Ingrid Bergman Hitchcock Movies – 3 Must-See Suspense Classics
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These 3 Ingrid Bergman Hitchcock Movies are must-sees for classic movie fans.
This post is all about Ingrid Bergman Hitchcock movies
The 3 films that the master of suspense Alfred Hitchcock collaborated on with the Swedish actress Ingrid Bergman all have 3 dramatically different genres.
The genres range from a psychological thriller, Spellbound 1945, to a spy-suspense story in Notorious 1946, to a regency-era love triangle drama in Under Capricorn 1949.
Despite the different storylines, they all have that suspenseful Hitchcock feel with a combination of romance and mystery.
Starring Ingrid Bergman and Gregory Peck
Starring Ingrid Bergman, Cary Grant, and Claude Rains
Starring Ingrid Bergman, Joseph Cotton, and Michael Wilding
Born in Sweden, Ingrid Bergman was unique in 1940s Hollywood.
She had a natural, glowing beauty was natural combined with a simple and elegant style.
Her roles in the Hitchcock movies Spellbound and Notorious play up her simple style.
After filming her final Hitchcock film, Under Capricorn, Ingrid Bergman got embedded in a whirlwind of scandal when she fell for her Italian film director, Roberto Rossellini in Europe.
As a result she was not welcome in the United States for a number of years until the scandal blew over.
We only wish she had been able to collaborate on more films with Hitchcock.
Ingrid Bergman Hitchcock
Interestingly enough, Ingrid Bergman could care less about her appearance or wardrobe.
Her focus and passion was on perfecting her acting skills.
Hitchcock was instrumental in helping her become one of the most talented stars of Old Hollywood.
Alfred Hitchcock coached Ingrid Bergman’s screen persona to a “less is more” and taught her to be “more understated and neutral, while his camera concentrated the expression in the micro-movement of her face” per Stardom and the Aesthetics of Neorealism: Ingrid Bergman in Rossellini’s Italy
She really mastered this skill in the 1946 Notorious.
Watch the riveting scenes where she has fallen madly in love with Devlin (Cary Grant), but is forced to marry the suave Nazi ringleader Alexander Sebastian (Claude Rains)!
As Ingrid Bergman and Hitchcock developed a closer friendship during the filming of Notorious, Hitchcock incorporated many of her scene suggestions into the film.
Ultimately Ingrid Bergman Hitchcock developed a deep lifelong friendship from mutual respect.
In A Companion to Alfred Hitchcock, Susan White said
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“while Bergman was one of his favorite collaborators, she is not the quintessential Hitchcock blonde. She is more like ‘a resistant and defiant blonde’, in contrast to Grace Kelly type, which is more malleable and conformative.”
Fun fact!
Alfred Hitchcock had a huge crush on Ingrid Bergman.
He told an absurd story about Ingrid Bergman being crazy about him. It’s said that his infatuation with her was so blatant that it was a source of tension with his wife, Alma Reville.
Ingrid Bergman Hitchcock Movies #1: Spellbound 1945
Spellbound is a slower paced Hitchcock film.
If you don’t expect it to an edge-of-your-seat thriller, you’ll enjoy it more.
Ingrid Bergman plays the psychiatrist, Dr. Constant Peterson, who is the only female psychoanalyst working at a posh mental Asylum in Vermont, called Green Acres.
Her entire focus revolves around work, and she is well read on all the latest psychiatrist research, which she eagerly quotes with awe, her eyes wide and excited behind her geeky-chic glasses.
She doesn’t have any other interests, nor romance in her life…however, that soon changes.
Dr. Murchison, the hospital director, is being forced into early retirement, and is eagerly awaiting the arrival of the new hospital doctor.
Gregory Peck arrives at the hospital introducing himself as the new hospital director. It only takes one glance between him and Ingrid Bergman’s character and Gregory Peck’s character to fall for each other.
They are quickly involved in a romance that seems um, slightly inappropriate for a director and a doctor working in the same hospital.
Gregory Peck’s character then starts acting strange, and she realizes that he isn’t the man he’s claiming to be.
The suspense begins to rise as he has to go on the run as the Police discover that the director he was claiming to be is mysteriously missing.
Dr. Peterson joins him on the run and enlists one of her professors to help with the amnesia case. The movie sprinkles in a lot of psychoanalysis references and some jokes on the craft, such as goodnight wishes from Dr. Alex Brulov:
“Good night and sweet dreams… which we’ll analyze at breakfast.”
