Director
Alfred Hitchcock
Leading Actors/Actresses
Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman
Supporting Actors/Actresses
Claude Rains, Louis Calhern, Leopoldine Konstantin
Genre
Spy/Thriller/Film Noir
Language
English
Awards
Nominated: Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor (Claude Raines), Best Original Screenplay (Ben Hecht), submitted for competition in the 1946 Cannes Film Festival
Date of Release
August 15, 1946
Producer
Alfred Hitchcock
Setting and Context
1946, Miami and then Rio
Narrator and Point of View
There is no narrator and point of view switches around quite a bit, but we often see things from Alicia's perspective
Tone and Mood
Suspenseful, thrilling, romantic, sometimes comic, dramatic
Protagonist and Antagonist
Protagonist: Alicia Huberman (and TR Devlin); Antagonist: Alexander Sebastian (and Madame Sebastian)
Major Conflict
The major conflict is the task of infiltrating the home of Alexander Sebastian to discover more about what the Nazis are plotting. Another conflict is the inability for TR Devlin to outwardly express his feelings for Alicia. Yet another conflict is Sebastian's realization that Alicia is a spy and his plot to poison her over time.
Climax
The climax occurs when Alicia realizes she has been poisoned and tries to leave, and simultaneously Devlin comes to rescue her.
Foreshadowing
In some ways, Alicia's heavy drinking and the visual cues of various drinks throughout the beginning foreshadow the fact that she will be poisoned, but this is not explicit.
Understatement
Devlin: Farben has men in South America, planted there before the war. They're cooperating with the Brazilian government to smoke them out. My chief thinks that the daughter of a, uh...
Alicia: A traitor?
Devlin: Well, he thinks you might be valuable in the work. They might sell their trust to you. And you could make up a little for your daddy's peculiarities.
Innovations in Filming or Lighting or Camera Techniques
The unusual camera angles (Alicia with a hangover looking at Devlin, the zoom in on the key in Alicia's hand, the shots in Alicia's perspective)
Allusions
Peter Rabbit, Mata Hari
Paradox
Neither Alicia nor Devlin want to declare their love for one another even though they love each other, which leads them into a sticky situation.
