The film Beauty Meter/Notorious (1946) is an American Blu-ray edition of the cover
He was obsessed with blonde beauties, fine wine, murder, and idealized love; he loved pranks; he had an omnipresent sense of fear but didn't hide his desire for control; he shot Butterfly Dream Rebecca (1940), Rear Window Rear Window (1954), North by Northwest/North by Northwest (1959), Psycho/Psycho (1960), and Birds/Birds The Birds (1963), winner of the Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement... His life was both passionate and mysterious.
The Dark Side of Genius (published by South Seas Publishing Company) is the definitive work on the life story of Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980) and won the Ellen Poefi Award for Best Work in the Literature category.
Cover of The Dark Side of Genius: The Dark Side of Genius by The Life of Master Hitchcock
The author, Donald Spoto, is a well-known biographer and historian.
He has written biographies of Lawrence Laurence Olivier (1907–1989), Marilyn Monroe (1926–1962), Audrey Hepburn (1929–1993), Grace Kelly (1929–1982), and Jacqueline Kennedy (1929–1994).
In the course of writing this book, he interviewed writers, actors, and long-time friends who had worked with Alfred Hitchcock, and conducted intensive research to explore the connection between Alfred Hitchcock's art and his personality, providing a clear clue to understanding Alfred Hitchcock's film art.
Scenes from the film Beauty Plan/Notorious (1946), ingrid Bergman Ingrid Bergman and Gary Grant Cary Grant
In the book "The Dark Side of Genius", Donald Spert also tells in more detail the history of Alfred Hitchcock's filming of the film "Beauty Plan/Notorious" (1946), and incidentally restores the emotional experience of the film's lead actor Ingrid Bergman (1915-1982) who was on the road to derailment.
Hitchcock's idea in the film is to control the actress]
"I had lunch with Alfred Hitchcock last Friday," Margaret McDonnell told producer David M. McDonnell on August 7, 1944. David O. Selznick (1902-1965) wrote in a memo, "He was eager to make a story about undercover and strongly advocated starring Ingrid Bergman. She will play a trained woman who will act as bait in a well-thought-out international scam, even at the cost of committing herself to marrying..."
Alfred Hitchcock, Gary Grant, and Ingrid Bergman in The Beauty/Notorious (1946) set
Training and changing a woman so that she gains another identity is not only the idea in Alfred Hitchcock's films, but also his idea of treating his actresses.
In the screenplay for The Spy Doomsday/Secret Agent (1936), he devotes many pages to the character of Madeleine Carroll (1906-1987) who uses eroticism as a means to complete the task.
Later Ecstasy/Vertigo (1958) went even further, and the motivation to transform a woman with bizarre imaginations took on a higher magic. In the later stages of his creation, he not only directed and trained, but also controlled and tortured the actresses who he had to carefully shape the perfect screen image.
On Christmas Day 1944, when Alfred Hitchcock returned from England, he had prepared a synopsis of its story.
Soon, he received the title of David M. O. Selznick agreed, and contacted Ben Hecht (1894-1964), the screenwriter at Niack, and for three weeks they shut themselves up in Ben Hector's messy studio, piecemeal writing the main scenes of the first draft.
Alfred Hitchcock returned to the St Rogers Hotel every night and rewrote them again, soon titled The Beauty Plan. The story tells the story of the daughter of a Nazi spy who joined the intelligence services of the U.S. government at the end of World War II, using her advantageous status to deal with the Nazi gangs settling in Brazil.
Inside the set of the film Beauty Plan/Notorious (1946).
Although her beloved is the American agent who assigned her to work, she still marries an old acquaintance against her will, because he is the central figure of the organization. Later, she was recognized by her husband, and with the help of his domineering and ruthless mother, they gave her a poison that could slowly kill her.
In the end, the American agents she still loved deeply rescued her from the brink of death. "The whole movie is actually about telling a love story." Alfred Hitchcock said years later.
