7 Questions about the Notorious 1946 Movie, and does Alicia Die In Notorious?
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The Notorious 1946 movie is a Hitchcock masterpiece that leaves the audience screaming for answers to questions.
The suave Cary Grant, elegant Ingrid Bergman, and the “kind” villain Claude Rains deliver an outstanding performance in this timeless romantic spy thriller where the two powerful men compete for the love of a beautiful woman.
Make sure you watch the Notorious 1946 movie before continuing, as major spoiler alerts are ahead!
Does Alicia die in Notorious?
What was being hidden in the wine bottles in Notorious?
What is Alex Sebastian's fate at the end of Notorious?
What is the plot of Notorious?
Was notorious an original screenplay
What male actor was originally supposed to be cast opposite Ingrid Bergman?
What happened to the Notorious wine cellar key in “real life”?
This post is all about the Notorious 1946 Movie
Notorious 1946 Movie: What is the plot of Notorious?
Handsome and enigmatic T. R. Devlin (Cary Grant) attends the very friendly party of the beautiful Alicia (Ingrid Bergman), in South America.
Alicia is intrigued by Devlin, as the quiet good-looking man that doesn’t say much. She has too much “whiskey” and passes out after the party, under his careful watch.
The next morning, after handing her a tonic for her pounding head, he dramatically reveals the purpose for his visit by soliciting her to become a spy for the American government.
He then plays a record of a phone conversation between her and her father. Her father was a convicted Nazi spy, and Alicia had terrible arguments with him, since she fiercely opposed his alliance with Nazi Germany.
Devlin then reveals that he’s there to recruit her to work as a spy.
Alicia’s mission, should she choose to accept it: infiltrate a Nazis organization which had relocated to Brazil after World War II. These Third Reich fugitives were conspiring against the Allies by developing their own atomic bomb.
Alicia agrees and travels with Devlin to Rio de Janeiro, where they fall in love.
It’s after they get to Rio, that Devlin discovers the true nature of Alicia’s role. Her assignment is to get close to a local leader of the Nazi underground organization, Sebastian. (Claude Rains.) She was chosen for the role because Sebastian had known her father and had been in love with her.
Devlin is angry at his superiors on using a woman spy in such a way and argues fruitless with them.
He stonily passes along to Alicia the instructions; she tries to get him to tell her not to take the job because he loves her, but he remains silent and tells her it’s her call. Hurt that Devlin doesn’t object, she agrees to take the mission.
They plan to meet Sebastian at his riding club, and her horse just ‘happens’ to get out of control as she is trotting past Sebastian.
Sebastian is delighted to see her and invites her to his home, where he will be hosting dinner for himself and a few business associates.
She arrives at his mansion, elegant and beautiful, closely observing everything. She memorizes the names of the Nazis in attendance, and also picks up on the odd behavior of one of the guests, Emil, who shows a visible reaction to seeing a certain wine bottle, a ‘34 Pommard.
Sebastian quickly falls in love with Alicia and proposes. She asks Devlin what she should do, obviously hoping he’ll object, but instead he icily tells her to make her own decision.
Heartbroken, Alicia then agrees to marry Sebastian.
Fun fact, most of the camera angles are such that the height differences are downplayed between the lovestruct villain, Sebastian who was 5’7” compared to Alicia, who was 5’9”. Apparently it wasn’t too cool in the 1940’s to have the leading lady being taller than a man.
Alicia persuades Sebastian to host a dinner party so that she can invite Devlin over and they can investigate the wine cellar. The key to the wine cellar she had stolen from her husband’s key ring shortly before the party.
The suspense at the party where Devlin arrives and love-struck Sebastian is clearly jealous, combined with their attempt to sneak away from the party so that they can explore the creepy wine cellar--is delicious!
They discover the ‘34 Pommard wine bottles have black sand in them versus pinot noir -- weird!
As they are sneaking out of the wine cellar, they realize Sebastian has jealously followed them, so Devlin pulls Alicia into his arms and passionately kisses her as cover.
Good move Devlin! Poor Sebastian, you would almost feel sorry for him as he sees his wife kissing Devlin… if only he wasn’t so evil!
