Shandor, you MUST read the Wikipedia biography of Claude Rains to understand what an amazing actor he was, and how he was loved and respected by the great actors of his time. His film debut as The Invisible Man made him famous, but he remained the perfect character actor, playing villain after villain for a long career. His elegant diction and manners were self-taught. He was born in extreme poverty and grew up with a Cockney accent. In Notorious, he perfectly portrays an aristocratic villain who's mother is virtually Ilsa the She-Wolf of the S.S., catching every nuance of his internal weakness and dependence on her while maintaining the illusion that he is the power-wielder. That was the kind of performance that directors knew Rains would deliver. He was the ultimate professional.
My favorite Hitchcock films are from this period, even more than the great films from the 50s and early 60s. Check out "Shadow of a Doubt", Hitchcock's favorite of his own work.
Ingrid Bergman had a remarkable face., I don't just mean her beauty, but as you pointed out, that ability to subtley convey emotions and lead you through what her character is thinking in any given scene even without dialogue. Bette Davis, James Stewart and Henry Fonda can do that as well.
Once again, I LOVE your classic movie reactions; they make me so happy, Notorious being at the top of the list thus far! 1) Because I get to watch someone who loves cinema watch some of my favorite movies for the first time and 2) The more you discover the absolute MASTERPIECES of the 1940's the closer you are getting to watch THE THIRD MAN. And THST reaction is gonna be incredible! Thank you again Shandor!
Glad you enjoyed this masterpiece! I just wanted to make one note - you mentioned that you know that Hitchcock didn't write the movie, but in fact on many of his films, including this one, he was heavily involved in the writing process, even if he wasn't credited. In the case of Notorious, the basic concept of the film was Hitchcock's, and he produced an outline, which he then collaborated with screenwriter Ben Hecht to turn into a screenplay. (Also probably with uncredited help by Hitchcock's wife, Alma Reville.)
I was just going to say what you said, Steven. Hitch never took a writing credit, but almost all his writers, with whom he worked very closely, would tell you that the story was created by Hitchcock, and not by the writer. They did their job, putting what he wanted on the page, but Hitch was the mastermind behind it all.
This is my favorite Ingrid Bergman role--she owns the film. Please watch Rebecca next! It's not quite as tense as Notorious and the story is very different, but similar romantic drama suspense tone. Rebecca, Spellbound (also starring Bergman), and Notorious are films that Hitchcock famously butted heads with producer David O. Selznick over.
Rebecca and Spellbound are good choices (although not as good as Notorious- but not much is as good). You might also check out Ingrid Bergman in Gaslight, also a suspense film, but not Hitchcock.
@@bethmilstein4980 Agreed on all accounts. Rebecca is one of my favorites, but it's a bit more melodramatic in presentation. Spellbound has some dated, simplistic psychology. Still great in their own ways, but not quite up there with Notorious.
One of my favorite Hitchcock movies. Just awesome, the scene where Alex tells his mother that he is married to an American agent is one of my favorites. I would also suggest you try Hitchcock’s 1943 movie, Shadow of a Doubt.
As an earlier commenter noted, visual styles, lighting and camerawork were perfected in the silent era from the early 1900s to the early 30s. Groundbreaking directors, like DW Griffith and others, set out the methods used today. Greats that followed like John Ford, Hitchcock and Orson Welles used those techniques and applied them with their genius. So many of those early films allowed the camera to develop the narrative, which is lost to much of today's film making.
Hehehe! Sooo u liked it, eh?! 😊😊 Of course you did! One thing with Hitchcock is that he was HEAVILY influenced by Freud’s ideas which from the 20s-50s were regarded in every form of art/literature. The peak film for that was Spellbound where he got Salvador Dali to create backgrounds for the character’s dreams! Here u see it most in how weak Alec is and how domineering is his MOTHER! Indeed, she’s the Über Nazi of them all! The transformation when she takes out the cigarette 🚬!! I also loved the use of the floor as if it were a chessboard with the characters maneuvering. Oh n that shot u like with the key in her hand is on of the most famous pan-in shots in movie history! On to the next one!
