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Hitchcock / by FrancL'ois Truffaut ; with the collaboration of Helen G. Scott.

Truffaut, FrancL'ois. . Hitchcock / by FrancL'ois Truffaut ; with the collaboration of Helen G. Scott. Rev. ed. 0671526014 series New York : Simon and Schuster, c1984.
Call#: Van Pelt Library PN1998.A3 H573 1984

In Chapter 8 of this famous interview, Truffaut and Hitchcock focus their discussion on Notorious. Their conversation covers everything from the filmmaking process behind Notorious, the movie itself with the meaning and symbolism contained in the film, and its relevance after its release, both in Hitchcock's life and to international film audiences.

This chapter is crucial to understanding the movie for several reasons. First, Hitchcock talks firsthand about the process he and Ben Hecht went through in making the film, mentioning the story that the film is loosely based on, and then going through the trial and error process to find the perfect MacGuffin (i.e., the the reason for the plot's action) and having the whole project sold to RKO after failing to convince producers of its potential for success. Hitchcock also discusses the historical relevance of the uranium used as the MacGuffin and its connections to the secret experiements taking place in New Mexico that eventually resulted in the creation of the atom bomb. In many respects, Hitchcock's real-life experiences creating the film were filled with some of the themes that made the film so compelling - government secrets (the Manhattan Project) and spying (Hitchcock claimed he was followed by the FBI as a result of his inquiries about uranium).

Truffaut's opinions presented in the interview and Hitchcock's reactions are also of great importance in understanding how the film fits into Hitchcock's body of work. Truffaut describes Notorious as "the very quintessence of Hitchcock," and Hitchcock does not disagree. Yet the two also discuss how the film is at the same time atypical, having much less violence than most spy movies, villains who the audience can sympathize with on a certain level, and a very unexpected marriage proposal between the spy and the object of her espionage.

Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious - Film Bibliography

Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious is best understood by examining it against the rest of Hitchcock's body of work. The ways in which the film is at once expected and full of surprises result of its historical context and from decisions made by Hitchcock and his team. It is full of classic Hitchcock suspense, yet this suspense (and the film's success in general) is achieved through means that are not all necessarily typical of Hitchcock. Additionally, the film fits loosely into many genres, but perfectly into none.

Ingrid Bergman's Star Persona and the Alien Space of Stromboli.

Gelley, Ora. "Ingrid Bergman's Star Persona and the Alien Space of Stromboli." Cinema journal [0009-7101] 47.2 (2008). 26-.

Ora Gelley provides a history of Ingrid Bergman's career in Hollywood, from her "discovery" in 1939 through her role in Rossellini's film Stromboli, land of God in 1949. She follows the evolution of Bergman's "star persona" throughout this period by comparing different critics' views of Bergman and chronologically analyzing her movie roles. Gelley points out that the American public readily accepted the disconnect between the Bergman's constructed Hollywood persona - spiritual, natural, innocent - and many of her movie roles (such as Notorious' Alicia) in which she played overtly sexual and deviant women only until Bergman's affair with Rossellini was made public. She argues that the more scandalous aspects of Bergman's personal character were forcefully subdued by Hollywood and then subsequently embraced and released by Rossellini.

Through Gelley's discussion of Bergman in Notorious, we see the ways in which the film differs from the rest of Hitchcock's body of work. She points out that Notorious has more close-ups than any other Hitchcock film, with Hitchcock focusing on and coaching Bergman through subtle facial expressions instead of full-body gestures. Nonetheless, the heroine's body remains a source of intrigue and sexualization (as with other Hitchcock films), especially towards the beginning of the film. Gelley's treatment of this pull between the overt and subtle in Notorious also brings about a feminist critique, with the naturally sexual and independent Bergman being both subdued by Hitchcock's directing and the Hollywood star factory, and at the same time exploited through the same movie roles that both recognize and subsequently criminalize her sexuality in response to social norms in place for women of the 1940s.

Dark side of genius : the life of Alfred Hitchcock by Donald Spoto.

Spoto, Donald, 1941- . Dark side of genius : the life of Alfred Hitchcock by Donald Spoto. 0316807230 series Boston : Little, Brown, c1983.
Call#: Van Pelt Library PN1998.A3 H565 1983

Spoto's 10th chapter outlines in careful detail Alfred Hitchcock's life from 1945 to 1949. Prior to this period, there are several deaths in Hitchcock's family, including that of his mother. Spoto also points out Hitchcock's obsessive personality and his struggle with weight and health issues, suggesting that his misdirected preoccupation with food was closely related to his repressed sexuality. Spoto also attempts to debunk some of the myths surrounding Hitchcock's use of uranium as Notorious' MacGuffin.