Sebastian soon realizes his cellar key is missing as he tries to get more champagne for the party. He is suspicious, and doubly so when the wine cellar key is mysteriously returned to his ring the next morning.
He enters the wine cellar to investigate and discovers the glass and sand from the broken bottle, so he knows the secret uranium samples were discovered!
Heavy of heart, he approaches his mother, Madame Anna Sebastian (Leopoldine Konstantin) for advice on the Alicia “problem”.
She has the ingenious plot to poison Alicia so that she will die slowly, with the Nazi ring being none the wiser that one of their own had married a spy.
As a result of the poision, Alicia’s health rapidly deteriorates.
In a dramatic scene, when a chatty Nazi doctor is visiting, she realizes where the uranium has been mined and that she is being poised by her husband and mother via her coffee!
What a day for revelations! After collapsing and being taken to her room, Sebastian orders her phone to be removed, so that she can’t call anyone for help.
Devlin becomes alarmed as Alicia misses their set meeting five days in a row.
He finally visits the mansion, sneaks up to her room, and finds her deathly ill. He confesses he is in love with her and carries her from the mansion, past the view of Sebastian, his mother, and Nazi conspirators, announcing he is taking her to the hospital.
Sebastian pretends to help Devlin escort Alicia to the car and plans to accompany them to the hospital, but Deviln slams the car doors on him and rides off into the sunset with Alicia in his arms, leaving Sebastian behind to meet his fate at the hands of the Nazis.
Notorious 1946 Movie: Does Alicia die in Notorious?
After discovering he married a spy, Sebastian and his mother create a plan to kill her, while attempting to save Sebastian. It wouldn’t look good to Sebastian’s Nazi friends if it got out that he married a spy.
In order to make Alicia’s death look natural, they decide to poison her. They begin administering her the poison in her coffee. They create a separate “special brew” for her and another for themselves and their guests.
The calculated deception is chilling, as Sebastian continues to play the charming and courteous newlywed husband, who coddles his bride, and appears to seek to understand her sudden headaches and ailments, brought on the by the poison.
Alicia grows weaker and weaker. When Devlin meets Alicia to get her updates he realizes something is wrong and tells her that she looks really sick, but she pretends it’s simply a hangover, as she does not realize what’s happening.
Devlin: “You don't look so hot. Sick?”
Alicia: [lies defiantly] “No. Hangover.”
Devlin: “That's news. Back to bottle again, huh?”
Alicia: “It sort of... lightens my chores.”
Shortly after this meeting, Alicia is back at home, barely able to sit upright. She is lethargically responding to their visitor, a chatty Nazi doctor, who’s taken with the beautiful ailing woman. He urges Alicia to accompany him to the mountains, as it will help her feel better.
Sebastian rudely and oddly keeps interrupting him to stop him from revealing where he is traveling. Next he (and his Mother) dramatically exclaim when the doctor accidentally picks up Alicia’s coffee cup and is about to drink her “special” brew.
At that moment, Alicia suddenly pieces together that the Nazi is traveling to the location of uranium ore mine and that she’s being poisoned.
She collapses from weakness and is carried to her bedroom, where her diet of poison is now upped to include sleeping pills, and her phone is removed from her room.
Alicia lies inert and imprisoned, drifting in and out of consciousness, making her miss her planned meeting with Devlin.
In one of the most romantic and heart-wrenching scenes caught on camera, Devlin discovers to his horror that Alicia is being poisoned, sedated, and kept captive by the Nazis.
Long overdue, he professes his love, confessing he has been in love with her from the beginning, and that he’ll never let her out of his sight again.
Alicia: “Say it again, it keeps me awake.”
Devlin: “I love you.”
...
Alicia: “Don't ever leave me.”
Devlin: “You'll never get rid of me again.”
Alicia: “Never tried to.”
Next is the harrowing scene of Devlin half carrying Alicia towards the staircase. Sebastian’s mother rushes out, as well as Sebastian and of course the Nazi colleagues to see what is going on.
Sebastian and his Mother realize that Devlin is rescuing Alicia, and Devlin tells them to play along that’s she’s going in for a routine hospital visit or he will expose tell the conspirators that Sebastian has let an American spy in.