David S. O. Selzny read their first draft of the script and asked him twice, "What's going on with the uranium in the bottle?" Alfred Hitchcock said uranium was an unstable fellow. Just like in this world, everyone knows that it is rare.
At the premiere of the film Duel in the Sun( 1946), David Lee O. Selznick David O. Selznick and Jennifer Jones
Ever since Sir Rutherford proposed the theory of atomic metamorphosis, sooner or later someone would have thought of using the enormous energy it unleashed to create a bomb. David S. O. Selzny worried that the idea was too flippant.
At the end of March 1945, the screenplay, co-written by Alfred Hitchcock and Ben Hecht, was finally released, and David H. O. Selzny was so overwhelmed by his wife Jennifer Jones (1919–2009) starring in the Western Film Duel in the Sun (1946) that he had no intention of paying attention to the beauty script.
Since few people at the time knew about the importance of uranium in the development of nuclear bombs, David M. O. Selzny had a hard time understanding the crucial role of uranium in the film's plot.
Stills from the film Beauty Plan/Notorious (1946), Alfred Hitchcock
[Hitchcock's Concocted Story: Using the Foresight of "Uranium" and Being Monitored by the FBI]
Since then, the topic of uranium has always been the favorite object of discussion in the Us media. Whether to François Truffaut (1932-1984) or to others, Alfred Hitchcock always insisted that it was absolutely coincidental that the Nazi idea of experimenting with uranium was absolutely coincidental, long before the use of atomic bombs against Japan in August 1945.
Alfred Hitchcock also said he and Ben Hecht had visited Dr. Robert Millikan at caltech in May or June to ask questions about uranium.
French film director François Francois Truffaut (left) interviews Alfred Hitchcock at alfred Hitchcock's office in California
The visit caused a high degree of tension among the Milliken experimental team and the FBI, and according to him, he was monitored throughout the filming. Every time he talks about "Beauty Plan", he mentions it, as if to show that he is a wise man with foresight, who can think of the role of uranium in 1944, a full year before its explosion in Hiroshima!
In fact, this story has more components, and Alfred Hitchcock, who is good at promoting himself, tells everyone a story that is far more exciting than the facts.
Filming began in October 1945, after another trip to London. He returned to Los Angeles and finally revised the script in September, when Japan had been bombed atomically.
Scene from the film Beauty Plan/Notorious (1946), Ingrid Bergman Ingrid Bergman
He also spent a few weeks in New York interviewing actors, and among the actors who took the test, he chose several famous German actors. Based on information from German actors and various media reports after the surrender of Germany (May) and Japan (August), he and Ben Hecht finally revised the script before filming began.
In May 1946, David M. O. Selzny received a letter from the FBI warning that any film about U.S. intelligence agents must be approved by the State Department before it can be distributed overseas.
Alfred Hitchcock was immediately informed and reminded him that the content of the spy should not be nonsense, and that it should not be allowed to go beyond the framework of the love story.
Scene from the film Beauty Plan/Notorious (1946), Claude Rains
Perhaps it was the letter that inspired Alfred Hitchcock to claim that he was being watched by the FBI.
In fact, there is no record of tracking him in the FBI archives, and if there were such a thing, "Beauty Plan" would not have been so safe and sound when it was filmed in the autumn and winter of 1945 (especially with many non-American actors on the crew).
The extremely sensitive Alfred Hitchcock should probably be more concerned about his identity (although his wife is a U.S. citizen, he is not), and once the FBI investigates him, he may not have had the heart to make a film.
In February 1943, Alfred Hitchcock, wife Emma Revere Alma Reville, and daughter Patricia Hitchcock had dinner at the Stork Club
All the evidence suggests that the contents of uranium were added after the use of atomic bombs. As for the remnants of Nazi exiles in South America, he learned about them from a number of German immigrants, Jews, and anti-Nazi groups in New York and Los Angeles.
【Confusion between sex and food】
Shortly after the filming of "The Beauty Plan" began, the relationship between Alfred Hitchcock and his wife became tense.
