Although Notorious is not one of my favorite Hitchcock, it does have one of the best climatic endings of all his pictures. A sinister and ominous film that plays well off its leads -- Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, and Claude Rains -- it's a spy thriller set in the 1940's. An American citizen has just been imprisoned for treason against the United States Government in alliance with German contacts abroad. His daughter Alicia (Ingrid Bergman) is of a strong patriotic nature and naturally his crimes are foul to her. But he is still flesh and blood and she feels some sense of remorse at his end.

Gathering all of her friends together, the night after the trial is spent drinking her sorrows away... and befriending a stranger to the group, a handsome young man by the name of Devlin (Cary Grant). But her newfound friend is more than he appears... he's really a government agent seeking to gain her help in the trapping of her father's contacts abroad. Unable to deny her patriotism and in part desiring to pay back the government in some way for her father's treason, Alicia agrees to accompany him to Brazil, not entirely knowing what she will be asked to do there. In the meantime she's struggling against her addition to alcohol and attempting to persuade Devlin that she's not the woman she once was. She has quite the reputation with men, something for which makes him wary and yet strangely attracted to her.

Just as the pair begin to spark a romantic interest in one another, her assignment comes in. She's been asked to befriend her father's friend Alex Sebastian (Claude Rains), who was once in love with her. The charming older man is distasteful to her but Devlin raises no arguments even though both know inevitably she will have to become his lover to get inside the house. It's the kind of moral question Hitchcock loves to taunt us with and Notorious delights in doing just that. The title applies to nearly all of the characters, for they're each notorious in their own way... for different things. Alicia is notorious for her drinking and boyfriends. Alex Sebastian is notorious for his cold and calculating manner in dealing with informants. And Devlin cannot find it in his heart to forgive past indiscretions and truly grow close to the woman he loves. When the affair goes too far and Alicia is asked by Alex to marry him, she must make a great choice... to betray her husband and ultimately endanger her life, or refuse at a great risk.

It's a drama that plays out well with an excellent cast, though I would have done some things differently in the story structure. Viewers will realize that although the subject is never really breached graphically Alicia's assignment is basically to sell herself to Alex in order to get into his confidence. It's almost a patriotic prostitution that could spark some excellent conversations on the moral idea of the issue. The director must have known the possible volatility of matching up Ingrid with a much-older Claude Rains, and so Alicia is never seen kissing Alex; no more is shown between them than a peck on the cheek. Alicia and Devlin do have several scenes in which they playfully (and lengthily) kiss. Devlin at one point also kisses her to cast suspicion off of their true reasons for being in Alex's wine cellar. There's no violence or language but the film does contain a painful amount of drinking... guests consume alcohol at an alarming rate at a party; Alicia drinks herself silly after her father's trial and indulges now and again later while battling her addiction. There are also several intense scenes when the Germans decide what must be done with those who "make mistakes" in their group. The ending is particularly ominous but utterly brilliant. The last few scenes are some of the most memorable Hitchcock ever directed; they contain an intensity not merely in Devlin and Alicia, but also Alex and his mother, for all know the inevitable. 

Film fans will also find some of the similarities between the modern thriller The Net and Notorious amusing... Jeremy Northam's character in the former is named Jack Devlin, after Cary Grant and even repeats the motion of tying a scarf around his co-star's waist as Devlin does with Alicia under the pretense of "keeping her warm." Even with its flaws, Notorious more than lives up to its reputation.