Notorious (1946) ft. DW Lundberg
Guest:
DW Lundberg
Host and Creator of the Nostalgia Cast and Back to Bluey
Cast:
Alfred Hitchcock, Director
Ben Hecht, Writer
Ted Tetzlaff, Cinematography
Roy Webb, Music
Theron Warth, Editing
Cary Grant as T. R. Devlin
Ingrid Bergman as Alicia Huberman
Claude Rains as Alexander Sebastian
Louis Calhern as Captain Paul Prescott
Madame Konstantin as Madame Anna Sebastian
Reinhold Schünzel as Dr. Anderson
Moroni Olsen as Walter Beardsley
Ivan Triesault as Eric Mathis
Alex Minotis as Joseph
Wally Brown as Mr. Hopkins
Sir Charles Mendl as Commodore
Ricardo Costa as Dr. Julio Barbosa
Eberhard Krumschmidt as Emil Hupka
Fay Baker as Ethel
Background:
Notorious premiered on August 15, 1946 in New York City.
On a budget of $1 million, the film is said to have grossed $7.15 million in its initial run and finishing as the estimated #8 film for 1946.
Critics were almost all positive regarding the film and Notorious was nominated for two Oscars, Best Supporting Actor (Rains) and Original Screenplay (Hecht).
Film critic Roger Ebert included Notorious on his "Ten Greatest Films of All Time" list in 1991, citing it as his favorite of Hitchcock's films.
Entertainment Weekly voted it at No. 66 on their list of "The Greatest Films of All Time" in 1999.
The Village Voice ranked Notorious at No. 77 in its Top 250 "Best Films of the Century" list in 1999, based on a poll of critics.
In 2005, Hecht's screenplay was voted by the Writers Guild of America as one of the 101 best ever written.
In 2006, Notorious was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.
American Film Institute included the film in:
The film was voted at No. 38 on the list of "100 Greatest Films" by French magazine Cahiers du cinéma in 2008.
Notorious was ranked 68th in BBC's 2015 list of "The 100 Greatest American Films".
In 2022, Time Out magazine ranked the film at No. 34 on their list of "The 100 Best Thriller Films of All Time".
Notorious holds a 96% among critics on RT, a 100 score on Metacritic, and a 4.1/5 on Letterboxd.
Plot Summary: In Notorious, Ingrid Bergman stars as Alicia Huberman, daughter of a convicted Nazi spy, recruited by American agent, TR Devlin (Cary Grant), to infiltrate a ring of German conspirators hiding in Rio de Janeiro. Devlin falls for Alicia even as he sends her undercover — into a marriage with suspected traitor, Alex Sebastian (Claude Rains). As Alicia digs deeper into Sebastian's circle, she uncovers a chilling secret in his wine cellar while Sebatian's suspicious mother grows wary of her. When Sebastian discovers the truth, Alicia's life is put in grave danger. Devlin must decide whether duty or love will drive him to save her.
Did You Know:
After filming had ended, Cary Grant kept the famous UNICA key. A few years later he gave the key to his great friend and co-star Ingrid Bergman, saying that the key had given him luck and hoped it would do the same for her. Many years later, at a tribute to director Sir Alfred Hitchcock, Bergman went off-script and presented the key to him, to his surprise and delight.
Sir Alfred Hitchcock got the shot where Ingrid Bergman is in the background and the coffee cup is in the foreground, with both in focus, by using a giant coffee cup placed farther away than it appears.
Director Sir Alfred Hitchcock and screenwriter Ben Hecht consulted Nobel Prize winner Dr. Robert Millikan on how to make an atomic bomb. He refused to answer, but confirmed that the principal ingredient, uranium, could fit in a wine bottle.
Sir Alfred Hitchcock claimed that the F.B.I. had him under surveillance for three months because this movie dealt with uranium. During production in early 1945, the use for uranium ore was not common knowledge due to secrecy. But, after the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, and the release of details of the Manhattan Project, it removed any doubts about its use.
Sir Alfred Hitchcock said he was inspired to do the kissing scene in part by the memory of a young couple he spotted from a train in France. The boy was urinating against a wall and the girl had hold of his arm, never letting go. "She'd look down at what he was doing, and then look around at the scenery, and down again to see how far he's got on", Hitchcock explained. "And that was what gave me the idea. She couldn't let go. Romance must not be interrupted, even by urinating."
Best Performance: Cary Grant (Devlin)/Alfred Hitchcock (Director)
Best Secondary Performance: Cary Grant (Devlin)/Claude Rains (Sebastian)/Ingrid Bergman (Alicia)
Most Charismatic Award: Ingrid Bergman (Alicia)/Alfred Hitchcock (Director)/Claude Rains (Sebastian)
Best Scene:
After-Party
Dinner Plans
Getting the Assignment
Job Assignment
At the Party
In the Wine Cellar
Escape
Favorite Scene: After-Party/At the Party/Escape
Most Indelible Moment: Final Shot/Escape
In Memorium:
Ben Jones, 84, American actor (The Dukes of Hazzard, Primary Colors) and politician, member of the U.S. House of Representatives (1989–1993)
Best Lines/Funniest Lines:
Madame Sebastian: We are protected by the enormity of your stupidity, for a time.
Alicia Huberman: [on the plane to Rio after finding out her father has died] When he told me a few years ago what he was, everything went to pot. I didn't care what happened to me. Now I remember how nice he once was, how nice we both were. It's a very curious feeling, a feeling as if something had happened to me, not to him. You see I don't have to hate him anymore - or myself.
Devlin: She looked like the ragged end of nowhere.
Alicia Huberman: This is a very strange love affair.
Devlin: Why?
Alicia Huberman: Maybe the fact that you don't love me.
Devlin: A man doesn't tell a woman what to do. She tells herself.
Alexander Sebastian: He's rather handsome; isn't he?
Alicia Huberman: I'm allergic to American agents.
Devlin: [bitterly, to Alicia] Dry your eyes, baby; it's out of character.
Alicia Huberman: 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.
Alicia Huberman: The important drinking hasn't started yet.
Alicia Huberman: There's nothing like a love song to give you a good laugh.
Alicia Huberman: This chicken took longer than I expected. I hope it isn't done too much. It caught fire once.
Devlin: Listen, you've chalked up another boyfriend, that's all. No harm done.
Alexander Sebastian: An old friend is never an extra guest.
Alicia Huberman: My car is outside.
Devlin: Naturally.
Alicia Huberman: I guess I'm the girl nobody remembers.
The Stanley Rubric:
Legacy: 6.83
Impact/Significance: 8
Novelty: 8
Classic-ness: 8.5
Rewatchability: 8
Audience Score: 8.5 (7.9 IMDB, 91% RT)
Total: 47.83
Remaining Questions:
How different is the 1940s if you could kiss another man's wife, not get slugged, and then show up as a house guest without getting immediately thrown out?
What was Alicia poisoned with?
Does Alicia survive?
Do both Sebastian and his mother die? Are they able to turncoat?
Why did an entire era of film not realize the genius of Hitchcock?
Comments