Today we’re looking back at the black-and-white detective film Notorious, directed by one of cinema’s greatest masters of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock.
The story unfolds in Miami on April 24, 1946. John Huberman, a pro-Nazi spy, is sentenced to 20 years in prison for treason against the United States. His daughter Alicia, played by Ingrid Bergman, does not share his beliefs and lives her own independent life. At a party, she meets Devlin, played by the legendary Cary Grant. Although he appears to be courting her, Devlin is actually an American intelligence agent who intends to recruit her to infiltrate a group of former Nazis who have taken refuge in Brazil.
Long before his famous thrillers Psycho and The Birds, Hitchcock assembled an impressive cast for Notorious. It wasn’t the first or last time Cary Grant worked with the celebrated director. Known for his eventful personal life, Grant had already appeared in Suspicion (1941). He would later star in To Catch a Thief (1955) and North by Northwest (1959).
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As for Ingrid Bergman — the star of Michael Curtiz’s iconic Casablanca (1942) — she appeared in two other Hitchcock films: Spellbound (1945) and Under Capricorn (1949). Regarding her, Hitchcock once admitted in an interview, “Without Ingrid Bergman, I wouldn’t have made Under Capricorn.” At the time, she was the biggest star in America, and there was fierce competition to get her on board. These two in-demand actors shared a kiss in Notorious that became legendary.
It was an unusually long display of affection, lasting two minutes and thirty seconds — the longest kiss in film history! This was also a clever trick by Hitchcock: in those days, censorship rules forbade showing leading characters kissing for more than three seconds at a time. To get around this, the director inserted short bits of dialogue during the kiss, instructing Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman to stay close together throughout the scene.
The situation was uncomfortable for both actors. In an interview, Hitchcock revealed, “The actors clearly didn’t enjoy doing it. They were terribly uncomfortable having to cling to each other like that. But I told them I didn’t care how they felt — what mattered was how it looked on screen.” One thing is certain: this challenging scene left a lasting impression on audiences.