His several trips to England, the death of his mothers, emma Revere Alma Reville (1899-1982) and his growing estrangement from his directing work, and his apparent fascination with Ingrid Bergman all led to the subterranean undercurrents of mutual disgust that lurked underneath the surface of indifference and mutual assistance.
Alfred Hitchcock and Ingrid Bergman in 1946
Alfred Hitchcock planned each scene in detail before filming began, including each camera position, each set, costumes, props and sound effects.
Ingrid Bergman often disputed his role on set, and Alfred Hitchcock, who had always been reluctant to accept the actor's opinions, surprisingly obediently, and Ingrid Bergman had become his closest collaborator, unprecedented in Alfred Hitchcock's career.
This made Alfred Hitchcock's wife, Emma Revere, extremely unhappy on set, but helpless.
The long life of sexual repression with his wife Emma Revel (Alfred Hitchcock said years later: "Food is always a substitute for sex." A conflict with his sense of responsibility for his family and work reverberated in his mind, finally erupting a few days before the filming of "The Beauty Plan" began—he rewrote part of the dialogue to vent his painful heart.
In fact, "The Beauty Plan" was Alfred Hitchcock's first attempt at being 46 years old—to use all his talents to create a love story that would only occur at this stage of his life. The death of his mother, the relationship with his wife like mother and son, the unexpected death of his brother, coupled with the constant surge of illusion and broken romantic passion, all make people in middle age to launch juvenile madness, full of admiration for the fairy-like female star.
Stills from the film Beauty Plan/Notorious (1946), Leopoldine Konstantin
All the emotions have been accumulated for a long time, and at this time, the filming of "Beauty Plan" is not only necessary, but also necessary, otherwise the art world in his heart will collapse. So far, none of his films have focused on the conflict between inner desires and public responsibility, passion and disguise, like this one.
These themes were interpreted by the characters of Gary Grant (1904–1986) and Claude Rains (1889–1967), while also revealing both faces of Alfred Hitchcock. Gary Grant is an emotionally repressed man who doesn't smile and admits that "I always flinch in front of women". He had a passion for Ingrid Bergman, but could neither express nor respond to her, preferring to believe that she was an incorrigible.
Stills from the film Beauty Plan/Notorious (1946), Claude Rains
Claude Raines, on the other hand, is a lover who is good at revealing his feelings, and although he is not as handsome as other men, he cherishes Ingrid Bergman very much, even though she does not like him.
Just as the different attitudes of the two men represent the conflict between Alfred Hitchcock's inner feelings and responsibilities, the more complicated situation comes from his adolescent confusion of sex and food.
It is shown in a 3-minute kissing scene in which Gary Grant and Ingrid Bergman kiss each other's lips, ears and neck while talking about dinner.
The kiss between Ingrid Bergman and Gary Grant Cary Grant in the film Beauty Plan/Notorious (1946) is like a chicken pecking at white rice, coming and going from time to time
The director originally designed this peculiar scene to avoid Hollywood's rule that kissing scenes should not be too long, a kissing scene that cleverly connects dialogue, behavior and intention, which the director believes can make the audience feel great satisfaction from gary Grant and Ingrid Bergman's kissing.
It's like a temporary "triangular relationship"... Because at that time, the United States "Hayes Code" stipulated that the scene of men and women kissing scenes should not exceed 2.15 meters of film, that is, 3 seconds.
So the scheming Alfred Hitchcock used this lens to exploit the hole in the Hayes Code, because the two people kissed for less than 3 seconds.
A scene from the film Beauty Plan/Notorious (1946) in which Ingrid Bergman and Gary Grant Cary Grant kiss incessantly
Blessed with the charming temperaments of Gary Grant and Ingrid Bergman, the famous "three-minute kiss scene" became a classic.
Later, Alfred Hitchcock explained: "I think as long as they keep hugging, we can join them." So when they walked to the phone, the camera followed them, and the whole process was close-up, and then followed all the way to the door, filming it with one lens from beginning to end... [Gary Grant and Ingrid Bergman] told me they were embarrassed to make the scene. I told them not to worry, it would be very good in the film, and that's the most important thing. It also became one of my most famous scenes.