Shandor and fellow commentators, I was tempted to say that, the initial Devlin-Alicia Romance was so fast because this is a rather long movie, a bit over 2 hours. But then I remembered that Hitch storyboarded absolutely every scene and beat in his movies and almost never changed anything. His wife Alma and he worked together on EVERY movie. I'm enjoying watching you react to these movies. I also read the comments and the other commentators have already recommended the things I think you should watch. Enjoy watching a genius at work, unfolding right before your senses. Jim Mexico
So glad you took our advice, Shandor, and watched this one. It's such an amazing film, and that was a terrific reaction! You mentioned a few times how groundbreaking this must have been at the time, and you're right. Hitchcock was doing things that no one else had ever done before. In fact, he is considered, along with John Ford and Akira Kurosawa, to be one of the most *influential* directors of all time. And since you liked 'Notorious' so much, I'll also recommend 'The 39 Steps', 'Shadow of a Doubt', and 'Strangers on a Train'. Brilliant movies, filled with excitement, suspense, emotion, romance, and even a little comedy. I hope you'll see all three someday, and more after that!
It's been great watching your reactions to films from the 1940's - I just watched your commentary for The Third Man, too! I think Notorious is probably the best of Hitchcock from the 1940's, but Rebecca is similarly brilliant and the cinematography is incredible. Lifeboat and Shadow of a Doubt are also standouts from him during that decade. I don't know for sure, but it would seem his films from that decade often had an actress as the main character (Rebecca, Suspicion, Shadow of a Doubt, Notorious, Spellbound, and maybe even Lifeboat).
In my opinion one of the best films ever made. Definitely on my top-10 list. Just brilliant is so many ways. It’s an incredible love story. It’s an incredible espionage thriller. The performances are epic. The direction, screen-play, cinematography… just fantastic.
This is certainly one of Hitchcock’s best films, a remarkable combination of love drama and suspenseful spy story. It’s scandalous that Bergman wasn’t even nominated for an Oscar, but that is probably because she had already won for Best Actress in Gaslight (1944) a couple years before. Some of the shots in this film are very reminiscent of Suspicion (1941), especially when Grant gives her the glass of milk, so you would probably like that one very much. Joan Fontaine won her academy award for her role in Suspicion.
Actually, the visuals are a callback to the silent era, where Hitchcock got his training. That's how they made them back then. You should watch some of them.
Thank you for your thoughtful and intelligent reactions. Since you have enjoyed several of Hitchcock's films, I recommend that you also react to Hitchcock's films Spellbound (1945) starring Ingrid Bergman and Gregory Peck, Suspicion (1941) starring Cary Grant and Joan Fontaine, and Rebecca (1940) starring Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine. For her role in Suspicion, Joan Fontaine won the Academy Award for Best Actress. This is the only Oscar winning acting performance in a Alfred Hitchcock film. Rebecca received eleven nominations for Academy Awards; more than any other film that year. It won two Academy awards: Best Picture and Best Cinematography. Rebecca is the only film directed by Hitchcock to win the Best Picture Academy award.
Thank you for another enjoyable reaction Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant... Hitchcock always used extremely charismatic and beautiful (mainly metal blond) actors in his movies. Ingrid Bergman looks like an Angel, and Cary Grant, one of the sexiest actors to this day, has always played hard to get, which made him even more irresistible. The tension in Hitchcock's movies is built on sexual, criminal, and psychological grounds. The camera work forces you to become an integrated but helpless participant. At times, the tension is so intense that it is hard to bear. Hitchcock knew how to manipulate and use his audience to partake in his movies. By achieving that, he completed his masterpieces. He used his viewers to become a bunch of unpaid but crucial extras.
Subscribed. Great reaction. This film, and, Rear Window, have spots in the bottom half of my Top 10 Films of All-Time List, with a very slight edge to the Stewart-Kelly picture. Glad you loved it, the film is a masterpiece, indeed.