Fun Fact!
The musical instrument that created the eerie musical score in the movie was a theremin.
Although the score won an Oscar, Alfred Hitchcock disliked it, complaining that “it got in the way of his direction!”
Other posts you might like:
Spellbound Ingrid Bergman (1945) – Her Beautiful 1940s Fashion
Ingrid Bergman Hitchcock Movies #2: Notorious 1946
Notorious is one of our favorite spy-romance movies.
Perhaps the best Ingrid Bergman Hitchcock classic, the story is intertwined with subtle nuances and sarcastic one-liners which Ingrid Bergman’s character dishes out just as often as Cary Grant’s character.
In Notorious, Ingrid Bergman plays Alicia Huberman, the daughter of a convicted Nazi. She is enlisted by a US government agent (Cary Grant) as a spy.
She travels to South America to await further instructions on her assignment and proceeds to fall in love with her handsome US handler, Devlin (Cary Grant).
Devlin tries to remain businesslike and aloof, not trusting her, but he efforts are futile as he falls in love with her against his will.
Unfortunately, he then gets word of what Alicia’s assignment is: entrap a top Nazi ringleader Sebastian (Claude Rains) get him to fall for her!
This obviously doesn’t help their own relationship.
Ingrid Bergman’s character Alicia accepts the spy assignment, and Alicia successfully works her way into Sebastian’s life and marries him!
The suspense begins to build as her Nazi husband finds out she’s a spy and he and his mother concoct a plan of their own to get rid of her.
Fun facts:
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According to Alfred Hitchcock, the F.B.I. had him under surveillance for three months because of this movie’s atomic bomb uranium elements. Is just the British director’s overactive imagination at work, or do you think he was really being shadowed?
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Hitchcock’s partner in crime for this movie was Producer David O. Selznick. He suggested Vivien Leigh for the role of Alicia Huberman.
Other posts you might like:
Ingrid Bergman Notorious – Her Classy 1940s Fashion
7 Questions about the Notorious 1946 Movie, and does Alicia Die In Notorious?
Ingrid Bergman Hitchcock Movies #3: Under Capricorn 1949
Under Capricorn 1949 is love triangle costume drama set in 1830’s Sydney Australia.
Although filmed in England, it is supposed to be Colonial Sydney, a frontier town populated with ex-convicts from the British colonies.
We love that this Ingrid Bergman Hitchcock film is in color!
This is another slower-paced Hitchcock movie, that takes its time slowly building out the backdrop on the characters.
If you’re patient enough to watch it, you’ll notice some of the usual brilliant Hitchcock touches–the talented cast, palpable romantic tensions, and of course, suspense.
In Under Capricorn 1949 Ingrid Bergman plays the beautiful and mysterious character Lady Henrietta Flusky.
Lady Henrietta struggles with alcohol and is haunted by a secret from her past.
Her story gradually unfolds through the lens of a young nobleman, Charles Adare (Michael Wilding), visiting from England.
Ingrid Bergman’s character Lady Flusky meets her childhood friend Charles Adare at dinner given by her husband Sam Flusky (Joseph Cotten)
It is here that her strange behavior begins, she drinks too much, and has strange hallucinations.
Charles Adare first befriends and then falls in love with her, as he tries to understand her mysterious behavior, why she married the moody Sam Flusky, and what happened to cause her change from vivacious noblewoman to a drunken recluse, verging on madness.
Hitchcock’s mysterious love triangle brings up questions. How did she end up marrying the moody Sam Flusky, her wealthy family’s groom? Why is he now an ex-convict? Why is their relationship so strained?
Fun fact:
While in the middle of filming an ardent love scene in Under Capricorn 1949, Alfred Hitchcock screeched suddenly in pain, and then calmly said, “Please move the camera a little to the right. You have just run over my foot.” Hitchcock’s big toe was broken by the heavy camera.
This post was all about the three Ingrid Bergman Hitchcock movies: Spellbound 1945, Notorious 1946, and Under Capricorn 1949
What was your favorite Ingrid Bergman Hitchcock movie?
Who is your favorite leading man cast that Hitchcock cast opposite of Ingrid Bergman–Gregory Peck, Cary Grant, Joseph Cotton, or Michael Wilding?
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Last updated: Sep 07, 2024
