Suspicion
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Written by Samson Raphaelson, Joan Harrison and Alma Reville based on the novel Before the Fact by Frances Iles
1941/USA
RKO Radio Pictures
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental
[box] Isobel Sedbusk: Imagine a substance in daily use everywhere. Anyone can lay his hands on it, and within a minute after taking, the victim’s beautifully out of the way. Mind you, it’s undetectable after death.
Lina McLaidlaw Aysgarth: Is whatever it is, painful?[/box]
There’s something about this Hitchcock thriller that doesn’t quite work for me but it’s still worth seeing.
“Plain”, sheltered Lina McLaidlaw (Joan Fontaine) meets dashing playboy Johnnie Aysgarth (Cary Grant) on a train and falls hard. It’s not too long before Johnnie admits his love and they are married, much to the chagrin of Lina’s father. Turns out he had a point as Johnnie is irresponsible, a big spender and gambler, and adverse to gainful employment. He keeps hoping that Lina’s parents will bail them out but nothing doing.
Lina starts catching Johnnie in lies and he withholds vital information about their finances from her. She begins suspecting him of all kinds of things. He hatches a get-rich-quick real estate scheme to be financed by his friend Binky (Nigel Bruce). Then Binky winds up dead and Lina’s paranoia about her own safety escalates to an unbearable level. With Dame May Whitty as Lina’s mother and Cedric Hardwicke as her father.
The source material calls for Lina’s suspicions to come true. But there was no way that could happen with Cary Grant in the lead and the writers were unable to find a satisfying way out of that dilemma. The suspense is somewhat lacking as well. Joan Fontaine did quite well as an English woman without putting on a phony accent. I’m guessing that one of the reasons for her Oscar win was that she was snubbed for Rebecca the previous year, however. My favorite performance in the movie comes from Nigel Bruce as the jolly Binky.
Joan Fontaine won the Oscar for Best Actress for this part. Suspicion was also nominated for Best Picture and Best Music, Score (Franz Waxman).
Trailer