There are photos online of the huge crane apparatus he had specially built in order to film the shot of the key from far above to inside her hand at the party in one smooth move.
While searching for the Nazi's secret, Devlin accidentally breaks a 🍾bottle, and it here that we come to the movie's MacGuffin at last. (A MacGuffin is a plot device, often of little interest in itself, that helps to propel the plot.) In this case it is uranium ore, which the Nazis are storing in some of the wine bottles. Hitchcock does give a pretty good explanation of a MacGuffin when he describes it as "the thing that the characters on the screen worry about but the audience doesn't care about." So, it is a plot device that acts as a catalyst to drive some of the action in the story. The 39 Steps (1935) Hitchcock movie is 💯✨‼Although Hitchcock had already made a string of successful movies, The 39 Steps brought him international recognition and helped launch his Hollywood career. The Lady Vanishes (1938), Rebecca (1940), Foreign Correspondent (1940), Suspicion (1941), Saboteur (1942), Shadow of a Doubt (1943), Lifeboat (1944).
Another interesting thriller you might like is Dark Passage with Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. But I like all of Bogart/Bacall movies.. they are all good. Notorious is one of my all time favorite movies. If you like Ingrid Bergman, you have to see Gaslight! Also really good.
Another Claude Rains picture is director David Lean's :" The Passionate Friends"... David Lean did a number of films with his wife English actress Ann Todd....and this is a good one.
This is my 5th favourite Alfred Hitchcock movie. Ingrid also gave a good performance in the Hitchcock movie "Spellbound," which stars Gregory Peck and is my 9th favourite Hitchcock movie. One movie I recommend is "Shadow Of A Doubt," which is my 3rd favourite Hitchcock movie, but one movie of Alfred's that may not be as interesting as some of the others is "Topaz."
In the end, it is a movie about perverse, twisted relationships. Alicia and her father. Alex and his mother. Alicia and Devlin. Alicia and Alex. Alicia and the mother. Alex and the other Germans.
Do watch Rebecca! It's more understated than Notorious, but the underlying mystery and creepiness are given more time to develop, which prolongs the suspense. I don't think you'll be disappointed!
To see where Hitchcock got his ideas for Pure cinema, you have to look at German Silent Films from the interwar Period. Hitch was sent to Germany to work with the UFA studio in Berlin and got to know firsthand the work of Fritz Lang, Murnau Pabst et al. AH also went to see TONS of movies throughout his career to get fresh ideas an see actors he would use later. Take a peek, there are a lot of great films from the slient era out of Germany.
I thought Hitchcock was forced by the “production codes” to retain Cary Grant’s unblemished positivity in Suspicion. As uncharacteristic for nazis not to press their position of strength in this movie.
![Shandor reacts to ALL ABOUT EVE (1950) - FIRST TIME WATCHING!!! [READ DESCRIPTION!]](/img/1.gif)
“ This is the film, with Casablanca,that assures Ingrid Bergman’s immortality” Roger Ebert on Notorious 1946
Are you forgetting Gaslight ?
Shandor, you MUST read the Wikipedia biography of Claude Rains to understand what an amazing actor he was, and how he was loved and respected by the great actors of his time. His film debut as The Invisible Man made him famous, but he remained the perfect character actor, playing villain after villain for a long career. His elegant diction and manners were self-taught. He was born in extreme poverty and grew up with a Cockney accent. In Notorious, he perfectly portrays an aristocratic villain who's mother is virtually Ilsa the She-Wolf of the S.S., catching every nuance of his internal weakness and dependence on her while maintaining the illusion that he is the power-wielder. That was the kind of performance that directors knew Rains would deliver. He was the ultimate professional.
I loved him in Casablanca, so there's absolutely no doubt in my mind about his absolute brilliance, trust me.
This is one of Hitchcock's greatest, and it doesn't get enough discussion.
My favorite Hitchcock films are from this period, even more than the great films from the 50s and early 60s. Check out "Shadow of a Doubt", Hitchcock's favorite of his own work.