It was Gary Grant and Ingrid Bergman's brilliant performances that swept the box office like a nuclear bomb that made "Beauty Plan" the box office champion of the year.
【Confusion between mother-child love and male and female love】
From "Beauty Plan", we can not only see the confusion of desire, responsibility, love, food, sex and excrement, but also show a new type of mother-child relationship.
Just as the two men in The Beauty Scheme represent two aspects of Alfred Hitchcock's desires (passionate and repressed), the two women (Ingrid Bergman and Leopoldine Konstantin) also merge and confuse the roles of wife and mother.
At two important moments in his relationship with Ingrid Bergman, Claude Raines went to his mother's bedroom, once announcing that they were getting married and blaming her for not being jealous, and later finding out of his wife's betrayal and asking her for help.
Stills from the movie Beauty Plan/Notorious (1946).
These details come from his life, where he had to stand at her bedside every night while living with him. Ingrid Bergman and Leopolddin Constantine are both referred to as "Madame" in the film, and Alfred Hitchcock refers to his wife as well.
Ingrid Bergman said after the poisoning: "I don't like to take boats because I'm always seasick. This is also the performance of his wife Emma Revere that year. Ingrid Bergman is also mentioned several times in the film as Gary Grant's "mom", while Claude Raines and Leopolddin Constantine are more like husband and wife.
Stills from the film Beauty Plan/Notorious (1946), ingrid Bergman and Claude Rains by Claude Rains
The confusion between mother-child love and male-female love—there is a brilliant shot in the film where the figures of mother and son are superimposed from ingrid Bergman's drunken hazy eyes—certainly not a subject original to Alfred Hitchcock, which is often used as a catalyst in many famous literary works of art, but so deep, sharp, and painful in Alfred Hitchcock's life and films.
In real life, both kinds of love are limited, staying on the level of longing and fantasy.
Hitchcock's Stars is a book cover with on-set photographs from the film Beauty Plan/Notorious (1946), which tells the story of Alfred Hitchcock and his relationship with the stars in his films, especially for Ingrid Bergman, who couldn't have been better than Grace Kelly
Alfred Hitchcock's greatest regret for his mother was the absence of her at the last moment of her life; and his wife, by his own rare admission, lived without a bed with him; and the heroines of the most beautiful and lovely shots were always unattainable figurines in her mind.
Later in his life, he told an elaborate story—out of the fiction of his passionate imagination at the time—that once after a dinner party at Bella Cholushi House, Ingrid Bergman was somewhat hysterical, and she refused to leave his bedroom unless he agreed to have sex with her.
Considering the circumstances, the guests present were incurable husband, Ingrid Bergman, as well as Emma Revere and others, and considering that Ingrid Bergman was a cautious and attentive person, and that he was not the kind of person who could impress Ingrid Bergman, no one believed the story.
The memory of this period was the most valuable in his life, and it was full of fantasy and longing. He couldn't help but identify himself with the role of Gary Grant, who was obsessed with his heroine in the film. But in reality he did nothing, only because, not only was the timing inappropriate, but he was also very sorry for Emma Revere, or that he was a little afraid of her.
[Ingrid Bergman's marriage proposal to journalist Robert Kappa was rejected]
Since the "Spylbound of Doctor Edward" (1945), the amount of money made by David S. Almost immediately, O. Selzny set out to team up Alfred Hitchcock's second thriller, The Beauty Plan.
On the set of the film Beauty Plan/Notorious (1946), Gary Grant holds a mirror and Ingrid Bergman indie Bergman does the makeup before shooting
David S. O. Selzny sold the entire class, including director Alfred Hitchcock, screenwriter Ben Hector, and starring Gary Grant and Ingrid Bergman, to Raiden, David C. Bergman. O. Selzny received $800,000 and 50% of the film's profits, while Raiden won a prestigious work, and Alfred Hitchcock, although he did not get the money, could get rid of Selznick's shackles and have the opportunity to be a producer for the first time.
