Notorious (1946, Selznick, RKO)

Notorious (1946, Selznick, RKO)

Describe your assessment/opinion for each category below. Do NOT write generalized statements without examples from film or examples without statements clarifying them

1). Screenplay/Storyline:

A man is convicted of being a traitor to the U.S. His daughter, Alicia, leaves the courtroom somber but goes on to have a party at night. At the party there is an American Intelligence Officer, Devlin, who is there with the purpose of asking her to be on a secret mission for the government. However, he does not disclose who he is and they both begin coy flirting with each other. The following day Devlin convinces Alicia to go to Rio de Janeiro on the secret mission. Before the assignment the two spend time together and during some sightseeing end up kissing. They are happy and going to enjoy a meal when Devlin returns from the embassy with the news that they want her to seduce a German and get information from him. There is an uncomfortable round about discussion of whether or not she should do it and what about them. Devlin chooses career over love. He is also testing her to see if she will accept the assignment which he later describes as a “love test.” Alicia marries the German and gets information for the U.S. She is discovered and is being poisoned to death. Devlin finally comes in to rescue her from death choosing love over duty.

2). Hitchcock‘s Direction/Style (use of editing/montage, composition of shots, camera angles):

The car speeding scene from the beginning is an interesting editing montage. In the first scene there is a view from the car hood toward the inside. It shows a close up of the two inside while they speak in the car seats. The next point of view is from the inside of the car capturing the swervy road. There is then a close up of Devlin’s hand almost grabbing the steering wheel inside the car. When a policeman stops in front of the car, there is first an interesting close up of the front hood ornament of the car. The police car is in front of it. The road is a back lit scene.

All the Rio street scenes including the café scene are backlit location shots. They aren’t filming in Rio at all.

3). Performances and Characterization (Minimum of 2):

T. R. Devlin / Cary Grant has the qualities needed for this role. He is a man who can charm a woman with just a look, stare and his half smile. He is good lucking enough to be a seducer. He is always in beautiful suits and looks professional. He could also be cold with just a change in his tone of voice and delivery of his monologue.

Alicia Huberman / Ingrid Bergman has the most camera time. It is a pleasure to look at her beautiful face and perfect skin. She does a convincing job as a woman who is a misunderstood woman who is supposedly a slut but she is a dignified elegant lady. She plays a range of a party girl to a dignified society woman.

Alexander Sebastian /Claude Rains plays an evil Nazi scientist. Yet, he is a short man who lives with his mommy. He is well cast as a dignified wealthy man. One feels sorry for him for his naivety and puppy love. He does turn into a cold character when he tells his wife, “Dear, why don’t you drink your coffee?” He doesn’t seem remorseful about killing her slowly.

4). Cinematography & Color Symbolism:

The film uses the black and white contrasts making a most spectacular black and white film. When Alicia begins her assignment at the Sebastian house she walks in with a beautiful white outfit and stoll. It’s as if she hasn’t been soiled by the Mata Hari process yet. After she is married to Alex, she sets him up at his own party for disclosure of his Nazi work. At this party, most of the women are wearing light colored outfits and she is wearing a long black gown. It works for clearly seeing her in the crowd and it is also a dark dress of betrayal and danger.

During the party there is a lot of suspense around the number of champagne bottles left over ice. The ice is looks bright white and almost glowing. It contrasts with the dark bottles and heightens the dramatic look as the large white ice area keeps expanding.

One of the most beautifully shot scenes is at the big party before Devlin comes in the door. Alicia is waiting for him with the stolen key to the wine cellar. Hitchcock used a huge crane so that every part of the large entry hall and staircase can be viewed. The shot starts at the top of grand staircase. The camera crawls slowly down the grand stair case down to a big close up of Alicia arm where she has a black long sleeve and a huge sparkling diamond ring on her finger. There is an extreme close up then as she opens her palm a bit to expose the secret key.

