Notorious (1946 film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Notorious | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical poster |
|
| Directed by | Alfred Hitchcock |
| Produced by | Alfred Hitchcock |
| Written by | Ben Hecht |
| Starring | Cary Grant Ingrid Bergman Claude Rains |
| Music by | Roy Webb |
| Cinematography | Ted Tetzlaff |
| Editing by | Theron Warth |
| Distributed by | RKO Radio Pictures |
| Release date(s) | New York City: August 15, 1946 |
| Running time | 101 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $2,000,000 (estimated) |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Notorious (1946) is a thriller directed and produced by Alfred Hitchcock, and starring Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman as two people whose lives become intimately entangled during an espionage operation. The screenplay by Ben Hecht was based on a story written by Hitchcock, which in turn was based on a Saturday Evening Post story which Hitchcock had read many years before.[1]
In his book-length interview with François Truffaut, Hitchcock/Truffaut (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1967), Hitchcock claimed he was followed by the FBI for several months after he and Hecht discussed uranium with Robert Millikan at Caltech in mid-1945, before the Manhattan Project became public.
Claude Rains was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, and Hecht was nominated for an Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay. In 2006, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
Contents |
[edit] Plot
Alicia Huberman (Ingrid Bergman), the American daughter of a convicted Nazi spy, is recruited by government agent T. R. Devlin (Cary Grant) to infiltrate a group of Germans who have relocated to Brazil after World War II.
During her training in Rio de Janeiro, Alicia falls in love with Devlin. His feelings for her are tempered by his knowledge of her wild past. When Devlin is ordered to convince her to seduce Alex Sebastian (Claude Rains), one of her father's friends and a member of the group, to find out what he's plotting, he agonizes before choosing duty over love. Bitter at his betrayal, Alicia eventually weds Alex.
Alicia discovers the plot, but in the process leaves a clue that her husband traces back to her. Now Alex has a problem: he must silence Alicia, but cannot expose her without being suspected by his fellow Nazis. Alex discusses the situation with his mother (Leopoldine Konstantin), who suggests that Alicia "die slowly", gradually by poisoning. The poison is mixed into Alicia's coffee and she quickly falls ill. Devlin becomes suspicious when she meets him and tells him that she merely has a hangover and yet shows signs of grave illness. He becomes alarmed when she fails to appear at their next meeting. Devlin later finds out about the poison and carries her out of the mansion in full view of the conspirators, leaving the hapless Alex to the non-existent mercy of his "friends", who question Alicia's odd departure.
[edit] Cast
- Cary Grant as T.R. Devlin
- Ingrid Bergman as Alicia Huberman
- Claude Rains as Alexander Sebastian
- Louis Calhern as Captain Paul Prescott
- Leopoldine Konstantin as Madame Anna Sebastian
- Reinhold Schünzel as Dr. Anderson
- Moroni Olsen as Walter Beardsley
- Ivan Triesault as Eric Mathis
- Alex Minotis as Joseph, Sebastian's Butler
- Wally Brown as Mr. Hopkins
- Charles Mendl as Commodore
- Ricardo Costa as Dr. Julio Barbosa
- Eberhard Krumschmidt as Emil Hupka
- Fay Baker as Ethel
[edit] Radio adaptations
A Lux Radio Theater adaptation was broadcast on January 26, 1948, with Ingrid Bergman reprising her role as Alicia Huberman and Joseph Cotten taking Cary Grant's role of T. R. Devlin. Another radio adaptation was produced for The Screen Guild Theater, again starring Ingrid Bergman, with John Hodiak, was broadcast on January 6, 1949.
[edit] Popular culture references
The Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Vortex" features an homage to the film, as a drink is carried in a similar manner to the poisoned one in the film; the allusion is specified in the episode's script.[2]
The 2000 film Mission: Impossible II heavily borrows from this film. The plot of the movie and the scene at the race track bear close resemblances to this movie. In MI:2, Tom Cruise recruits Thandie Newton to spy on Dougray Scott. Both Cruise and Dougray Scott are in love with her and Cruise is ridden with angst for putting her in such a position. The same happens in this movie, with Cary Grant recruiting Ingrid to spy on a traitor and throughout the movie he is torn for doing that. Cruise and Newton exchange information at a racing track under the villain's eyes, similar to a scene in the movie where Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman do the same under similar circumstances.
[edit] Cameo
Alfred Hitchcock's cameo appearance, a signature occurrence in all of his American films, takes place at the big party in Sebastian's mansion. Hitchcock is seen knocking back a glass of champagne and then quickly departing, about 60 minutes into the film.
[edit] References
- ^ Notorious at the Internet Movie Database.
- ^ Rolfe, Sam. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, "Vortex" episode script, 1992. Last accessed: April 20, 2008.
[edit] External links
- Notorious at the Internet Movie Database
- Notorious at Allmovie
- Notorious at the TCM Movie Database
- Notorious at Rotten Tomatoes
- Notorious essay at the Criterion Collection by William Rothman
- Notorious radio adaptation on MP3 aired January 26, 1948 on Lux Radio Theatre (59 minutes, with Ingrid Bergman and Joseph Cotten)
- Notorious at Eyegate Gallery
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||
