De BBC en Canvas zijn de enige zenders die dit jaar tussen kerst en oudjaar enkele zwart-wit klassiekers uitzenden. Zo zag ik vorige week zaterdag op Canvas ascenseur pour l’échafaud uit 1958 en vrijdagnacht brandde de recorder Gilda uit 1946 op de harde schijf. Vanmiddag zond de BBC zelfs twee klassiekers achter elkaar uit: Suspicion uit 1941 en Notorious (evenals Gilda) uit 1946. En laatstgenoemde twee films hebben ook met elkaar gemeen dat ze zich in Zuid-Amerika afspelen, resp. in Buenos Aires en Rio de Janeiro. Het zijn echte film noirs die alles in zich hebben om mij twee uur onder te dompelen in een onvergelijkbare esthetische fim noir ervaring met adembenemende actrices van het uitgestorven soort en heel veel (onschadelijke) sigarettenrook. Overigens staat Notorious in zijn geheel op youtube. ‘Word smith’ Ben Hecht (o.a. van Gone with the Wind en His Girl Friday) tekende voor het scenario en de ‘Shakespeare of Hollywood‘ smeedde daarbij weer scherpe dialogen.
NotoriousAlicia Huberman (Ingrid Bergman), the American daughter of a convicted Nazi spy, is recruited by government agent T. R. Devlin (Cary Grant) to infiltrate a group of Germans who have relocated to Brazil after World War II.
During her training in Rio de Janeiro, Alicia falls in love with Devlin. His feelings for her are tempered by his knowledge of her wild past. When Devlin is ordered to convince her to seduce Alex Sebastian (Claude Rains), one of her father’s friends and a member of the group, to find out what he’s plotting, he agonizes before choosing duty over love. Bitter at his betrayal, Alicia eventually weds Alex.
Alicia discovers the plot, but in the process leaves a clue that her husband traces back to her. Now Alex has a problem: he must silence Alicia, but cannot expose her without being suspected by his fellow Nazis. Alex discusses the situation with his mother (Leopoldine Konstantin), who suggests that Alicia “die slowly”, gradually by poisoning. The poison is mixed into Alicia’s coffee and she quickly falls ill. Devlin becomes suspicious when she meets him and tells him that she merely has a hangover and yet shows signs of grave illness. He becomes alarmed when she fails to appear at their next meeting. Devlin later finds out about the poison and carries her out of the mansion in full view of the conspirators, leaving the hapless Alex to the non-existent mercy of his “friends”, who question Alicia’s odd departure.
Bron: en.wikipedia.org
bespreking van Suspicion door Patrcia Smagge [ movie2movie.nl ] | bespreking van Notorious door Dennis van Dessel [ digg.be ]
