Notorious (1946), directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Heights Theater, Thursday, March 30.

Notorious is arguably Hitchcock’s first masterpiece (though a lot of people would point to Rebecca), and it’s hard to argue with that: anchored by Ingrid Bergman, Cary Grant and Claude Rains, this is a movie of incredible tension, bizarre plot twists and sexual intrigue, and in many ways it has a very modern look at sexual mores. Bergman’s Alicia Huberman is the “notorious” character of the title, a woman willing to give up her body to stop fascism, an easy transition for her since she’s a drunk who likes to sleep around. But that’s what men think–it’s apparent in the movie that Alicia is a very normal person responding to very unusual circumstances, who is taken advantage of and pushed into roles over which she has little to no power. In the end, though, it becomes apparent that there is no one in the picture braver or more honest than she is, and Cary Grant’s T. R. Devlin is finally shamed into coming close to understanding the complexity of this woman he supposedly loves.

You could unpack a lot from this film, write dozens, if not hundreds, of pages about it, but one thing I have to note is God damned Louis Calhern. He was a notable character actor of the time, usually playing sleazy types (never better as the corrupt lawyer in The Asphalt Jungle, the one who keeps Marilyn Monroe as his plaything), but who often played cowardly men or dull bureaucrats. That’s what he plays here–a government man, a Secret Service man in Brazil overlooking this operation. Except that at one point Alicia makes a remark about “that handsome man”, and the person to whom she is referring is him. Louis Calhern. And then she does it again. You can see him above, putting a necklace on her. Yeah, Ingrid Bergman. “He’s handsome” is what Ingrid Bergman says about Louis Calhern. It happens three times, though my brother thought four times. I mean, look at him. He’s standing in a room with Cary Fucking Grant. I don’t know if Louis Calhern had the best agent in Hollywood and demanded being referred to as “handsome” by female leads–I mean, he got paired with Marilyn in Asphalt Jungle, but that’s supposed to reflect what he creep he was.