat and prove to the federal government that she does in deed love her country. The movie stars Grant as a federal agent, Bergman as Alicia Huberman, and Rains as Alex Sebastian.
Alfred Hitchcock’s thumbprint is seen throughout this movie, from the cinematography of camera angles, to the many themes present in most of his films such as: fixations with mothers, blond heroines, and suavely good looking men, including cameo appearances of Hitchcock himself. All of these plot elements create high anxiety and suspense from the characters point of view, but for the viewers it becomes predictable in Alfred Hitchcock films.
The film brings up questions of loyalty and trust. Essentially the federal government uses Alicia's playgirl reputation to their advantage to spy on this Nazi terrorist group. Even though the federal government questions her political ties, they are still willing to cash in on her reputation to get what they want. Devlin understands the job Alicia must do, but still gets angry with her for moving forward to marry Alex to gain access to his house. I believe this to be a double standard. The film portrays Alicia the American woman as a bad girl who can make it all right by becoming a spy for the U.S. government. As an audience member, I feel Alicia is damned if she does and damned if she doesn't. Alicia does decide to go ahead with the plan for the love of her country and for the love she has for Devlin.
The last scene is my favorite. The last scene of Notorious is when Alex’s cohorts discover what has happened and Devlin takes Alicia away while Alex and his mother follow beside them. As they reach the car Devlin locks the door behind them to leave Alex to deal with his colleagues. The very last shot we see is of Alex walking back to the house and the door closing behind him. The truth becomes exposed and we are left to our own imaginations of what will happen to Alex. I know this is just a movie and none of this is real, but Alex got what was coming to him.
Check out one of Hitchcock's masterpiece's: Notorious 1946 Trailer
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