And that's exactly why they'd be lousy as "secret agents"—you want someone who doesn't make an entrance and is instantly noticeable. You WANT someone who fades into the wall-paper as a nobody—nobody special, anyway, certainly not someone you'd think as a "special agent."
Which is why one of my favorite secret agents is Cary Grant's Devlin in Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious. Cary Grant? One of the biggest stars ever? (He's number 0000026* on the IMDb list!) He's certainly noticeable! What's up with that?
Well, it's because of the way Grant plays it. We know him as charming, witty, self-effacing and expressive. But, Grant tamps all that down in Notorious, playing Devlin on an eternally even keel. The voice measured, the tone conversational but never expressive, wit becomes irony (lest it provoke a noticeable response), the face blank, a cypher. A man who never calls attention to himself. Even the direction of "Devlin slaps the table with his hand" is light at best, it's hardly a tap—that it exists at all is the only evidence that Devlin is upset, more than that...livid at the task that has been put to him by his "betters."
No, Devlin is a master spy. He turns his back lest he betray his feelings. But, they're there...in the infinitesimal flash of an eye, a quick fire that is quickly doused. It's a great performance of subtlety and discipline from an actor who threw away his usual "bag of tricks" that could be counted on to win an audience to play this most enigmatic of figures.
And talk about discipline. Look at Hecht's dialogue. There's a game going on here. Devlin's lines are all negative—"I don't think" "I don't know" "she has no..." "she's never..." until the morally questionable "Beardsley" turns the tactic back on him with "I don't see why we're arguing about petty things like this..." ripping Devlin's negatives out from under him. Petty things like using a woman as a sexual pawn. Dismissing her because of reputation (which Devlin assumes at the beginning, until he's told of the connection between Huberman and Sebastian). Devlin is left with no replies, other than a lack of objections. "Nothing, sir" is all he can say. Nothing. The ultimate negative.
It's funny, but David O. Selznick, wanting to make a mark on the picture, hired Clifford Odets to re-write Hecht's script over Hitchcock's objections. When it was read, Odets' efforts were tossed (Hecht said of Odets' script "This is really loose crap") and they returned to Hecht's original, more disciplined draft.
The Set-Up: T.R. Devlin (Cary Grant) has been recruited to recruit a fellow traveler, Alicia Huberman (Ingrid Bergman), a socialite drinking to drown her disappointment with her fascist father who is aiding the Nazi's. Her connections might prove useful in information-gathering, but Devlin and Alicia begin a clandestine relationship in more ways than one. So, it's...unnerving to Devlin when he finds out what the "mission" is.
Action.
PRESCOTT: What do you mean you don't think she'd -- You haven't discussed it with her, have you?
DEVLIN:
No, I didn't know what the job was until
this moment.
PRESCOTT:
Well, what do you mean she wouldn't do it?
DEVLIN:
Well, I don't think she's that type of woman.
She strikes me as being rather--
PRESCOTT:
I don't understand your attitude. 
PRESCOTT:
Why do you
think she won't do it?
PRESCOTT: Sebastian usually rides there in the mornings.
So the rest is up to you and Miss Huberman.
Devlin walks out of the room
...while a mildly confused Prescott eyes the CHAMPAGNE BOTTLE that Devlin leaves behind.
Words by Ben Hecht and Alfred Hitchcock
Pictures by Ted Tetzlaff and Alfred Hitchcock
Notorious is available on DVD and Blu-Ray from The Criterion Collection.
Today's scene begins at 25:55
* Quintuple-0 26? Think double-0 7 would be jealous?
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