At #133, we have another Hitchcock. This is his fifth movie on the list, but his first down here in the dregs (with Vertigo, Psycho, Rear Window, and North by Northwest all up in the top fifty). And it feels like it’s placed about right.

Certainly it’s not as remarkable as any of those big classics. The plot of it is relatively straightforward: Intelligence agent Cary Grant recruits Ingrid Bergman, the daughter of a foreign spy (since it’s 1946, this is a leftover Nazi rather than a Soviet yet), to help him spy on some Germans in Brazil. After a bout of extremely drunk driving, she reluctantly agrees to join him, and they fly down there (and even in 1946, everyone knew that the only way to prove you’re in Brazil is to get some Jesus statue footage).

And so in Brazil, two things happen: 1) Grant and Bergman fall in love, which happens very quickly but is easy to believe because they’re both incredibly attractive and ultra-charismatic, and 2) it becomes clear that the mission the higher-ups want her to do is to basically prostitute herself by becoming this German guy’s girlfriend.

The movie doesn’t shy away from what they’re asking, nor does it shy away from how terrible the mid-twencen was, because once she (reluctantly) agrees to this, those higher-ups all instantly slut shame her behind her back. And it’d be easy to read this as more of Hitchcock’s own misogyny, but the movie itself (and, mostly, Cary Grant’s character) doesn’t do that.

From there, there’s a lot of suspenseful scenes, and it’s not going to be news to anyone that Hitchcock is incredible at that stuff. As a popcorn flick, this is aces. But there aren’t any really big surprises in it, nor are there in the relationship between Grant and Bergman — sure, they have a falling out, but everything progresses predictably from there.

And so ultimately what you end up with is a straightforward Hitchcock suspense thriller without any of the clever reversals or spectacular setpieces of his better movies, but with some top-notch movie stars and with something to say about the way society treats women. I wouldn’t expect many people to pick it as their personal favorite Hitchcock, but I guess I’m not surprised that twenty-odd critics did.