A Hitchcock staple of proper filmmaking. The story honestly is somewhat forgettable but the tracking shots and cary grant’s performance is not. You also can’t forget the use of the wine bottles in this film due to hitchock’s heavy foreshadowing of the film's climactic finale. The film is classic filmmaking technique and is used in many film schools to teach how to properly block and shoot dialogue sequences as well as establish location, context, and introductions of characters. This film makes great introductions of its characters with one notable sequence happening around a spiral staircase entry to the grand estate and Bergman walking out to the top in this very big crane shot.
I will say I had questioned Ingrid Bergman’s chops as an actress before this film. She did not strike me as particularly good in Casablance but clearly I’m wrong, she is so natural in this role. And Cary Grant is such a gentle contrast to her and works very well in the back and forth tug of war love story between them.
The tracking shots are amazing and the high angle shot that tracks down to the key in Bergman’s hand in one scene exemplifies what you can do with your camera to both deliver plot as well as translate psychological experience by hyper focusing on such a critical detail. You see the language of voyeur and spy and the use of the camera to play with the audience’s attention develop in this film greatly. Hitchcock is very seriously utilizing the camera to direct the audience in this film, especially their attention. It really shows you the potential for camera movement creating a subjective effect going into the 1950's and also how technology is getting better and better at allowing the camera to move in ways it couldn't before. I would say that crane shot from the top of the stairs down to the key in Bergman's hand is a precursor to the giant tracking shot using a crane and a car in Touch of Evil. The trend here is getting the camera all the way around a set and as mobile as possible. To free the camera from the tripod and the dolly and allow it to move like an eagle throughout the scene.
My favorite thing about this film is how Hitchock messed around with the hays code in this film by having multiple two and a half minute kisses in order to get around the restriction on the length of time that characters can kiss. It's quite a funny workaround but the elongated kissing sequence between Cary Grant and Bergman where you have them kiss and then break and then kiss and break again was done to get around time restrictions on how long characters could kiss onscreen and in a way that longer series of kisses is far more sexual than any one single long kiss could ever be.