Ingrid Bergman had a remarkable face., I don't just mean her beauty, but as you pointed out, that ability to subtley convey emotions and lead you through what her character is thinking in any given scene even without dialogue. Bette Davis, James Stewart and Henry Fonda can do that as well.
Plus her refusal to be overly made up in the style of other actresses of the time (i.e., thinner eyebrows, heavier eye make-up, etc.).
Indeed
Once again, I LOVE your classic movie reactions; they make me so happy, Notorious being at the top of the list thus far! 1) Because I get to watch someone who loves cinema watch some of my favorite movies for the first time and 2) The more you discover the absolute MASTERPIECES of the 1940's the closer you are getting to watch THE THIRD MAN. And THST reaction is gonna be incredible! Thank you again Shandor!
I'll get to The Third Man for sure!
Glad you enjoyed this masterpiece! I just wanted to make one note - you mentioned that you know that Hitchcock didn't write the movie, but in fact on many of his films, including this one, he was heavily involved in the writing process, even if he wasn't credited. In the case of Notorious, the basic concept of the film was Hitchcock's, and he produced an outline, which he then collaborated with screenwriter Ben Hecht to turn into a screenplay. (Also probably with uncredited help by Hitchcock's wife, Alma Reville.)
I was just going to say what you said, Steven. Hitch never took a writing credit, but almost all his writers, with whom he worked very closely, would tell you that the story was created by Hitchcock, and not by the writer. They did their job, putting what he wanted on the page, but Hitch was the mastermind behind it all.
Shandor it's not quote fast if the film s only 90 mins
The lighting is absolutely gorgeous.
This is my favorite Ingrid Bergman role--she owns the film. Please watch Rebecca next! It's not quite as tense as Notorious and the story is very different, but similar romantic drama suspense tone. Rebecca, Spellbound (also starring Bergman), and Notorious are films that Hitchcock famously butted heads with producer David O. Selznick over.
I'll put Rebecca on my list!
Rebecca and Spellbound are good choices (although not as good as Notorious- but not much is as good). You might also check out Ingrid Bergman in Gaslight, also a suspense film, but not Hitchcock.
@@bethmilstein4980 Agreed on all accounts. Rebecca is one of my favorites, but it's a bit more melodramatic in presentation. Spellbound has some dated, simplistic psychology. Still great in their own ways, but not quite up there with Notorious.
Fantastic reaction ! Love how you were so sensitive to Alicia’s character.
Absolutely loved your reaction to Notorious. Such a tight, well told and acted film!
One of my favorite Hitchcock movies. Just awesome, the scene where Alex tells his mother that he is married to an American agent is one of my favorites.
I would also suggest you try Hitchcock’s 1943 movie, Shadow of a Doubt.
So amazing how a slow walk down a staircase can be so intense! And the bedroom scene is one of the most romantic scenes in all cinema!
As an earlier commenter noted, visual styles, lighting and camerawork were perfected in the silent era from the early 1900s to the early 30s. Groundbreaking directors, like DW Griffith and others, set out the methods used today. Greats that followed like John Ford, Hitchcock and Orson Welles used those techniques and applied them with their genius. So many of those early films allowed the camera to develop the narrative, which is lost to much of today's film making.
Hehehe! Sooo u liked it, eh?! 😊😊 Of course you did!
One thing with Hitchcock is that he was HEAVILY influenced by Freud’s ideas which from the 20s-50s were regarded in every form of art/literature.
The peak film for that was Spellbound where he got Salvador Dali to create backgrounds for the character’s dreams!
Here u see it most in how weak Alec is and how domineering is his MOTHER! Indeed, she’s the Über Nazi of them all! The transformation when she takes out the cigarette 🚬!!
I also loved the use of the floor as if it were a chessboard with the characters maneuvering.
Oh n that shot u like with the key in her hand is on of the most famous pan-in shots in movie history!
On to the next one!
Spellbound also had some groundbreaking camera work (I’ll say no more)!
