MovieChat Forums > Notorious (1946) Discussion > Hitchcock's Best Film

Hitchcock's Best Film

posted 14 years ago by cubanwarlord
53 replies | jump to latest

I love all of Hitchcock's other classics, but Notorious is the very definition of a perfect film. Thrills, romance, humor, and compelling drama. You get it all in this film

And the direction in this film! I've hardly ever seen a director use a camera as perfectly as Hitchcock does here. Only in certain films (2001, Once Upon A Time in the West, I Am Cuba, The Trial, Persona, to name a few) do I actually rewind the film mid jaw drop to rewatch a stunning shot. Hitch elevates the suspense film to a level of artistry that no one can touch and entertains the hell out of me.

This is what cinema is.

[–] manu5689 12 years ago

I consider Notorious to be one of the three 100% perfect, flawless Hitchcock films (with Rear Window and Vertigo as the other two) and it's clearly his best from the 1940s.

not only is the movie is an elegant expression of his visual style, but his command over the mise-en-scen and the camerawork is just astounding. the script is extremely taut, giving this erotic love triangle such big stakes. Also the dialogue is just killer, it's stylized and precise but each line cuts like a knife.

"It's hard for me to watch American Idol because I have perfect pitch."
-Jenna, 30 Rock

[–] medyally 12 years ago

I wouldn't say his best, but definitely one amazing movie. I think my favorite is rear window... or dial M for murder.
It was hard for me to get into the mood when I first played it... for some reason I couldn't feel the chemistry between the two in the first part, up until the big party. Then it all made sense. By the time I finished it, I was so worked up and tense! Great movie. I love Mr. H.

How do you live a life full of nothing?

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] PoppyTransfusion 12 years ago

Hitch's best film? No.

Fatima had a fetish for a wiggle in her scoot

[–] PussyCrusher_Principal 12 years ago

It's right up there, though...Hitchcock was a brilliant, genius director who managed to make films that (then and today) were popular with critics AND audiences...and there are a ton of great Hitch films, but Notorious is at or near the very top of the list for me - it's paced incredibly well, there are flawed human beings everywhere you look (pathos abounds - if Ingrid Bergman has ever been more heartbreaking I'd like to know about it), and even though Cary Grant is incredibly mean at times, and Claude Rains, mama's boy or not, is a threat to the free world, we find ourselves sympathizing with both at times (at least I do - Cary because we know he's in love with her and in pain watching her do her duty; Claude because he comes off as so hapless and impotent). THAT'S some serious writing and directing (not to mention acting)!

I'm a big Shadow Of A Doubt fan, too...I tend to lean slightly toward Hitch's 1930's and 40's B & W films. Just a personal preference - I love Dial M, Vertigo, Rear Window, etc., as well.

Thetruthcanthurtyouitsjustlikethedark.
Itscaresyouwitlessbutintimeyouseethings
clear&stark.

[–] realistdreamer 12 years ago

I rate Notorious as the 3rd best Hitchcock film and the No. 8 film of all time.

I've for sure seen over 2000 movies including all of the top 300 of They Shoot Pictures website. My highest rated Hitchcock films and there placement in my overall rating list is (top 300):

1. Vertigo (1)
2. North by Northwest (5)
3. Notorious (8)
4. Psycho (38)
5. The Rear Window (52)
6. Strangers of a Train (64)
7. 39 Steps (84)
8. Shadow of a Doubt (121)
9. Rebecca (156)
10. The Lady Vanishes (197)
11. Foreign Correspondent (210)
12. The Birds (230)
13. Marnie
14. Frenzy
15. Suspicion (it Hitchcock's ending would have been used would be much higher.
16. Spellbound
17. To Catch a Thief
18. Dial M For Murder
19. Rope

Frankly, I am surprised Notorious does not fare better on the polls compiled of all-time great films by film critics or directors. In early 2013 it is around 120 on the overall They Shoot Pictures list that adds up all kinds of polls. It was around No. 80 in 2012. It most noteably dropped from 57 I think on the Sight and Sound poll to 120 or 125.

I am surprised there are not more comparisions between Casablanca and Notorious. Both films have Ingrid Bergman and Claude Rains except Notorious has Cary Grant instead of Humprey Bograt. I would take Grant everytime. Casablance is in the 30s on my all-time list.

[–] PussyCrusher_Principal 12 years ago

I agree, realistdreamer...while I guess I always thought Notorious held a higher place among critics, I believe what you say about it not placing higher on those lists because, as evidenced by IMDB boards (even on the Notorious boards), it is apparent to me that Hitchcock's 50's and 60's films overshadow his earlier works in many fans' minds (even though Notorious didn't come THAT early, when you consider he was making films in the '20's).

What I don't get are the complaints about there being not much tension in the film, or that the ending is an anticlimax. Do those people realize that Alicia is dying, and that Devlin decides that, come hell or high water, he's going to get her help? Or that Sebastian's life will essentially be forfeit if Devlin and Alicia leave without him? I take no issue with anyone liking one Hitch film over another, I just don't get some of the specific criticisms.

I guess it comes down to personal preference...all I know is, I have a DVR full of TCM films that I haven't seen once, yet here I am watching Notorious again, after seeing it for what I think was the third or fourth time just a month ago!

"You will not hear me scream!" "I Will.
But it is not your screams I want.
Only your life."

[–] Cherubim1 12 years ago

Notorious is a damn near perfect film. The only other film which I consider near pefect is the Jean-Pierre Melville film "The Samurai". Alain Delon is fantastic in that.

[–] dyahrmarkt 11 years ago

So many others vie for the best Hitch film of all time, the greatest suspense thriller, etc. etc. - but Notorious really EARNS that spot. It's so unpretentious, sticking to its bare guns, no frills, never a scene out of place - it's 110 minutes but feels like 30.

Please nest your IMDB page, and respond to the correct person -

[–] Behelit 11 years ago

while I agree with you that this is indeed a great film (and I'm very fond of the superb selection of films you've quoted) I don't think it is Hitchcock's finest. I think Vertigo, although it doesn't quite have the superb "Film Noir" touch of Notorious, has a superior scenario which ultimately makes it more interesting. I could also point to Rear Window and possibly even Rebecca, which is in my opinion his most underrated.

[–] waldenpond66 10 years ago

I absolutely love Hitchcock movies like "Vertigo", "Rear Window", "Shadow of a Doubt", "The Man who knew too much" (Jimmy Stewart version) or "North by Northwest" which I watched countless times over the past 4 decades.

Watched "Notorious" many years ago as a teenager and it did not leave much of an impression (maybe, because I never thought that Ingrid Bergman was attractive, to me she always looked average at best).
So after all this hype about "Notorious" I watched it again and found it very slow and not engaging at all. I struggled to not fall asleep.
For me this is not a typical Hitchcock movie like "Shadow of a Doubt" or "Suspicion", just an average movie.
Won't watch it a third time. Gave it 3 stars for the plot which could have been so much better and the fact that Cary Grant played in it and Hitch directed it. Thank God, he went on to create much better movies!

[–] axxonnn 10 years ago

Great post, particularly with regards to the camera and how Hitchcock managed to controlled the audience.