Cary Grant, Claude Rains, Ingrid Bergman

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?

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90% liked it

28,520 ratings

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97% liked it

29 critics

Unrated, 1 hr. 41 min.

Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock

Release Date: January 1, 1946

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DVD Release Date: March 13, 2001

Stats: 1,382 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (1,382)


  • November 15, 2009
    Certainly ranks amongst the best of the Hitchcockian thrillers. Ingrid Bergman shines as the alcoholic of loose morals (so much nicer than saying "hoebag", don't you think?) turned American spy.

    *NOTE: Anyone else notice that Hitchcock seems to have an affinity for overb...( read more)earing mothers? (Notorious, Psycho, The Birds, etc.)
  • August 23, 2009
    "Notorious", released in 1946, has long been considered one of Alfred Hitchcock's finest works. It's a classic tale about love and lust, manipulation and espionage. Starring two of Hollywood's most familiar faces, Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant, the film succeeds in weaving togeth...( read more)er an incredibly suspenseful and rather erotic tale with a great elegance, all culminating in one of the finest endings cinema has to offer. I don't want to pick my favorite Hitchcock, but what's important is this - at over 63-years-old, "Notorious" has yet to age a day.

    Alicia Huberman (Ingrid Bergman) is the American daughter of a Nazi spy. Her father has been convicted, and now she has been recruited by a government agent by the name of TR Devlin (Cary Grant) to infiltrate a group of Germans who have taken refuge in Rio de Janeiro. It doesn't take long for Alicia to fall for Devlin while awaiting further orders, however complications arise when Devlin is informed that he must convince Alicia to seduce one of the Nazi men, Alex Sebastian (Claude Raines). Although Devlin is clearly uncomfortable at the idea, he remains stoic and agrees to the assignment.

    Although Grant's Devlin is the hero of the film, Sebastian perhaps gains more of our sympathies. He is a Nazi, and we are conditioned to hate Nazis - but, Sebastian clearly loves Alicia, whereas Devlin has prioritized his duty over her love. Sebastian is further developed with tenderness in instances with his overbearing mother (Leopoldine Konstantin). He, like Devlin, is a man of duty, albeit one under different circumstances.

    Perhaps the film's most famous sequence involves what has been referred to as "the longest kiss in the history of the movies". In fact, however, the production code established that a kiss could not be held for more than three seconds. Therefore, Grant and Bergman fully embrace for three minutes, kissing in three second intervals while discussing other maters. It's an incredibly sexy scene, one of those moments in movie history that has become etched into the human collective subconscious for it's tremendous aesthetic appeal and invention.

    The film is also memorable for one suspense sequence in particular, which takes place in a wine cellar. Devlin and Alicia must retreat to it during a party, but only Sebastian has a key. Once they make their way down there - we, as the audience, are aware of everything that's going on above. The wine is beginning to run out, and it won't be long before someone is going to come down to fetch some more.

    "Notorious" is simply a special film. It's a bit unexplainable - it's just the perfect assemblage of performers, dialogue, sound, editing, camera movements, and so on. No moment rings false, and each frame feels as important as the last. It's the sort of film that will reacquaint even the most cynical movie-goer with the wonders of cinema.
  • August 20, 2009
    What I like most about Notorious is the way it messes around with our sympathies by giving us an (outwardly) callous hero (Cary Grant) and a considerate villain (Claude Rains). I'd forgotten just how much of a bastard Cary is in this! Of course he's in love with Ingrid, bu...( read more)t he's unable to declare the fact because the agency he works for is trying to push her into bed with Rains. There's a crucial exchange of dialogue early on in which Bergman teases Grant about his reluctance to tell her that he loves her, to which he replies: "When I don't love you I'll let you know." In effect, this serves as Grant's excuse for his shabby treatment of Bergman for much of the remainder of the movie; yes, he's being cruel, but he isn't explicitly stating that he doesn't love her, ergo... As for Rains' character, in addition to our knowledge that he is being deceived, the main reason why we sympathise with him is because by marrying Bergman he is defying his domineering mother (Leopoldine Konstantin, very creepy) and attempting to break her poisonous hold over him. (Incidentally, the figure of the possessive mother recurs time and again in Hitchcock's work, obviously taken to the most outrageous extreme in Psycho). Along with Rebecca and Shadow of a Doubt, I would rate this as Hitchcock's best film of the 1940s.
  • July 5, 2009
    A close second to Rebecca...Cary Grant, Claude Raines and the incomparable Ingrid Bergman.
  • December 29, 2008
    another simple story with a tense last 10 minutes yet lacking a decent build up again. some of hitchcocks films are hit and some are miss. for me this is a major miss!
  • November 14, 2009
    Not my favorite Cary Grant/Hitchcock film, but an interesting one all the same.

    Devlin: A man doesn't tell a woman what to do. She tells herself.
  • November 13, 2009
    Suspense, the kind of movie I like. The performances were amazing, and this film is a simple must-see
  • October 15, 2009
    I've seen so many films like this, it kind of got old and cliche, especially in the beginning. The film gets better, but it's really just the big names that make you want to watch this. The film is good, but it's certainly not Bergman's, Grant's, or Hitchcock's best work.
  • September 26, 2009
    No words for one movie like this. Hitchcoc Directed one very strong thriller with great cast and fantastic paerformases. Master of mystery.
  • September 23, 2009
    02/23/2009
    My most favorite Hitchcock movie

Critic Reviews


January 1, 2000
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious is the most elegant expression of the master's visual style, just as Vertigo is the fullest expression of his obsessions. full review

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Notorious Trivia


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