Notorious: An Essay
An essay introducing Alfred Hitchcock’s 1946 film, Notorious.
Considered to be one of the director’s best films of the 1940s, Alfred Hitchcock’s 1946 film, Notorious, is an appealing spy thriller. The film features Hitchcock’s regular actors, Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman, both in their second outing with Hitchcock, after Suspicion (1941), and Spellbound (1945) respectively. The film also features Claude Rains as Alexander Sebastian, and Leopoldine Konstantin as Madame Anna Sebastian.
Running 101 minutes, Notorious was produced by RKO Pictures for two million dollars, and was written by Academy Award winner Ben Hecht, arguably the greatest screenwriter in Hollywood at the time. At its core, the film is one of Hitchcock’s ‘guilty woman’s’ stories. Indeed, throughout his career, both prior to and after Notorious, Hitchcock devised stories where woman, often blondes, were manipulated into situations of great danger. Moreover, Alexander Sebastian is an example of Hitchcock’s ‘likeable criminal’; he is the epitome of society, and a man of charm and likeability.
Notorious follows Alicia Huberman (Bergman), who is coerced by espionage agent Devlin (Grant) into working as an undercover operative trying to rout a group of neo-Nazis working in Brazil. Alicia pretends to fall in love with suspected Nazi sympathiser Alexander Sebastian (Rains). During a grand party, Devlin and Alicia discover Alex’s uranium supply in the wine cellar. However, after Alex discovers they are not whom they seem, with the help of his mother Anna (Konstantin), he poisons Alicia. When Alicia fails to appear at a rendezvous, Devlin sneaks into her room, and in full view of the Nazis, convinces Sebastian that she must go to the hospital. Alicia and Devlin drive away, as Sebastian walks back into the presence of his Nazi associates. Over this is the continued and growing romance between Devlin and Alicia, which serves as the films central romantic thread.
While some individuals (notably David O. Selznick before he sold the rights to RKO Pictures) didn’t understand the significance of the uranium supply in the film, at the time of the release, the atomic bombings on Japan were still at the forefront of American national identity. Moreover, the uranium supply is the film’s MacGuffin: a plot device that is meaningless, but drives the narrative.
With superb art direction from Carrol Clark and Albert S. D’Agostino, the most notable set of the film is the main foyer/hall where the grand party is held in the second half of the film. Perhaps the most important feature of this set is the staircase, which emphasises the grandeur of the house. Staircases feature in many of Hitchcock’s films, and serve to distinguish both literal and metaphorical levels. Interestingly, at the end of the film, as Alex, Devlin, Anna help carry the poisoned Alicia down the stairs, we find that the characters descend more stairs than there actually are; just another method Hitchcock uses to prolong the suspense.
Shot beautifully in black and white by cinematographer Ted Tetziaff (Notorious is his last film as a cinematographer), there are two notable sequences, hereafter referred to as the ‘kiss’ and ‘tracking shot’ sequences. In nearly all reviews and articles concerning the film, these sequences are addressed and mentioned as the strongest and most visually engaging, and an example of Hitchcock’s directorial power.
The frame captures below illustrate the slow tracking shot Hitchcock uses in the film: from high above the checkerboard floor as party guests mill about, and a straining chamber orchestral waltz plays, the camera elegantly tracks down to a close-up of the key in Ingrid Bergman’s hand. Essential to the plot, the key will open the wine cellar and uncover Alex’s uranium supply. Lori Spring (2005, p.11) describes the sequence as an ‘essential Hitchcockian moment — all elements working in perfect synergy cinematically, narratively, [and] emotionally.’ Moreover, as Deborah Knight and George McKnight (1999. p. 114) highlight, the suspense of the grand party highlights Hitchcock’s talent. They emphasise that ‘the uncertainty of the party sequence is whether Devlin and Alicia will be discovered, both as spies and as lovers.’ They go on to say that the use of POV shots, dialogue, and cross-cutting ‘intensify our suspense.’
The other renowned sequence from Notorious is the kissing scene, where Hitchcock cleverly evades the production codes of the time, which prohibited a kiss lasting longer than three seconds. So, throughout the three minute sequence, Bergman and Grant alternate between kissing, dialogue and intimate eye play.
For those interested, the link below is the kissing sequence from Notorious: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zu8JASfWb6A
Hitchcock was a director who found a way around the restrictions of British and American production codes and censorship. The scene is a prime example of his skill as a director and innovator, and is ultimately more erotic and powerful than if the characters had simply engaged in a three minute long kiss. Another example this would be the doors opening in Spellbound (1945), which serve as a symbol of sexual awakening, and imply that the characters are having sex.
While the film follows ‘standard’ Hollywood narrative conventions, the ending of the film is suitably predictable. Deborah Knight and George McKnight (1999. p. 117) note that Notorious exemplifies ‘Hitchcock’s notion that suspense depends upon the audience knowing the fate facing the characters.’ Indeed, the film delivers the romantic conclusion that the beginning of the film, as Knight and McKnight suggest, ‘encouraged us to hope for.’ Moreover, Alex does ‘get caught’, in the sense that he fails to kill Alicia, and it is implied he will be killed, or at best morally destroyed, by his Nazi ‘comrades’.
Notorious is often cited as one of Hitchcock’s best films from the 1940s. Renowned film critic Roger Ebert (1997) described it as ‘the most elegant expression of the master’s visual style’, and goes on to say Hecht’s screenplay is ‘ingenious.’ Released in the aftermath of the atomic bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki (August 1945), the film was met with critical and commercial acclaim, and was a box office success. Notorious was nominated for two Academy Awards: Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Claude Rains), and Best Writing — Original Screenplay (Ben Hecht).
In 2006, Notorious was selected for permanent preservation in the United States Library of Congress’ National Film Registry. It is viewed as one of Hitchcock’s strongest films from the 1940s, and Hitchcock’s daughter, Patricia, describes Notorious as her favourite Hitchcock film: “what a perfect film.”
Superbly acted, flawlessly crafted, and incredibly powerful, Notorious is a visual feast, and a glorious showcase of Hitchcock’s sublime direction.
© Christopher Sampson
References
Ebert, R 1997, Great Movie Review: Notorious, Ebert Digital LLC (USA), viewed 11 May 2015, <http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-notorious-1946>
IMDB 2015, Notorious (1946), USA, viewed 7 May 2015, <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038787/>
Knight, D & McKnight, G 1999, ‘Suspense and Its Master’, in Allen, R & Isshi-Gonzales, S (eds), Alfred Hitchcock: Centenary Essays, BFI Publishing, London, pp.107–121.
McConchie, J 2015, ‘Notorious’, lecture in the topic SCME2105 The Filmmaker — Case Studies, Flinders University, Bedford Park, 9 April.
Notorious kiss (the most erotic kiss in movie history), YouTube Video, uploaded by ‘alrebeque’, 15 October 2009, viewed 9 May 2015, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zu8JASfWb6A>
Spring, L 2005, ‘Notorious’, CineAction, vol. Summer 2005, no.67, pp. 10–11.
