Suspicion

Cary Grant plays a real creep in this film, a guy who sponges off others and who is allergic to telling the truth. He marries a "spinster" (Joan Fontaine, uh...), the daughter of a wealthy man, but seems to have darker ambitions than simple gold digging. Hitchcock is masterful in building up our dislike of Grant's character over the film, and despite it being a quiet kind of film, he maximizes suspense in several scenes. I loved the little touches like the dinner party with the murder mystery author and her family, and the affable friend "Beaky" played by Nigel Bruce. Unfortunately the ending is just awful, which is a real shame since there were several other possibilities. Half a tick off for that, and frankly the deduction could have been more. Favorite lines: Johnny (Grant): What do you think of me by contrast to your horse? Lina (Fontaine): If I ever got the bit between your teeth, I'd have no trouble in handling you at all. And as a side note, never marry a man who: Sneaks into first-class and when caught, mooches off you (a stranger) to pay for him Constantly calls you monkeyface Touches your ucipital mapilary (I confess I just wanted to say "ucipital mapillary") Brags about having been with 73+ women You don't know diddly about, e.g. what his plans for making a living are Practically chokes on the idea of getting a job, and wants to borrow from others instead You catch lying to you more than once Sells your prized possessions to go gambling (I mean those family heirloom chairs, c'mon) Humiliates you in condescending ways with his buddy Has an excessive interest in your father's wealth Also has an excessive interest in non-traceable poisons ...even if he is Cary Grant.

Joan Fontaine is swept off her feet by the suave Cary Grant. After their marriage, she realizes that her husband is very irresponsible and owes a major gambling debt. It appears that Grant tries to scheme his best friend, Nigel Bruce, out of part of his life savings. Bruce ends up murdered and Fontaine suspects that her husband will try to kill her for the insurance money. This drama drags on to an abrupt and flat finale.

Moviecut—Suspicion

source: Suspicion

I watched this film last night, not knowing what to expect. Hitchcock is my favourite director, yet Suspicion is not treated among his best work. My conclusion from watching the film is that it is very good, but it is not perfect, and not Hitchcock's best. What let it down? Well, a lot of reviews have said so already, but the ending. For me it was abrupt and felt tacked on and somewhat implausible. Then again, StageFright and the Birds both had somewhat abrupt endings. And I know it isn't the fastest paced of his movies, but Torn Curtain's pacing was disappointingly pedestrian. However, Suspicion has a lot to recommend it. The acting is uniformly excellent, with Cary Grant charming and sometimes chilling as the man suspected of trying to murder his wife, and Joan Fontaine, looking gorgeous as ever even better as Lina giving a performance of edge and vulnerability. Out of the supporting performances, Nigel Bruce is simply terrific as Beaky, Leo G Caroll while in a brief role is memorable as the Captain and Cedric Hardwicke who played Frollo in the 1939 film The Hunchback of Notre Dame so memorably is great as the General. The direction is superb, tense when it needs to be and gentle in others and also filled with the fashionable touches that make his very best films great. The film is shot in a very sumptuous visual style, with beautiful black and white cinematography and lovely costumes and sets. The score from Franz Waxman is simply marvellous; the scoring in the scene when Lina writes the letter is enough to give you goosebumps. All in all, not Hitchock's best, but very good all the same. 9/10 Bethany Cox

In earlier comment I speculated on the difference between the ending of the film itself and the novel on which it is based, "Before the Fact", by Francis Iles. According to the eminent film historian David Shipman, the book was about a woman who gradually realises that her husband plans to murder her, but who is so much in love she does not mind. He quotes Hitchcock as saying the inappropriate ending of the film came about because the producers, R.K.O., would have refused to let Cary Grant be a murderer. See David Shipman, "The Story of Cinema" (1984) at p.582.

I have yet to see an American comedy made by Britons, but Hollywood going British was quite within the powers of the US dream machine in 1941. This was the second year of the USA standing aside while the Nazi scourge devoured Europe and smashed up Britain. American bankers and US industry including IBM had backed the Nazi war machine, and Hitler was seen as the man to smash Stalin and Communism. Nazi parties were on the rampage all over the USA, something that conveniently has vanished down the memory hole. So this fantasy English film is set in a stereotyped upper-class world that neither huge box-office star (Joan Fontaine & Cary Grant) properly understood, Fontaine having gone to school in Japan, and Grant having been brought up in US variety music hall. Considering that Britain at the time this film was issued came under concentrated attack by the Nazi empire, it could be considered insulting to Britain, but that hardly mattered to the greed-crazed captains of the US film industry, whose only aims were 1.) to conform and 2.) to make money. They were such idiots that they actually wrecked Hitchcock's creation, obliging him to substitute infantile gratification for the original author's crime-novel ending. Britons were probably far too busy with other things to notice this piece of nonsense, although the industry did drive home the insult with a best-actress Oscar for Joan Fontaine, who for my taste over-emotes lamentably throughout. Forgettable nonsense that still retains a slightly offensive odour about it.

This is one of the least satisfying of all Hitchcock's films. It simply does not hang together as a love story or make sense as a thriller. Cary Grant's rogue is charming and amusing but simply unconvincing as a possible murderer and Joan Fontaine frets, dithers, and whimpers so long and so feebly that no sensible audience would vote to keep her alive past the second reel. In short, the movie simply goes nowhere. This is simply a directionless film with no ending and not much point. The only good thing about it is the fact that it served as practice to allow the master director to sharpen his skills for far better efforts.

Charming and entertaining Hitchcock thriller notable for the genre switch. The film starts out as a romantic comedy, rich girl falls for likeable rogue, but gradually the plot gets darker as Johnnie (Cary Grant) lies and swindles to cover his gambling debts. Eventually Lina (Joan Fontaine) begins to suspect that he is planning to murder her for money.... My only criticism of this film would be the idealised Hollywood version of pastoral English countryside complete with huntsmen, dogs and an eccentric mystery writing spinster. All a little bit too picture-postcard perfect for my taste.

There is no doubt that Alfred Hitchcock was a seriously talented director. Many of his films are undeniable classics that have stood the test of time and are highly watchable to this day. This list could include The 39 Steps, Rear Window, North by Northwest, Dial M for Murder, Vertigo, The Birds, Shadow of a Doubt, and a few other films. However, "Suspicion" is not aging well at all and is really so unwatchable that it seems to me that it was probably a bad film even by 1941 standards. The list of scenes that work well could be listed on a matchbook with a crayon. The script is loose and ridiculous most of the time, but the acting seems so forced and wooden and borderline amateurish throughout, that it is almost unbelievable. Joan Fontaine tries to shore things up but she is on a slippery slope and Cary Grant doesn't provide much assistance. His acting is so bad at times that I have seen better performances in high school plays or college Theatre Experience classes where a Chemical Engineer is acting for the first time with no formal training. After about 30 minutes of watching this film you may find yourself reaching for the DVD sleeve in the dark to see if you accidentally picked up some kind of special edition version that was cobbled together without any editing. The subject matter is serious, yet the film has a silly and trite feel to it that just seems so out of place you become numb with perplexity. "Suspicion" is basically unwatchable and another very very very overrated BAD movie.