Today's Mood

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There are more reasons than I can count to be excited about finally seeing Alfred Hitckcock's 1948 film (and the most romantic movie ever made, says me) Notorious on a big screen tonight for the first time, thanks to MoMA and their still-running Ingrid Bergman Centennial series. Actually I probably could name a number -- 101, which is how many minutes long the film is. I could even list that many off the top of my head if I wanted to try -- Bergman's drunk drive down the hill; her kiss with Cary Grant that goes on for eons; Claude Rains' tremendous performance as her smitten but evil suitor. But really when it all comes down to it there is one, one good reason to be excited -- there is Leopoldine Konstantin waking up and lighting her cigarette with diabolically fluid panache... and then and only then is there is anything else.