Notorious (1946)

6 out of 7 people found the following review helpful:

Notoriously good

Darren Oliver from London, 8th February, 2005

The more I watch Hitchcock, the more I come to see his genius as a director of thrillers. Notorious is another example of the great director at work, telling the story of a female spy asked to find out what prominent Nazi supporters in Brazil are planning. Ingrig Bergman plays Alicia, the daughter of a Nazi traitor in the US who is persuaded by spymaster Devlin (a wonderful complex Cary Grant) to help the US find out what a Nazi group in Rio is planning. As she begins to form deeper associations with the group, even marrying its leader Alex Sebastian. However, Alex becomes suspicious of his new wife and starts to take measures against her before Devlin comes to her rescue. The film is one of Hitchcock's first in Hollywood and certainly one of his best. Grant is excellent as Devlin, giving an edgy and less charming performance than usual. Bergman simmers with beauty and performs her role with great fervour. Hitchcock again displays his visual flair with some fantastic leading shots, especially involving the wine cellar key. One piece of useless trvial - the long kiss between Grant and Bergman was the longest in cinema history at the time!

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5 out of 5 people found the following review helpful:

I love this film

A Customer from London, 13th November, 2004

Cary Grant plays a mixture of charm and menace in this film. Ingrid Bergman is beautiful and oh-so-vulnerable. Has some truly frightning moments. Everything heads for a climactic showdown. It's not North by Northwest, but I still watch it repeatedly.

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3 out of 4 people found the following review helpful:

An average Hitchcock.............

Hurdle Ma Gurdle from Glasgow, 22nd November, 2004

Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman try their best in this South American post WWII Nazi spy thriller with little in the way of thrills. Only Grant and Bergman and a great performance by Claude Raines stop this from being truly bad.

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2 out of 3 people found the following review helpful:

Slow paced...

KenRivers from from Derby, 27th July, 2004

Another Hitchcock movie which moves along quite slowly. Very little in the way of suspense and not that much going on that kept me interested.

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Hitchcock on holiday

A Customer from Manchester, 19th November, 2008

Ignore the decision to locate the film in South America and the silly Nazi story line - none of the baddies are that convincing - and just enjoy the performances. Grant and Bergman make a convincing pairing and the mother-in-law from hell works well.

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Love it, loved it, loved

A Customer from London, 20th October, 2008

Cary Grant at his best. I love these old movies, they just cannot get the chemistry of the old Hollywood Stars these days.

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Follow that McGuffin!

HDX from from Barry, Wales, 3rd September, 2008

Hitchcock said that some movies needed a device to drive them along, something for the characters to chase and audience to worry about: a lost passport, a roll of film, a secret code etc etc. It didn't matter that no-one really understood what this was or why it was important, it was just the 'McGuffin' – a plot device to move things along and add suspense. The McGuffin in Notorious is that black sandy stuff in Claud Rains' wine bottles. Nobody watching the film really cares about the black sand though. We want Cary Grant to sweep Ingrid Bergman off her feet and defeat the bad guys. And he does! Hurray! Now that's movie magic!

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stellar cast

H. D from Salisbury, 19th July, 2008

Really atmosheric and a great story-line.

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