Happy Birthday, Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Hitchcock turns 127 on August 13 so we’ll sing a few rounds of “Happy Birthday” and watch one of his many, many masterpieces: Notorious.
Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman show what movie stars can do, as they burn a hole in the screen with their off-the-chart chemistry. To say the camera loves them is a woeful understatement. The plot has U.S. government agent Devlin (Grant) pressuring the guilt-ridden alcoholic Alicia (Bergman) into sleeping with a Nazi (Claude Rains) to learn secrets about plutonium. There are set pieces galore—That three-minute kiss! That tracking shot to the key! The journey down the staircase!—and the supporting players are a delight, but the real focus is Bergman and Grant. The witty, literate script by Ben Hecht (co-scripted by an uncredited Hitch), the fine score by Roy Webb (Bernard Herrmann was unavailable), and beautiful B&W photography by Ted Tetzlaff are all top-notch, a real testament to Hollywood filmmaking at its finest.