Ingrid Bergman is magnificent alongside Cary Grant in this brilliantly crafted, lethally elegant thriller
Notoriety is this story’s ammunition and its unstable commodity. The bad reputation of a Nazi’s daughter makes excellent cover as she spies for Uncle Sam as and infiltrates a nest of Hitlerites in 1946 Rio plotting to restore the Reich – and her bad reputation as a recklessly unhappy drunk makes her even more plausible in this undercover role. But when things turn sour, the symptoms of a hangover are dangerously close to those of poisoning. Screenwriter Ben Hecht and director Alfred Hitchcock created a brilliantly crafted, and deliciously entertaining story of espionage, spousal abuse, and toughly self-reliant romantic guys who mask their hurt feelings with cynicism: and Ingrid Bergman’s outstanding performance has something of her personae in Casablanca and Gaslight.
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