Notorious review

 Number 198 on the top 1000 films of all time is Alfred Hitchcock's spy film noir 'Notorious.'

Alicia Huberman (Ingrid Bergman) is the American daughter of a Nazi spy who has just been sent to prison. She is recruited by government agent T.R Devlin (Cary Grant) to investigate Nazi officials who have escaped to Brazil at the end of the second World War especially Alex Sebastian (Claude Rains.) She has orders to seduce him, but things become more complicated when Huberman and Devlin fall in love with each other.

Although this film has considerable star power from Cary Grant to Ingrid Berman to Claude Rains, but the standout star had to be Leopoldine Konstatin as Sebastian's mother 'Madame Anna Sebastian.' She was the true villain of the piece and unlike her son, she actually had a spine. Lady Macbeth characters are always great to watch and Anna was no exception. It wasn't a big or powerful role, but you can always feel her presence in the background.

As part of the plan to glean information, Huberman is ordered to accept Sebastian's proposal of marriage. Anna is naturally suspicious of Huberman, but the hapless Alex is blinded by love. That is, until he eventually discovers the truth. Not only is his beloved an American spy, but she is also in love with another man. But it isn't he who decides her fate, but his mother. She orders that he poison her.

At the film's end, Devlin rescues Huberman from Sebastian's mansion in full view of Sebastian's Nazi pals. He takes her to the hospital, but deliberately leaves the Nazi behind. Sebastian, who has become under suspicion from his supposed allies, is forced to face the music.

This was an enjoyable watch from the Golden Age of Cinema and another great contribution to the film noir genre. Cary Grant fit a little too well into the role of the debonair all-American hero, but Leopoldine Konstatin shone as Madame Anna Sebastian.