{"href":"https://api.simplecast.com/oembed?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdont-encourage-us.simplecast.com%2Fepisodes%2Falfred-hitchcocks-notorious-1946-hcwel9Ze","width":444,"version":"1.0","type":"rich","title":"Notorious (1946): Hitchcock's Best Spy Film Is Actually a Romance","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_url":"https://image.simplecastcdn.com/images/ed574ad1-a2e9-4817-b068-309fba6885cb/ecc504ea-b855-4e14-b453-85b00169f8fa/the_dont_encourage_us_show_youtube_thumbnail_2560_x_1440_px.jpg","thumbnail_height":300,"provider_url":"https://simplecast.com","provider_name":"Simplecast","html":"","height":200,"description":"We picked this expecting a spy thriller. It's a romance where the spying is just an obstacle for two emotionally immature people to hurt each other. Cary Grant plays a government agent who recruits the daughter of a convicted Nazi spy to infiltrate a German businessman's inner circle in post-WWII Rio — and then punishes her for doing exactly what he asked. We break down why the three-second kissing rule created cinema's most awkward love scene, how Hitchcock's revolutionary crane shot (from the balcony down to the key in her hand) established a technique every filmmaker now takes for granted, what the 12-year age gap between the leads meant for 1946 audiences vs. now, and why the film's ambiguous ending — does she live or die? — might be Hitchcock saying that emotional cowardice has consequences the hero can't undo. Plus: Archive 81 on Netflix, the Lustoic candle business and what in-person selling teaches you about customer psychology, and why this post-WWII reconstruction period is an untapped goldmine for fiction."}