Notorious [DVD]

The film itself is Hitchcock - hokum but fun, excellent acting, direction and photography. Fine, if you can hear what they are saying. The Freemantle version of the DVD made in 2008 is a disgrace as far as the sound goes, and to add insult to injury lacks subtitles.

Ingrid Bergman is the "notorious" Alicia, whose father has been sentenced to jail for being a Nazi spy. She, in turn, is recruited as a spy to work alongside Cary Grant (Devlin) in Rio de Janeiro to uncover the plottings of Nazi Claude Rains (Alexander) and his gang. Her mission is to get close to Rains and report back. She marries him but Rains discovers what she is up to and colludes with his mother Leopoldine Konstatin (Mme Sebastian) to dispose of his new wife. Can Cary Grant save Bergman from what has been planned for her...?This film ends up as being worth the watch, despite a bad beginning. The story takes a while to get going as we are subjected to a rather dull romance played out between an unlikeable Cary Grant and a miscast Ingrid Bergman. This is not the first time I have seen Bergman miscast as a street girl - see Dr Jeckyll and Mr Hyde (1941). She has a vulnerable, feminine face that is very good at registering certain expressions, ie, realizing that something is wrong, paranoid glances, etc but she is totally inappropriate as a wild, drunk, party-going type. She does, however, come into her element once Claude Rains is introduced and her performance becomes credible as she is vital to all the scenes of suspense, a mood that she is expert at playing. Cary Grant, however, is just unlikeable. He becomes likable at the end when he goes in to save Bergman but this is only because we know he is Cary Grant who is likable in all his other films. His character has an attitude problem and given that he is a spy and schooled in the ways of being a spy, his treatment of Bergman is totally unconvincing when she is given the assignment of getting close to Rains.My two favourite of the cast are Leopoldine Konstatin and Claude Rains. They stand out for me as they manage to let the audience know that they have a few more layers of nastiness up their sleeve and you don't quite know what they are capable of. Konstatin, in particular, is good at being evil.Get past the beginning nonsense and the film gets it's act together with some tense scenes and at the end of the film, you feel that it has been worth the watch.

One of my absolute favourite movies with a debonair Cary Grant, luminous Ingrid Bergman & fantastic Claude Rains. Great quality dvd, played well. Sound was a bit low but this is an issue I’ve seen with many vintage movies.

What an absolutely fantastic film!!!I've always loved it and watch it every now & then and still enjoy it so much :)The chemistry between the leads is magnetic, the 'baddies' are subtly and worryingly threatening and the story and scenery excellent. This is one of the greats! I thoroughly recommend it.

Many reviewers and critics mentioned "Notorious" as one of Hitchcock's best (if not THE best). I couldn't agree more, and I was very happy to make the choice to buy this DVD. I'm torn when to decide which movie is the best, so I won't go there, but I must say this is very very good. I usually divide his movies between the best category and the popular category, this movie has high points in quality, but rates low in popularity (among the audience, not the critics).The DVD edition (from Freemantle media) is not the best there could be, and for me, the lack of subtitles (even in English!) always bring a challenge, because I'm not from a english speaking country (I'm fine with english subs). The extras are interesting, but are weak when compared to Criterion's. If you really want to see this movie (and you should) and don't want to spend a lot of 's (and speak english fluently) this is your edition. (4,5/5).

The age of the original print appeared to create some sound quality issues, but overall it didn't spoil the experience. Some rate it as the best Hitchcock, but I have other favourites - however, I think it is probably one of the better ones.

Happy with purchase – many thanks. Good film.

Good