Verdict:
If your father or mother are in trouble with the law and you disown them just because of that, you are sh*tty person. Laws and political systems are temporary. Family is until death. Surely, no one can be that blinded by silly patriotism. If you share this sentiment, the beginning of the movie may leave a bad taste in your mouth.
Moving onto a more general problem, Notorious has issues in the writing for certain scenes and with pacing. For example, the main character goes from “No way I am doing this” to “Ok, I’ll do it” in an instant. Something similar happens again later with a different character. Several transitions from one scene to another were very jarring, as if you missed a few scenes in between. It only takes a minute of montage for the lead character to fall in love with the lead girl, so the romance feels very forced. Characters will start talking about someone, while being right next to that person and the movie pretends that the conversation is not overheard. The main villain is supposed to be an intelligent person but is very oblivious to what is going on, when it should be very obvious to him. His manner of acting and dialogue declare that he knows and understands everything, but his actions say that he’s clueless.
If you’re not a connoisseur of the films from this era, it is noticeable that they do not treat romance with proper gravity or realism. Instead, these two characters are in love now, “because we said so. Deal with it.”
The point at which it was decided to end the movie also felt unnatural, like Hitchcock forgot to show us the final third of the movie.
This awkwardness in storytelling is contrasted by the high quality of performances. And when not rushed, the dialogue can be quite witty. “Don’t you need a coat?” “You’ll do.” If you just take this film one scene at a time and concentrate on the performances, it is great. The Hitchcock brand of tension is present, and the scenes with the lovers are emotional (once you get over the fact that the relationship came to exist at a snap of the fingers).
This movie is Ingrid Bergman’s show, with her full professional range on display. Cary Grant, as her counterpart, plays a character who hides his feelings under the calm demeanor of a spy and the way he loses his composure, once the feelings get in the way, is very entertaining.
Cinematically, there is artistic use of lighting, interesting scenes with long tracking shots and creative effects, like the lenses of binoculars showing a very clear reflection of what the person is looking at.
Overall, the story has many weaknesses. As with a few other Hitckock’s movies, the story requires one or more of the characters to be dim-witted and there are some issues with the overall flow. But everything else is skillfully executed.