Notorious

Notorious is a thriller that was directed by Alfred Hitchcock and released in 1946. The main stars are Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman, with Claude Rains in a supporting role. The film marked the second time that Hitchcock worked with both Grant and Bergman.

The film opens outside a Miami courtroom, where Alicia Huberman’s (Bergman) father is convicted of being a Nazi spy. Living a loose life, she has a party before leaving the country the next day to get away from all the scandal. She has a certain reputation as a promiscuous and fast living woman. At the party, a mysterious figure sits by himself and does not interact with anyone else. When the party dies down and only Alicia and this man are left, a conversation starts that eventually leads to Alicia suggesting a midnight picnic. Clearly drunk, she insists on driving anyway.

She wildly drives until a policeman stops the car. He leaves however when the mysterious man shows him his wallet and his profession. After this, he knocks Alicia out after she refuses to let him drive and then takes her back home. The next morning, he reveals himself to be T.R. Devlin, an American agent who wants Alicia to spy on a group of Nazis down in Rio De Janiero since she would be trusted by them all. She refuses until he plays a recording of an argument between Alicia and her father that was secretly recorded, in which she criticises her father’s activities and stated her love for America. She accepts the offer, and cancels her previous plans to leave the country.

On the flight down to Rio, Devlin informs Alicia that her father was found dead in his cell. Alicia reacts with shock and reveals to Devlin that her disgust at her father is the cause of her fast and self-destructive lifestyle. She is relieved that she no longer has to feel shame or disgust at her father’s life.

After arriving in Rio and waiting for more information on her assignment, Devlin and Alicia become closer. Alicia hopes she can repair her damaged reputation and show the world she is a changed woman, although Devlin has his doubts. After some teasing from Alicia, Devlin kisses her passionately.

When Devlin arrives at the US Embassy, he is concerned that Alicia does not know what her work will actually entail. Prescott, Devlin’s superior, is confident that Alicia is the perfect woman due to her promiscuous behaviour. The assignment is to seduce the leader of the Nazi exiles, Alexander Sebastian (Rains). Back with Alicia in her rented apartment, the longest film kiss in history takes place, lasting over three minutes! They kiss and nuzzle whilst talking. (The reason for the kissing then nuzzling then kissing etc. is because the Production Code at the time forebode kisses over three minutes. It was classic Hitchcock to get around the restrictions in such a way.) During the kiss, Devlin receives a phone call that Prescott needs to see him right away.

Devlin initially resents the plan for Alicia, until it is revealed to him that Alexander is a former flame of Alicia’s, although Alicia wasn’t very responsive at the time. Back with Alicia, Devlin is noticeably colder and unfriendly towards her. After being told the full details of her assignment, Alicia is furious that Devlin would allow the Embassy to think of her in such a way. Devlin insists on leaving the decision up to her, failing to show his love for her. Heartbroken, Alicia agrees to the assignment.

At the local riding club, they engineer a situation where Alexander will meet Alicia by having Devlin set her horse charging off. As planned, Alexander comes to her rescue and they begin to renew their past relationship at a restaurant.  She denies that she is in love with Devlin when Alexander inquiries about him. The meeting goes smoothly and Alexander invites her to attend a dinner party at his house the next night.

At her apartment, she receives instructions from Prescott while Devlin is deliberately unhelpful to her. When she arrives at Alexander’s house, she meets his mother, who is very wary and indifferent towards her. Alexander rescues her and takes her to meet his five friends, all Nazi spies. While in the dinner hall, Alicia notices the anger that surrounds a misplaced wine bottle in the room. Intrigued, she makes a mental note of the incident. The man who made the mistake is presumably killed off-screen.  The rest of the party turns out rather uneventful.

Devlin and Alicia meet at the racetrack the next day while Alex is occupied with his bossy mother. She tells Devlin about the wine bottle, while revealing she has added Alex to her list of ‘playmates’. Devlin is shocked, and begins to make passive-aggressive remarks towards her, which leads to her breaking down in tears. Alex appears and Devlin makes his excuses to leave. Alex hints that he wants Alicia to marry him.

