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RAINER MARIA KOEPPL–ALFRED HITCHCOCK AND JOHN WAYNE
magnificent. Alicia’s world has been turned upside down. Devlin, who originally
pretended to be her lover is, in reality, a secret agent.
Alicia has had too much to drink, her head is spinning. Once again we have the
impression that Hitchcock really enjoys showing us how badly his leading lady is
suffering. The camera shows us Alicia’s point of view. While Devlin approaches her, the
camera twists until his figure is upside down, as if he were hovering over her.
The dialogue is held on the same aesthetic level as the camera. Alicia asks the FBI
agent Devlin, who appears to her in this unusual perspective: “What’s your angle?” A great
word pun which also means “what is your role in all of this and what are you planning to
do with me?”
Finally Devlin tells her the truth and offers her a job (since Devlin has now
become righteous, Hitchcock finally shows him right side up.):
Devlin: “[…] I’ve got a job for you. My department authorized me to engage you to do some work for us,
it’s a job in Brasil.”
Alicia: “Oh, go away. The whole thing bores me.”
Devlin: “Some of the German gentry, who were paying your father, are working in Rio. Ever hear of the
I.G. Farben Industries?”
Alicia: “I tell you, I’m not interested.”
Devlin: “Farben has men in South America planted there before the war. We’re cooperating with the
Brasilian government to smoke them out. My chief thinks that the daughter of a, uh…”
Alicia: “…of a traitor?”
Devlin: “Well he thinks, you might be valuable in the work. […]”
Alicia: “Why should I?”
Devlin: “Patriotism!”
The dialogue in this scene is not only well written, it is also historically,
geographically and politically precise:
1. The I.G. Farben Industries was actually the huge German chemical
company (Hoechst, Bayer, Agfa, BASF) that cooperated hand in
hand with the Nazis in order to supply the German Army with
everything from the fuel for the army tanks, to the Zyklon-B gas
which was used to kill the Jews in the concentration camps.
2. The foreign branches of I.G. Farben served as ideological centers
for political propaganda and secret service work for Nazi Germany
during, as well as before, the war.
3. One of the most important foreign branches of I.G. Farben was
located in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Alicia is not prepared to betray her own father. However the FBI has listened in
on conversations between Alicia and John Huberman. From these conversations it
becomes clear that Alicia hates her father, his political views and his fellow conspirators.
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