A film that combines a complex and nuanced study of love, duty, trust and betrayal with a genuinely gripping espionage thriller, NOTORIOUS was further proof that Hitchcock was a master storyteller, rather than simply a generator of slick and exciting chills. Ingrid Bergman gives a magnificent performance as Alicia, a woman who is at once using and being used by the men in her life: spy handler Devlin (Cary Grant) and Nazi Sebastian (Claude Rains). The fact that Sebastian is portrayed with a degree of sympathy adds the depth, and was a bold move given its year of release. NOTORIOUS is also notable for the appearance of pre-war German actress Leopoldine Konstantin in her only American film role, nailing the part of Sebastian’s evil mother, one of Hitchcock’s most memorable and chilling villains.

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