As early as before the script for "The Beauty Plan" was finished, the first female lead actress to be Vivien Leigh (1913-1967) was Not Ingrid Bergman, because David Lee was the first to be screened. O. Selzny demanded that he must use his own artists so that he could make money.
Stills from the film Beauty Plan/Notorious (1946), Claude Rains, Gary Grant Ingrid Bergman
He was almost the opposite of Ingrid Bergman's share of the film's remuneration, in Hollywood the big stars took 90%, the agents took 10%, but Ingrid Bergman did not care about these at all. Therefore, many Producers, directors and actors in Hollywood are friends of Ingrid Bergman, and a person's personality is there, and the aura itself is not a chicken belly.
Gary Grant's friendship with Ingrid Bergman continued from the time he played The Beauty. Soon after he uttered this immortal quote: "I think the Academy should award her a special award every year, whether she makes a film or not." ”
In 1945, Ingrid Bergman and war photojournalist Robert Capa were in Paris
In 1945, when Ingrid Bergman won her first Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Gaslight/Hate Lock Joan Lou Gaslight (1944), Ingrid Bergman went to Europe for a laborer performance with the crew of Casablanca/North African Spy Casablanca (1942).
In Paris, she met the Hungarian-American war photographer Robert Capa (1913-1954).
Unlike Joseph Cotton Joseph Cotten (1905–1994) and Gregory Peck (1916–2003), whom she had met in the film, robert Kappa, who later referred to Robert Kappa in her later autobiography as "a funny, soldier-clad man who took pictures" in her later autobiography.
This is the set shot of Robert Capa's film Beauty/Notorious (1946) for Life magazine
Soon after, Robert Kappa and Ingrid Bergman met again in Berlin. Ingrid Bergman, who was in the midst of a failed marriage at the time, quickly fell in love with Robert Capa and became like glue.
Back in Hollywood, Ingrid Bergman approached Alfred Hitchcock, outspokenly hoping to use his help to find opportunities for Robert Capa in Hollywood. At the end of 1945, Robert Kappa came to Hollywood and took on an interview with the American magazine "Beauty Plan" written for Life magazine. He followed Ingrid Bergman on the set, staring at Ingrid Bergman in front of the camera.
Soon, however, he grew tired of this life, of Hollywood. He said to Ingrid Bergman: You should go to Europe and work with decent directors like Roberto Rossellini (1906-1977).
The older Alfred Hitchcock and Ingrid Bergman Bergman often reunited
Under the influence of Robert Kappa, Ingrid Bergman began to read the newspaper and drink wine every day, cultivating her interest in food and literature. He promised to be her eternal lover, but not to mention marriage.
Although Robert Capa eventually left Ingrid Bergman and returned to the battlefield, he opened the door for her to another world, showing her that there was another kind of movie in this world besides Hollywood. Still, Ingrid Bergman forgot another of Robert Kappa's words: Never confuse the personality of an artist with their work. Therefore, she still resolutely left Hollywood and became the heroine of Roberto Rossellini's films, and their love has become a scandal that has attracted worldwide attention.
Thirty-six years after the release of The Beauty Project, in 1979, at an awards gala held by the American Film Institute to honor Hitchcock's Lifetime Achievement Award, emcee Ingrid Bergman Ingrid Bergman introduced Alfred Hitchcock
Like Alicia herself in "Beauty Plan", she is intertwined in the vortex of love and cannot extricate herself, selling herself for the sake of her beloved man, and playing another role forever in order to return to her true self.
It was many years later that Alfred Hitchcock spoke to her for the first time about Roberto Rossellini. "That's a shame, he ruined your business." Ingrid Bergman looked at him with a smile, "Oh no, dear Hitchcock, Roberto Rossellini didn't ruin my career, I ruined his business. I don't belong to his films at all. ”
The film Beauty Plan/Notorious (1946) American Standard Collection The Criterion Collection Blu-ray Edition Cover
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