10 Iconic Images From Alfred Hitchcock Films

5. An Unexpected Guest

In Notorious (1946), Cary Grant plays an American agent named Devlin who recruits Alicia Huberman (Ingrid Bergman), the daughter of an accused Nazi Spy, to infiltrate the life of Nazi Alexander Sebastian (Claude Rains). When Devlin is first introduced at Alicia's party, we only see the back of his head and he's in shadow. It creates a sense of mystery and unease about who this man is, as well as showing Devlin's stoic nature, and his ability to just watch. Notice also how Devlin is in the centre of frame and despite other people being around him, he attracts our main focus. One can see this shot's influence in the first James Bond film, 1962's Dr. No, where the first we see of Bond (Sean Connery) is the back of his head at a poker table. Coincidentally, Grant was in consideration for the part of James Bond. Watching his performance in this film, he definitely the dark charisma to pull it off.