Back at the embassy, they are all delighted with how successful the mission has been so far. They are all surprised when it is announced that Alicia will be making a surprise visit. While Prescott and his colleague question Alicia’s character, Devlin, for the first time in the film, stands up for her and defends her from the accusations being made against her. Alicia arrives and stuns them all with the news that Alex wants her to marry him, and wants her answer by noon. After asking them if she should go through with it, Devlin responds that it would be a useful idea even though he is privately furious with the news. Alex’s mother is opposed to the marriage but Alex stands up to her for once and tells her that the marriage is going ahead, and they would be happy to have her at the wedding.

After the honeymoon, Alicia returns to Alex’s house and begins to unpack her things. Noticing the closets are locked, she asks Alex for the keys. He agrees (after another argument with his mother), but she notices that one room is still locked- the wine cellar. When Devlin and Alicia have their next meeting, in a public park, she tells him about the locked door and he suggests she throw a party and invite him so that he can have a look around. She agrees. In a tense and nail-biting scene, she steals the key from Alex’s keyring while he is getting changed in the bathroom. However, as she turns to leave with the key in her hand, he emerges and grabs her closed hands. He opens the left one and kisses it, then as he goes to open the right Alicia throws herself at him for a hug and drops the key under the bed, to be retrieved later.

An incredible crane shot shows the whole party before zooming in from up high to Alicia’s hand, where the wine cellar key (the UNICA key) is being held tightly. When Devlin arrives, Alicia allows him to kiss her hand, allowing him to take the key. When the opportunity arises, Devlin and Alicia sneak off to the wine cellar. While snooping about, Devlin accidently knocks a bottle over and discovers that a type of sand is being stored in it. After taking a sample for testing, they hurriedly repair the mess that they have made. As they are leaving, Alex heads down the stairs. To cover up, Devlin grabs her and passionately kisses her. Alex interrupts them and Devlin quickly heads for the exit. Alicia assures him it meant nothing and Alex seems to buy it.

In the night, while Alex is unable to sleep, he notices that the missing has been replaces on his key ring. He realises he has been tricked by his wife and tells his mother. In order to prevent their fellow Nazis from executing them, they decide to slowly poison Alicia and not reveal her betrayal. Alicia drinks down the poison in cups of coffee over time and begins to feel the effects. In a meeting at the Embassy, Prescott reveals to her that it wasn't sand but uranium in the wine bottle. He also reveals that Devlin has asked for a transfer to Spain, unable to deal with losing Alicia. Alicia views it as a personal offence and has tears in her eyes when told, assuming that Devlin was just playing her this entire time.

At their next meeting, Devlin notices Alicia is not herself and wrongly assumes she has turned back to alcohol. Devlin refuses to admit his feelings for Alicia and they depart in acrimonious circumstances. Back at home, Alicia realises the truth about her illness when in a meeting one of Alex’s Nazi friends goes to drink her cup of coffee by mistake and Alex and his mother shout out to him to stop. In agony, she is confined to her bedroom with the phone line cut off.

Devlin becomes concerned that Alicia has failed to show up in the past few days and before he leaves for Spain he makes a house call. Told by the servant that Alex is busy in a meeting, he demands to know where Alicia is. Told she is in her bedroom, he heads up and finds her in a serious condition. She tells him she is being poisoned and he finally admits he loves her, which she reciprocates. Devlin takes her out but they run into Alex and his mother. Devlin tells them he knows what’s going on as they head down the stairs, in full view of the other Nazis, who are puzzled as to what is going on. Alex and his mother play along as if they don’t the betrayal will be revealed.

Devlin accidently dooms Alex and his mother when he says he phoned for an ambulance from the bedroom, even though Alex ordered the phone lines cut. As they take Alicia to Devlin’s car, Alex begs to be let in but Devlin refuses. As the new couple drive away to the hospital, Alex is summoned to his death by his fellow Nazis: “Alex, will you come in please? I wish to talk to you.” The door closes behind Alex as he enters.