Cary Grant and Hitchcock at their best

Two of my favorite talents, Cary Grant and Alfred Hitchcock teamed before in Suspicion. The result was less than satisfactory. Cary Grant proved he could play a menacing character with just a few subtle changes in his established persona. He was still suave, charming, and humorous, but with an eerie touch under the surface. However, a copout ending made the movie less than what it should have been.
Notorious brings them together again, and you can see the growth Cary has made. Devlin from Notorious and Johnny Aysgarth from Suspicion are like two sides of the same coin. While Johnny is a ladies man (and possibly a literal lady killer), Devlin is cold, unfeeling, and one of the good guys. Here, he doesn't use his charm to get what he wants. Throughout most of the movie, charming is the last word to use for him, as he belittles Ingrid Bergman.
I don't want to focus only on Cary Grant, although I feel he is the best thing about this movie. However, Ingrid Bergman is also outstanding as a woman seeking love, who does her patriotic duty to the fullest. An added attraction is Claude Rains, an actor who consistently brought intriguing characters to film.

I would rate this movie as one of Hitchcock's best, after Shadow of a Doubt and Rebecca