Shandor and fellow commentators, I was tempted to say that, the initial Devlin-Alicia Romance was so fast because this is a rather long movie, a bit over 2 hours. But then I remembered that Hitch storyboarded absolutely every scene and beat in his movies and almost never changed anything. His wife Alma and he worked together on EVERY movie. I'm enjoying watching you react to these movies. I also read the comments and the other commentators have already recommended the things I think you should watch. Enjoy watching a genius at work, unfolding right before your senses. Jim Mexico
This is how espionage works. There is anxiety and internal conflict; but it isn't reducible to "pain".
So glad you took our advice, Shandor, and watched this one. It's such an amazing film, and that was a terrific reaction! You mentioned a few times how groundbreaking this must have been at the time, and you're right. Hitchcock was doing things that no one else had ever done before. In fact, he is considered, along with John Ford and Akira Kurosawa, to be one of the most *influential* directors of all time.
And since you liked 'Notorious' so much, I'll also recommend 'The 39 Steps', 'Shadow of a Doubt', and 'Strangers on a Train'. Brilliant movies, filled with excitement, suspense, emotion, romance, and even a little comedy. I hope you'll see all three someday, and more after that!
I absolutely will!
My fifth favourite movie, my favourite Hitchcock movie, my favourite Spy movie, my favourite Romance. Great choice!
It's been great watching your reactions to films from the 1940's - I just watched your commentary for The Third Man, too! I think Notorious is probably the best of Hitchcock from the 1940's, but Rebecca is similarly brilliant and the cinematography is incredible. Lifeboat and Shadow of a Doubt are also standouts from him during that decade. I don't know for sure, but it would seem his films from that decade often had an actress as the main character (Rebecca, Suspicion, Shadow of a Doubt, Notorious, Spellbound, and maybe even Lifeboat).
This is one of the best Hitchcock. And it's a hangover from WW II, which doubtless began production before the war ended.
In my opinion one of the best films ever made. Definitely on my top-10 list. Just brilliant is so many ways. It’s an incredible love story. It’s an incredible espionage thriller. The performances are epic. The direction, screen-play, cinematography… just fantastic.
Yeah, this movie is absolutely incredible!
This is certainly one of Hitchcock’s best films, a remarkable combination of love drama and suspenseful spy story. It’s scandalous that Bergman wasn’t even nominated for an Oscar, but that is probably because she had already won for Best Actress in Gaslight (1944) a couple years before.
Some of the shots in this film are very reminiscent of Suspicion (1941), especially when Grant gives her the glass of milk, so you would probably like that one very much. Joan Fontaine won her academy award for her role in Suspicion.
Hitchcock = Suspense!
Fantastic reaction. Got such joy from your reaction. I remember mentioning it with your The Big Sleep reaction.
Actually, the visuals are a callback to the silent era, where Hitchcock got his training. That's how they made them back then. You should watch some of them.
I thought about that actually.
Thank you for your thoughtful and intelligent reactions.
Since you have enjoyed several of Hitchcock's films, I recommend that you also react to Hitchcock's films Spellbound (1945) starring Ingrid Bergman and Gregory Peck, Suspicion (1941) starring Cary Grant and Joan Fontaine, and Rebecca (1940) starring Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine.
For her role in Suspicion, Joan Fontaine won the Academy Award for Best Actress. This is the only Oscar winning acting performance in a Alfred Hitchcock film.
Rebecca received eleven nominations for Academy Awards; more than any other film that year. It won two Academy awards: Best Picture and Best Cinematography. Rebecca is the only film directed by Hitchcock to win the Best Picture Academy award.
Thank you for another enjoyable reaction
Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant...
Hitchcock always used extremely charismatic and beautiful (mainly metal blond) actors in his movies.
Ingrid Bergman looks like an Angel, and Cary Grant, one of the sexiest actors to this day, has always played hard to get, which made him even more irresistible.
The tension in Hitchcock's movies is built on sexual, criminal, and psychological grounds.
The camera work forces you to become an integrated but helpless participant.
At times, the tension is so intense that it is hard to bear.
Hitchcock knew how to manipulate and use his audience to partake in his movies.