Each step they take down the long marble staircase and across the stately drawing room is nerve-wracking, as the slew of Nazis look on suspiciously and ask questions.
Sebastian nervously goes along with the story that he and Devlin are taking Alicia to the hospital to keep up appearances to the the Nazi.
But, once outside, Devlin gathers Alicia into his arms in the car, and slams the door shut on Sebastian. Devlin and Alicia drive off into the dark night and to safety.
So, no. Alicia didn’t die in the end of Notorious. Devlin safely got her away from the Nazis and to the hospital, but it was a rather sudden ending to the movie.
Notorious 1946 Movie: What was being hidden in the wine bottles in Notorious?
Alex Sebastian and a group of Third Reich fugitives are plotting a come back in Brazil. How? By building their very own atomic bomb to launch against the Allies.
Pitchblende, which is a black Uranium ore that is the critical ingredient for creating nuclear weapons (i.e. detonate a bomb).
In other words, weapons grade uranium samples are being hidden in the wine bottles. The ‘34 Pommard wine bottles specifically. Drink up folks--don’t mind the chunks!
I’m glad Sebastian and his dear momma didn’t think of adding a few scoops of the black uranium to Alicia’s “special” coffee cocktail! “Dear, that’s just a very special 99% dark chocolate we’re giving a try….”
Notorious 1946 Movie: What is Alex Sebastian's fate at the end of Notorious?
What happens when you play ball with bad guys?
Well, you play by their rules. Alex Sebastian’s fate is that of anyone who put the Nazi cause in jeopardy. Remember in the early scenes at Sebastian’s home, where one of Nazi conspirators, Emil, lost his cool and made a commotion over the wine bottles?
Emil mistakenly thought the wine bottles being served for dinner were the same ones hiding uranium samples.
After this incident, Sebastian and the Nazis discussed calmly how to get rid of Emil, as he was too much of a liability, and then he was never seen again.
So, after Sebastian discovered he’d made a much larger mistake than Emil and actually married an American spy, he confessed to his mother that death would be the only option for such a huge goof-up.
I am so angry with myself
After Devlin slams the car door on Sebastian and leaves him to face the Nazis’, it’s implied that they dealt him the same fate as poor Emil.
They are seen suspiciously saying to each other.
“There is no phone in her room”
Then, after the car roars off into the night, you next hear them to Sebastian,
“Come in here, we need to talk to you.”
Sebastian has a look of horror as he is ensconced in light and walks toward them, knowing certain death awaits him at their hands.
Notorious 1946 Movie: Was Notorious an original screenplay?
Yes, Notorious was an original screenplay, which received an Academy Award Nomination! Ben Hecht authored this screenplay and some of his best psycho-dramas for Alfred Hitchcock.
Where did he receive the inspiration to write such a compelling drama, complete with poison, espionage, and love triangles?
According to Hecht, he ran away at 16 to Chicago where he "haunted streets, whorehouses, police stations, courtrooms, theater stages, jails, saloons, slums, madhouses, fires, murders, riots, banquet halls, and bookshops".
Notorious 1946 Movie: What other male actor was also considered to be cast opposite Ingrid Bergman?
Hint: he has curly hair and his last name rhymes with “rotten.”
It was… drum roll… Joseph Cotton! The project’s original producer pushed hard to try to get Cary Grant replaced by Joseph Cotton, but Hitchcock wanted Cary Grant.
This is interesting because Hitchcock did use Joseph Cotten in an earlier film, Shadow of a doubt, where Joseph Cotten plays the villain.
7th Question - Notorious 1946 Movie: What happened to the Notorious wine cellar real life key?
The most famous key of all time, none other than the original ÚNICA key to the wine cellar was passed between Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman through their lifelong friendship after filming Notorious. It was their own special good luck charm!
Years later, in 1979, when the American Film Institute honored Hitchcock with its Life Achievement Award, Ingrid Bergman dramatically presented the key to Hitchcock expressing the hope it would bring him luck as well!
Hitchcock’s mansion seems a fitting home for the most famous key of all time. Do you think he rekeyed his own wine cellar, so that only the ÚNICA key could open it?
This post was all about the Notorious 1946 movie
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