How can anyone watch NOTORIOUS and not fall in love? Ingrid Bergman is luminous and tortured and vulnerable and brave. Cary grant is stylish and capable and conflicted and cool. In a film that could have gotten away with “These are currently the two most beautiful people in the world. Darwin demands that they mate,” NOTORIOUS gives these characters actual stories and conflicts and reasons to get involved. All that and a spy thriller that turns even the details of catering into nail-biting, suspenseful business. This is as good as Alfred Hitchcock movies get – and Alfred Hitchcock movies get very good.
Begin with Bergman as Alicia Huberman, the notorious woman of the title. Her father is a felon, convicted for treason shortly after WWII. She’s a party girl, the kind who, decades later, would feature on tabloid covers and scandal websites. But when the government recruits her to fly to Rio serve as a honey pot to ensnare Claude Rains, she’s up for the task. Never mind that maybe she doesn’t want to party until the wheels come off. Never mind that maybe she’s about finished with her postadolescent rebellion. Never mind that she’s in love with her handler and her heart breaks a little more every minute that she works at her assignment. She has a job and she’s going to do it, even though it will probably get her killed.
Go on to Grant, the handler. He’s an intelligence man, worldly and cynical. He’s so cool that he’s, well, he’s Cary Grant. He recruits Bergman, he gets her to Rio, and he sets her up to meet Rains. Never mind that he’s in love with his agent. Never mind that it kills him to see her and her mark together. Never mind that he won’t allow himself to believe in her best self. And never mind that his heart is breaking every minute she works at her assignment. She has a job and he’s going to see her through it, even though it will probably get her killed.
These two characters must be together, need to be together. The film’s genius lies in its manipulation of audience antici … pation, separating them through their roles in life, their senses of duty, the real danger presented by Rains and his Nazi cohort. I dare you to watch it and not have your heart break. I dare you to watch it and not fall in love.
2 comments:
I was blog browsing tonight and found yours. I've enjoyed what I read and will continue reading and following. I was going to pop you an email suggesting some movies if you have not seen them. Not sure all are at Netflix. I would enjoy reading your reviews. The Egg & I, Who's Minding the Mint, On the Town, Infamous (I saw you did not like Capote, same story, different perspective, better movie), Brief Encounter, Quills, Marty, 3 Godfathers (1936 has extremely young Walter Brennan), remade with John Wayne in 1948
Thanks, Sneakers! I've seen and enjoyed On the Town and Quills, and I've queued up the rest of the films that Netflix had in its inventory. I look forward to viewing your suggestions.
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