By achieving that, he completed his masterpieces.
He used his viewers to become a bunch of unpaid but crucial extras.
Subscribed. Great reaction. This film, and, Rear Window, have spots in the bottom half of my Top 10 Films of All-Time List, with a very slight edge to the Stewart-Kelly picture. Glad you loved it, the film is a masterpiece, indeed.
There are photos online of the huge crane apparatus he had specially built in order to film the shot of the key from far above to inside her hand at the party in one smooth move.
This highlights another Hitchcock film characteristic: the sympathetic and even somewhat likable villain.
While searching for the Nazi's secret, Devlin accidentally breaks a 🍾bottle, and it here that we come to the movie's MacGuffin at last. (A MacGuffin is a plot device, often of little interest in itself, that helps to propel the plot.) In this case it is uranium ore, which the Nazis are storing in some of the wine bottles. Hitchcock does give a pretty good explanation of a MacGuffin when he describes it as "the thing that the characters on the screen worry about but the audience doesn't care about." So, it is a plot device that acts as a catalyst to drive some of the action in the story.
The 39 Steps (1935) Hitchcock movie is 💯✨‼Although Hitchcock had already made a string of successful movies, The 39 Steps brought him international recognition and helped launch his Hollywood career. The Lady Vanishes (1938), Rebecca (1940), Foreign Correspondent (1940), Suspicion (1941), Saboteur (1942), Shadow of a Doubt (1943), Lifeboat (1944).
Another interesting thriller you might like is Dark Passage with Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. But I like all of Bogart/Bacall movies.. they are all good. Notorious is one of my all time favorite movies. If you like Ingrid Bergman, you have to see Gaslight! Also really good.
Another Claude Rains picture is director David Lean's :" The Passionate Friends"... David Lean did a number of films with his wife English actress Ann Todd....and this is a good one.
This is my 5th favourite Alfred Hitchcock movie.
Ingrid also gave a good performance in the Hitchcock movie "Spellbound," which stars Gregory Peck and is my 9th favourite Hitchcock movie.
One movie I recommend is "Shadow Of A Doubt," which is my 3rd favourite Hitchcock movie, but one movie of Alfred's that may not be as interesting as some of the others is "Topaz."
In the end, it is a movie about perverse, twisted relationships. Alicia and her father. Alex and his mother. Alicia and Devlin. Alicia and Alex. Alicia and the mother. Alex and the other Germans.
Do watch Rebecca! It's more understated than Notorious, but the underlying mystery and creepiness are given more time to develop, which prolongs the suspense. I don't think you'll be disappointed!
Please review Whats Up Doc? with Ryan O'Neil and Streisand. Very funny.
It's on my list of "have-to-watch" movies, for sure!
To see where Hitchcock got his ideas for Pure cinema, you have to look at German Silent Films from the interwar Period. Hitch was sent to Germany to work with the UFA studio in Berlin and got to know firsthand the work of Fritz Lang, Murnau Pabst et al. AH also went to see TONS of movies throughout his career to get fresh ideas an see actors he would use later.
Take a peek, there are a lot of great films from the slient era out of Germany.
I was thinking about watching Metropolis, is it worth a shot?
Hitchcock was quite involved with supervising the script process on his films.
You should check out The man who knew too much with Jimmy Stewart and Doris Day. That's Hitchcock and it had me on the edge of my seat
See "The Counterfeit Traitor" for how gov'ts and espionage work.
And see Hitchcock's "The 39 Steps".
You should make a playlist of your Hitchcock reactions.
Good idea!
❤️
Psycho also opened with a specific time and date
If you're taking requests, I recommend SHE'S FUNNY THAT WAY
I'll put it on my list!
In my opinion, Madame Sebastian (the mother) us the most evil Hitchcock villian, cold and calculating.
Film originates in the WORD.
Would also like u 2 watch frenzy my fav hitch film
I thought Hitchcock was forced by the “production codes” to retain Cary Grant’s unblemished positivity in Suspicion. As uncharacteristic for nazis not to press their position of strength in this movie.