--- title: "Notorious" year: 1946 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/notorious" fi1m_score: 92 critics_score: 90 critics_reviews: 13 published: "2026-09-16T12:18:01.475110+00:00" updated: "2026-09-16T12:18:01.715347+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Notorious (1946) Directed by Alfred Hitchcock · 1h 43m · Drama, Crime, Mystery, Romance, Thriller **Fi1m score: 92** · Critics 90 from 13 reviews *In a sentence:* Cary Grant makes kissing look easy and kindness look beyond his training > Alfred Hitchcock makes a cruel romance into an exceptionally tense spy thriller, with Ingrid Bergman giving its suffering weight. We recommend it readily, though anyone expecting Cary Grant to provide uncomplicated comfort has chosen the wrong film. ## Synopsis In Miami in 1946, Alicia Huberman (Ingrid Bergman) drinks through a party after her father’s conviction for treason. An American agent, Devlin (Cary Grant), recruits her for intelligence work in Rio de Janeiro. His superior, Paul Prescott (Louis Calhern), wants her to approach Alexander Sebastian (Claude Rains), her father’s associate and a former admirer. Alicia wants to make amends for her father, but she is also falling for Devlin, whose mistrust of her past complicates the assignment. She must encourage Sebastian’s interest while waiting for Devlin to say whether he wants her to accept. ## Review *Notorious* is an excellent spy thriller that becomes more disturbing the longer we attend to its romance. Alfred Hitchcock gives us lovers whose attraction is plain and whose willingness to hurt each other is harder to bear. We recommend it readily, with a warning that the polished surface offers little emotional comfort. Its 103 minutes allow the intimate scenes to develop without letting the surrounding danger disappear. Ben Hecht’s script makes a woman’s reputation an ugly practical problem. Alicia Huberman’s father’s treason gives the espionage story its starting point, while the romantic triangle keeps bringing judgement back upon her. The men are quick to suspect her and slow to examine what their suspicion allows them to do. Each conversation has to be heard carefully, because the request being made may conceal something considerably less reasonable. Ingrid Bergman gives Alicia Huberman enough bravado to make the vulnerability beneath it painful to watch. We felt protective of her in the drunken sequence, because keeping up that careless manner seems to take such effort. The performance allows her to be untidy, defensive and difficult without making those qualities a case against her. She keeps us interested in the woman even when everyone else seems occupied with her usefulness. Cary Grant makes Devlin’s reserve distinctly unpleasant, and that is a large part of the performance’s success. His composure offers scant reassurance when warmth would require him to risk something. Claude Rains gives Alexander Sebastian a troubling capacity to invite sympathy; the villain is allowed feelings that do not conveniently announce themselves as villainous. Between the two men, the film denies us the simple satisfaction of knowing whom we ought to find attractive. Ted Tetzlaff’s cinematography is precise about where we need to look. A crane movement travels across a party to a key, giving a small object an alarming importance. The extended kissing sequence allows physical closeness to persist long enough for us to notice how little emotional reassurance it provides. Alfred Hitchcock can hold our attention on two people kissing because the performances have already made their unhappiness worth worrying about. Theron Warth’s editing gives the long takes time to work. The measured pace lets us watch for changes in a face without draining the pressure from the spy story. Roy Webb’s music supports the romance, though the actors need little assistance in making it hurt. The strongest passages trust our attention, and the film seldom seems anxious to prove how much technique has gone into them. The limitation is the espionage plot itself, which is more conventional than the people caught inside it. We are given enough intrigue to sustain the suspense, but the supporting business has little of the emotional detail that distinguishes the lovers. Ben Hecht’s writing makes jealousy so particular that these more familiar complications sometimes seem thin. Anyone coming chiefly for the mechanics of espionage may reasonably want more substance there. For all its technical assurance, *Notorious* is unusually uneasy company for a romantic thriller. The genre often makes dangerous attraction look flattering; Alfred Hitchcock lets it become humiliating, particularly for the person asked to prove herself. Watch it for Ingrid Bergman, and resist the temptation to forgive Devlin simply because Cary Grant is playing him. *Fi1m score 92, published 16 September 2026.* ## What the critics say The reviews are unanimously positive, with praise clustering around Hitchcock’s precise camerawork and the uneasy romance driving the espionage plot. Critics repeatedly single out the crane shot and extended kiss as examples of technique that deepens both suspense and intimacy. Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant draw praise for their chemistry and troubled performances, while Claude Rains receives particular credit for giving the villain emotional complexity. Many critics find the jealousy, cruelty and vulnerability as compelling as the spy intrigue. The differences concern emphasis rather than approval. Some reviews celebrate polished thriller entertainment; others see a bleak, painful love story in which espionage gives the characters another means of hurting one another. Reservations are limited: Radio Times finds it less complex than Hitchcock’s later work, while The New Yorker describes the underlying plot as standard. Neither qualification amounts to dissent, and both reviews praise the skill of the execution. ### Reviews we read (13) - **Radio Times**, David Parkinson (5/5): The film is praised as hard to beat for pure, polished entertainment despite not being as complex as later Hitchcock works. The pairing of Grant and Bergman, Rains's nuanced villainy, and one standout crane shot are singled out. