Delicious

If I tell you a film that was made 75 years ago, that too, a spy drama will be a fantastic watch even today, you will find it hard to believe. But, it certainly was how I felt when I watched Alfred Hitchcock‘s Notorious (1946) – the movie kept me thoroughly engaged – every frame remains relevant and hasn’t got outdated – a timeless classic of the genre.

Immediately after World War II, in 1946, a wealthy American is convicted as a Nazi spy and his daughter feels abandoned. Noticing that she unlike her father is a patriot, an American intelligence agency recruits her to infiltrate a German secret mission that’s suspected to be happening in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. As an untrained spy did she succeed in her mission is the story, told in parallel with the love she feels for the agent T.R.Devlin who recruits her. The climax scene was brilliant and is a textbook definition of how it should be made for this genre.

There are volumes said about Mr Hitchcock’s works, this film impressed me by being the perfect length for the story, not even a single frame was unnecessary or left out. Cary Grant as an American Agent T.R.Devlin and Ingrid Bergman as an amateur spy for the agency were perfect for the roles. Ingrid Bergman was gorgeous and I will love to see the film in colour just to see her!

If we look even casually at spy movies that were made ever since this one, we can easily see numerous incidents of inspiration from this film and that’s the tribute filmmakers worldwide pay to Mr Hitchcock. I could immediately think of Raazi (2018) that was made a few years ago in Bollywood. Please share the names of the ones (in any language) you can think of in the comments below.

Notorious (1946)

Notorious (1946)

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