The lighting is beautiful in the final shots of the film. It is dark outside but there is a lot of light from in the house that it is cascading down the stairs making a carpet of light. There are also large black and white grated patterned outdoor lanterns along the walkways. The men back in the house are wearing tuxedos back lit also with light of the entry. The action of the scene happens right down the middle of this lit area. Devlin gets Alicia in the car and Alex is locked out. He turns around in horror at the men up the stairs in the bright light. He knows that he is walking up this flooded gauntlet of light up to his death. In the final shot a big black door is closed covering all the light and there is a clash of cymbals.

5). Film Score/Sound and/or Visual Effects:

The movie had about 50/50 soundtrack and no score. When there was sound it was mainly waltzy music or crescendo violin music. Sometimes there was a little Brazilian music as a location reminder.

I liked the first use of music at Alicia’s party which came from a record player. Once she has a hangover there is no music in the background which is fitting. After Alicia hears the recording of her patriotism there is waltzy music as he convinces her to take on her assignment. It is like the spirit of patriotism is romanticized. The work conversations in the embassy never have a sound track.

Once they are in Rio there is a lot more music as there is suspense. For example, when Alicia gets the keys and is snooping around there is violin music. The violin music heightens as she goes from lock to lock and heightens when she finds the one room to which she doesn’t have the key, the wine cellar.

There are two uses of camera angles effects to show Alicia in inebriated states. At the beginning of the movie she is hung over and the camera view is from her drunken eyes point of view where she sees him first upside down, then sideways as she rotates around on her bed to an upright position.

Towards the end of the movie, Alicia is poisoned and we also see things from her perspective as she sees things blurry and swaying in front of her. We see from this viewpoint as she fights to walk toward the staircase.

6). Hitchcockian Themes and Motifs: (Minimum of 4)

1) Domineering Mother to son relationships. “You've always been jealous of any woman I've ever shown any interest in!"

2) Use of a macguffin. There is something secret that the Germans are hiding. It is the uranium ore.

3) Suspense throughout Alicia’s spy scenes the night of the party and her retrieval from the house.

4) Love over duty. Similar to the detectives in Blackmail or Sabotage, Devlin at the end of the movie choose protecting the girl over the job.

5) War is a theme. The U.S. is fighting German misdoings in the U.S. and South America.

7). Influences evoked from or inspired (film/literature/art/political/social):

The of war during the time with Nazi’s against the U.S. Also in particular at this time Nazi’s had fled Germany to South America to escape or continue their work from there. The films centers around the fled Nazi’s in Brazil.

German expressionism is an influence with the stark contrast of whites and darks. Staircases were also used in German expressionist films. A scene that shows these two aspects well is when the drugged Alicia is being semi-dragged up the staircase. The long shot shows black and white marble tiles below and above. In the middle is a staircase with very white rails contrasting against very dark carpeting.

8). Overall impressions of film (positive/negative) and additional comments:

It is a beautiful visually suspenseful experience. I enjoyed how the manufacturer names the key being Unica which translates to the word unique or exceptional. The tracing of the key is all visually observed. Alicia has the key in her hand and her husband grabs her palm to kiss it, He luckily grabbed the wrong one and she throws her arms over him to stop him from opening up the other hand with the key. She drops the key on the floor and then kicks it under the table. We next see the key in a close up of her hand at the party. The betrayal is then shown with Alex finding the return of the key to his nightstand. It is all visual and suspenseful without words.

The wardrobe from Edith Head is amazing and Ingrid Bergman fits in all the clothes beautifully. They accentuate her beauty.

I enjoyed the comedy of the horrible mother-in-law having had one myself. She meets Alicia with suspicion right away and unsmiling. She turns out the lights and dismisses the servants for the return from their honeymoon. When Alex finally comes to his mother to tell her there is something very wrong regarding Alicia, she becomes so happy. “I have expected it. I knew, I knew!” Later as her daughter-in-law is in bed dying of poisoning (which she suggested), she complacently looks on at Alicia’s suffering from a chair as she does needlecraft.

The negative I found was in the drunk driving at the beginning of the film. It might have been a funny thing back then. I also didn’t like watching Devlin knock Alicia out with a punch in the same scene. These things were probably funny back then.