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-ht2u3u/notorious/) - **RogerEbert.com**, Roger Ebert (4/4): Ebert calls Notorious the most elegant expression of Hitchcock's visual style, praising its precise plotting, innovative camera work including the famous key shot and extended kiss sequence, and the way it builds sympathy for the characters while delivering suspenseful payoffs. [Read](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-notorious-1946) - **Time Out**, Wally Hammond (5/5): This is described as Hitchcock's swooning, often cruel 1946 masterpiece, with the director's accuracy, efficiency and control dovetailing the thriller and romantic elements to unique effect. The script, cinematography, and especially the lead performances, particularly Grant's troubled portrayal, are highlighted. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/notorious) - **Sight and Sound**, Sam Wigley (90/100, inferred): The critic calls Notorious a perfect film and Hitchcock's gravest, saddest and most perverse offering, an agonised love story rather than a standard spy thriller. The performances by Bergman, Grant and Rains, along with the famous party sequence and extended kiss, are singled out for praise. [Read](https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/notorious-70th-anniversary) - **Slant Magazine**, Chuck Bowen (90/100, inferred): The critic calls Notorious a pivotal Hitchcock work that blends control and precision from his earlier films with the feverish pathos of his later period, centering on a neurotic, power-imbalanced romance that anticipates Vertigo. Praise is given to the masterful long takes, symbolic use of objects, and the way the spy plot serves as a metaphor for male jealousy and emotional manipulation. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/notorious-blu-ray-review-alfred-hitchcock-criterion/) - **The Guardian**, Philip French (90/100, inferred): The critic describes the film as a brilliantly crafted and deliciously entertaining espionage thriller full of suspense and erotic tension, with no on-screen violence. Ingrid Bergman's outstanding performance is singled out for particular praise. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2009/jan/16/notorious-film-review) - **Empire**, David Parkinson (85/100, inferred): The critic highlights the film's technical mastery, including a standout crane shot over a party and the audacious extended kiss, while defending its moral complexity and strong villain performance by Claude Rains against charges of amorality. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/notorious-review/) - **The New York Times** (85/100, inferred): The review highlights Notorious as a supreme example of Hitchcock's artful variation of points of view through camerawork and praises its focus on human fallibility, with the director showing compassion for characters caught in authoritarian traps rather than the judges. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/12/movies/homevideo/hitchcocks-notorious-rebecca-spellbound-on-blu-ray.html) - **Evening Standard** (80/100, inferred): The piece presents the film as more bleak romance than thriller, calling it one of Hitchcock’s strongest Forties works and an intriguing precursor to Vertigo, with Ingrid Bergman atoning for her father’s treason amid romantic tensions with Cary Grant and Claude Rains. [Read](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/one-of-hitchcocks-greats-notorious-7412159.html) - **The New Yorker**, John McNulty (80/100, inferred): The critic praises Notorious as a superior spy movie made with superb slickness and expert casting, noting Hitchcock bearing down effectively on a standard plot and delivering exciting suspense tricks alongside strong performances, especially Bergman's drunk sequence. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1946/08/24/1946-08-24-042-tny-cards-000019685) - **The Playlist**, The Playlist Staff (A): Praises the sexy scene between Grant and Bergman that defies the Production Code, gorgeous cinematography, and how the romance takes center stage over the thriller elements. [Read](https://theplaylist.net/retrospective-the-films-of-alfred-hitchcock-pt-2-1940-1976-the-hollywood-years-20121031/3/) - **Eye for Film**, Angus Wolfe Murray (90/100, inferred): The critic praises the perfect chemistry between Bergman and Grant, and highlights Hitchcock's masterful direction in building suspense through a witty script and gradually tightening plot. [Read](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/notorious-film-review-by-angus-wolfe-murray) - **/Film**, Audrey Fox (85/100, inferred): Describes it as one of Hitchcock's most well-rounded films, a cracking spy thriller and steamy romance, with explosive chemistry between Bergman and Grant, and clever direction around censors. [Read](https://www.slashfilm.com/1110774/best-films-of-the-1940s/) ## Details - **Director:** Alfred Hitchcock - **Director:** Alfred Hitchcock - **Writer:** Ben Hecht - **Story:** John Taintor Foote - **Cinematography:** Ted Tetzlaff - **Editor:** Theron Warth - **Music:** Roy Webb - **Costume design:** Edith Head - **Producer:** Alfred Hitchcock - **Cast:** Cary Grant as Devlin; Ingrid Bergman as Alicia Huberman; Claude Rains as Alexander Sebastian; Louis Calhern as Paul Prescott; Leopoldine Konstantin as Madame Sebastian; Reinhold Schünzel as Dr. Anderson; Moroni Olsen as Walter Beardsley; Ivan Triesault as Eric Mathis - **Runtime:** 1h 43m - **Release (the US):** 21 August 1946 - **Genres:** Drama, Crime, Mystery, Romance, Thriller - **Budget:** $2 million - **Box office:** $24 million ## Where to watch in the US - Amazon Prime Video: rent $5.99, sd - Amazon Prime Video: buy $8.99, sd *Checked 2026-09-16.* Also available in: BR, ES, GB, IT, PL, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## Awards - Academy Awards 1947: Best Supporting Actor (nominated); Best Writing, Original Screenplay (nominated) ## If you liked this - *The Third Man* (1949), Fi1m 92: Charm becomes a poor guide to character in another tightly controlled thriller — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-third-man.md) - *The Earrings of Madame de...* (1953): Jewellery, jealousy and social rules put another set of lovers under pressure - *The Spy Who Came in from the Cold* (1965): A bleaker spy story about the human cost of following orders - *The Lives of Others* (2006), Fi1m 84: For more suspense built from watching people and misunderstanding what they need — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-lives-of-others.md) - *Decision to Leave* (2022): A detective’s attraction to a suspect makes every professional decision harder --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. 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