13th November 2009

Ooh, Friday the 13th, my favourite day of the year. Instead of watching the actual movie 'Friday the 13th', I watched a suspenseful classic. Notorious (1946). Alfred Hitchcock has always been a favourite of mine ever since mum made me watch Psycho, so I've watched a lot of his other films. Two of my favourite actors are Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman, so I knew this one would have to be good. Despite a slow start, this film was absolutely great. Alicia Huberman (Bergman) is asked to spy on some Nazi friends by her lover T. R. Devlin (Grant). While she goes on this mission, Alexander Sebastian (Claude Rains) falls in love with her, and in turn asks her to be his wife. Alicia reluctantly agrees, but realizes she is trapped inside his mansion, and is unable to dig up any dirt on the Nazis. Considering it is shot in black-and-white, this helped build up the suspense, and it lingered around each shot of the movie like a dark cloud. Ingrid Bergman turned out a marvelous performance, though remarkably similar to the one she won an Oscar for in 'Gaslight'. She manages to steady herself well, though her character is slowly going out of her mind. Cary Grant has a small role compared to Bergman's, but he works well as always, being the strong yet suave man who's always up to something. Claude Rains, also, is a good 'villain'. There are many close-ups in this film, which shows what these characters are really thinking. This film was almost perfect, but everyone should be required to see it.
9/10