Notorious (RKO 1946, Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman)

In Notorious, one of the most stylish works by the master of suspense Alfred Hitchcock, American agent Cary Grant gets the assignment to watch international playgirl Ingrid Bergman, whose father is a Nazi sympathizer.

He soon realizes she abhors his beliefs and they begin to work in tandem, an assignment that means she must marry Nazi agent Claude Rains in Rio despite their mutual attraction. When Rains becomes suspicious of Bergman, he begins slowly poisoning her, and Grant comes to the rescue. The intricate plot revolves around Rains’s hoard of uranium, a top-secret material at the time, and a plot point that earned writer Hecht and Hitch an F.B.I. tail during production.

This also features one of Hitchcock’s greatest shots, the descending crane shot from the top of a grand staircase to the key to Rains’s wine cellar held tight in Bergman’s hand.

Academy Award Nominations: Best Original Screenplay; Best Supporting Actor: Claude Rains.

production details
USA | RKO | 103 minutes | 1946
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Script: Alfred Hitchcock, Ben Hecht, Clifford Odets, John Taintor Foote,

cast
Cary Grant as T.R. Devlin
Ingrid Bergman as Alicia Huberman
Louis Calhern as Captain Paul Prescott
Leopoldine Konstantin as Madame Anna Sebastian
Reinhold Schünzel as Dr. Anderson
Ivan Triesault as Eric Mathis
Alex Minotis as Joseph, Sebastian’s Butler
Eberhard Krumschmidt as Emil Hupka
Fred Nurney as John Huberman
Moroni Olsen as Walter Beardsley
Wally Brown as Mr. Hopkins
Charles Mendl as Commodore
Ricardo Costa as Dr. Julio Barbosa
Fay Baker as Ethel
Bea Benaderet as File Clerk (uncredited)
Charles D. Brown as Judge (uncredited)
Eddie Bruce as Reporter (uncredited)
Ben Erway as Reporter (uncredited)
Donald Kerr as Reporter (uncredited)
James Logan as Reporter (uncredited)
Emmett Vogan as Reporter (uncredited)
Alan Ward as Reporter (uncredited)
Paul Bryar as Photographer (uncredited)
George Lynn as Photographer (uncredited)
Frank Marlowe as Photographer (uncredited)
Howard Negley as Photographer (uncredited)
Aileen Carlyle as Woman at Party (uncredited)
Almeda Fowler as Woman (uncredited)
Leota Lorraine as Woman (uncredited)
Richard Clarke as Man (uncredited)
Francis McDonald as Man (uncredited)
Alfred Hitchcock as Man Drinking Champagne at Party (uncredited)
Frank McLure as Man Walking Through Door Leaving Courtroom (uncredited)
Tom Coleman as Court Stenographer (uncredited)
Alfredo DeSa as Ribero (uncredited)
Bess Flowers as Party Guest (uncredited)
Art Howard as Party Guest (uncredited)
Jeffrey Sayre as Party Guest (uncredited)
Bert Moorhouse as Diner Extra / Party Guest (uncredited)
Gavin Gordon as Ernest Weylin (uncredited)
Harry Hayden as Defense Counsel (uncredited)
Warren Jackson as District Attorney (uncredited)
Thomas Martin as Butler (uncredited)
Virginia Gregg as File Clerk (uncredited)
John Vosper as Reporter (uncredited)
Claude Rains as Alexander Sebastian
Frank Wilcox as FBI Agent (uncredited)
Sandra Morgan as Woman (uncredited)
Elizabeth Wilson as Woman at Party (uncredited)
Lillian West as Woman (uncredited)
Tina Menard as Maid (uncredited)
Howard M. Mitchell as Bailiff (uncredited)
Antonio Moreno as Senor Ortiza (uncredited)
Garry Owen as Motorcycle Policeman (uncredited)
Dink Trout as Court Clerk (uncredited)
Lenore Ulric as Horsewoman with Sebastian (uncredited)
Friedrich von Ledebur as Knerr (uncredited)
Peter von Zerneck as Wilhelm Rossner (uncredited)