365 High-Def Days of Oscar: Day 16
Year: 1946
Oscar Nominations:
Best Supporting Actor
Best Original Screenplay
THE PLOT THUS FAR
A woman is asked to spy on a group of Nazi friends in South America. How far will she have to go to ingratiate herself with them?
WHAT WE THOUGHT
Cary Grant plays T.R. Devlin, an American agent who employs the assistance of Alicia Huberman, a German expatriate whose father has just been convicted as a German spy. Devlin brings Alicia to Brazil in hopes to arrange a meeting with Alex Sebastian; another German spy who just happens to have a history with Alicia insofar that he was in love with her. The plan is to get them together so that she can spy on Sebastian and his colleagues so that the Americans can get a leg up on their mutual espionage. Of course, love develops between Devlin and Alicia, which complicates their operation and of course, their lives.
`Notorious’, despite adhering to the chaste Hayes Code of the time has some of the steamiest scenes between two actors that I can recall during that era. While the scenes never get beyond the standard close-ups of their kisses, the chemistry is a heavy physical presence. The acting in `Notorious’ is top-notch; Grant and Bergman were at their best during this era. Claude Rains, who is a personal favorite of mine, is absolutely fabulous in this film. He gives his character, who should be hateful, a humanistic quality that makes him an even more complicated figure. Screenwriter Ben Hecht and Hitchcock team up for some pretty intense moments in `Notorious’, and compliment each others styles and talents wonderfully. There are not many nail-biting moments in `Notorious’, but the script is excellent. Coupled with the superior acting and direction, `Notorious’ is certainly a Hitchcock film that should not be missed.
The slow and deliberate pace of the main part of Notorious also allows for the effective staging of several suspense set-pieces. The simplest of scenes, the simplest of acts are drawn out to breaking point, cut up into numerous shots and carefully timed to turn them into heart-thumpers. The ultimate example of this is of course the final scene. You can also see when looking at scenes like the business with the key or the wine bottle why Hitchcock disliked last-minute twists – the suspense wouldn’t work if the audience weren’t aware of the actions and knowledge of all the characters.
The Blu-Ray comes with commentaries, featurettes, original radio play and trailers ported over from the past MGM and Criterion DVD releases. The 50 gig disc gives a lot of room for the high bitrate encode and DTS-HD master audio track that saves the mono mix. I’m just enjoying that MGM is taking care of its prestige titles and giving them the materials that they’ve compiled over the last few years. Nothing’s worse than when classic titles go ignored and I’m glad that this disc bucks the trend. In the end, I’d recommend a purchase.
RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW!