In regards to Notorious specifically, Spoto makes several arguments. First, he suggests that the portrayal of Mrs. Sebastian, the first matriarch to appear in a Hitchcock film after his mother's death, as evil and controlling was directly related to this death and to Hitchcock's resulting emotional release. Spoto also argues that the overt sexuality in the film, embodied by Ingrid Bergman, was a result of Hitchcock's repressed and largely unexplored sexuality. Finally, Spoto parallels the film's theme of conflict between love and duty with similar conflict in Hitchcock's own life between his personal desires (embodied by Alex) and his public image (embodied by Devlin).

The author's further psychoanalysis in essence declares that Hitchcock's Notorious is a work that is a result of context - of place, time, and circumstance in Hitchcock's own life. The film cannot be understood fully without understanding Hitchcock's personality and his personal life at the time of the film's creation. Spoto's chapter also shows that the film must be examined in a historical context outside of just Hitchcock - it must be seen in relation to Hollywood in the 1940s and to World War II-era America.

Hitchcock's music / Jack Sullivan.

Sullivan, Jack, 1946- . Hitchcock's music / Jack Sullivan. 0300110502 series New Haven [Conn.] : Yale University Press, c2006.
Call#: Van Pelt Library ML2075 .S89 2006

In Chapter 9 of his work Hitchcock's Music, Jack Sullivan discusses the score of Notorious and its role in the movie and the audience's experience. Sullivan argues that though the movie's score, composed by Roy Webb, is often overlooked by Hitchcock scholars, it is one of the best scores of any Hitchcock movie. Although Hitchcock had hoped for a more well-known composer than Webb, in the end Webb's subdued, non-flashy style and his use of dissonance and jagged rhythms fit well, even perfectly, as Sullivan argues, with Hitchcock's vision for the movie. The music, which often meshes so well with a scene that it seems to fade imperceptibly into the background, enhances the drama and danger that is written into the plot and that Hitchcock works so painstakingly to portray in the film through careful use of the camera and coaching of his actors.

The chapter provides a clear example of one of the many unexpected and unconventional elements of Notorious that, when combined with the other building blocks of the movie, creates the classic suspense for which Hitchcock is so well-known. The music is in no way a typical Hollywood film score - the tunes are not particularly catchy or melodramatic. However, Webb's varied and sometimes unsettling style works in the moment and matches the movie's plot, with its characters buried in layers of unresolved conflict and life-threatening danger, and its audience immersed in the uncomfortable coexistence of personal and political conflict embodied by both Devlin and Alicia's love vs. duty conflicts.

Seven masterpieces of 1940s cinema / Inga Karetnikova.

Karetnikova, Inga. .Seven masterpieces of 1940s cinema / Inga Karetnikova. 9780325009629 (pbk.) series Portsmouth, NH : Heinemann, c2006.
Call#: Van Pelt Library PN1994 .K294 2006

The fourth Chapter of Inga Karetnikova's text is devoted entirely to Hitchcock's Notorious. The author begins by providing a brief biography of Hitchcock, outlining both his early endeavors in the film industry and the movies made at the end of his career. Karetnikova also brings Ben Hecht, Notorious' screenwriter, into the picture, describing his relationship with Hitchcock and giving careful detail about the duo's creative process for the movie. Step by step, she moves through different story lines and plot twists considered by Hitchcock and Hecht until they finally arrived on what became Notorious. Lastly, Karetnikova briefly summarizes and then analyzes each scene in the movie, pointing out symbolism, themes, and created suspense.

Karetnikova's scene-by-scene analyses prove particularly useful for looking at the film critically since they show Hitchcock's active and deliberate decision-making that leads to the creation of his signature suspense. He used the camera to create suspense by allowing shots to grow long and linger, and by showing the audience information not available to the characters. Karetnikova's analyses also show how Hitchcock uses perceived time to his advantage, in this case creating suspense by cutting to shots of the diminishing number of wine bottles at Alicia and Alex's party, signaling to the audience that it won't be long before someone has to go down into the wine cellar where Devlin is snooping. Finally, her treatment of symbols in the film, such as keys and wine bottles, clearly shows another way in which Hitchcock masters the art of suspense in this film.