I've been reading through Anthony Lane's collection of writings from the New Yorker lately and I just finished his piece on the work of Alfred Hitchcock. It was a fascinating article that peaked my interest in finally going out to rent some of his films. Sara is a huge fan too and had recently watched "The Man Who Knew Too Much", so naturally I tried to go rent that film. But Blockbuster was out of stock, literally, on that title, and I ended up getting the 1946 smash "Notorious" starring Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman. I loved it.

You'll notice two things right away: 1) Even though the movie is set in Rio, all of it is shot on a Hollywood lot against moving picture backdrops. Kind of disappointing, but if you let it go, it doesn't bother you after awhile. 2) Cary Grant is the man. They don't write dialogue or use leading men like Cary Grant anymore. I was literally stunned at the level of wit his character possesses relative to what passes for normal movie dialogue these days.