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Editing in Notorious by Alfred Hitchcock, 1946

In the film, a woman is asked to spy a number of Nazi men living in South America. The movie is built around the question how far she will woman will reach to ingratiate herself with her Nazi friends. Alicia Hubernman takes to men and drink after the conviction of her father who has a German background. He is convicted for the crime of treason against the United States. A government agent approaches her soon after and asks her to spy on a group of Nazi friend’s of her father’s whose main operations are based in Rio de Janiero in South America. A romance develops between her and the government agent Devlin, but soon it gets complicated because she starts to engage herself excessively in work. This paper will examine and analyze a minimum of ten shots derived from the movie to explore the editing techniques used in the movie. The shots will be derived from the last scene of the movie Notorious.

Hitchcock makes use of objects, motifs, shifting points of view shot styles and dark and light to help further the understanding of the relationships that exist among Alicia, Sebastian, Devlin and Mrs. Sebastian. A critical analysis of the film scenes from the first scene of poisoning to the final scene in the film indicate how the named techniques lead to an enhanced understanding of the motivations of the characters.

The most recognizable object in the final scenes of the movie is the poisoned cup of coffee. In the first scene of the final portion of the movie, Sebastian advices Alicia to take her cup of coffee, and Hitchcock zooms onto the coffee cup as Alicia takes a sip. In the scene before this one, Sebastian prepares the cup of coffee for Alicia and then sets it in front of her on a small table. In this scene, the producer not only zooms in to the cup of coffee but also enhances and heightens the sound it makes as it makes contact with the table. This scene is made in every possible shot and shows the audience not only the cup of coffee before Alicia sipped it, but also the empty cup of coffee after she has emptied it. Again, to make a point, Hitchcock only zooms in to the cup of coffee when the victim realizes what has happened. Because the coffee is poisoned, it is used as a metaphor for death, supported by the empty and full cup and the fact that the ‘poisoner’ pours the poisoned coffee for the victim.

Another essential shot in this scene is the one that involves the needlework of Mrs. Sebastian. She keeps on working on her needlework during the poisoning. The producer, actually, goes out of the way to ensure that Mrs. Sebastian and her needlework are included in the scene a number of times. The use of different kinds of shots in this movie is also worth noting, and it is essential in helping the audience understands the characters better. The producer seems drawn to close- up and medium shots and he rarely makes use of longer shots in the movie. This might be used to help the audience stay keen and concentrated in the facial expressions of the characters, as the producer allows the characters to show their feelings and thoughts in this way. An excellent instance, of this is when Alicia realizes that she has been poisoned. Hitchcock takes a chance to zoom in on her expression of wide- eyed surprise and shock as she first looks at the coffee cup and then at her mother- in- law and then her husband. Her mother- in- law’s cold hearted expression tells the audience exactly how much hatred she has for Alicia.

The producer also makes use of other editing devices in the final scene such as fades from one shot to another. Hitchcock illustrates the different viewpoints of the characters by doing this. The fading technique for instance is used to connect the two different worlds of Alicia- her real one with Devin and her fake one with Sebastian. For instance, when Alicia fails to find her way to communicate with her real husband when she gets ill, there are a number of shots of her sick in her bed, which constantly fade to show Devlin waiting for her impatiently at a bench.

It is obviously difficult, if not impossible, to make use of color as nuance in a film without color, the producer opts to make use of dark and light images. When Sebastian and Alicia are alone together, Hitchcock makes use of darkness to imply a different world and safety brought about by hiding. Alicia feels free and safe to do anything she feels like in the darkness, for example, when she is with her real husband. On the other hand, Sebastian feels opposite of this because he is not allowed into the dark and secret world of Alicia. For instance, when Alicia meets with the commander and asks him to close the blinds because the light in the room makes her uncomfortable. In addition, when her real husband rescues her, he finds her in her dark bedroom and makes her walk in the lighted hallway. Her fake husband, Sebastian, walks up the stairs to meet them and later walks into the darkness of the night when he is rejected when Alicia pulls away with Devlin. The final scene when Sebastian walks to his death, he walks in the lighted pathways in the house, and then the rooms become exceedingly dark as he closes the doors behind him.

Both Alicia and her mother in law are trapped in away in their own worlds. One thing of significance is that whenever they feel trapped they wear dark colors to symbolize that and vice versa. For example, when Alicia realizes that her unreal family is poisoning her, she tries to escape but fails. In this scene, she is seen wearing a black dress. Just the same, Mrs. Sebastian wears the same color when she finds out that she is trapped when she follows Alicia and Devlin down the stairs in the final scenes. On the other hand, Mrs. Sebastian wears white when Alicia is being poisoned and Alicia wears the same color when she escapes. Since the two are enemies, the producer dresses them in opposing colors to emphasize on this enmity.

The producer of the film also makes use of shadows to help his audience comprehend the motivations of the characters. One of the most notable examples of this is when Alicia realizes that Sebastian is poisoning her and begins to black out. As she looks at Mrs. Sebastian and her son, the lighting in the room begins to change to the opposite of what it was previously, lighting the window behind the two and throwing them into a shadow.

In addition, when Alicia staggers to the door of the room trying to escape, the two shadows of Mrs. Sebastian and Sebastian merge to a vision that is blurry. This makes it easier for the audience to understand that the two have similar personalities and they are one in their goal of keeping their political opinions private.