Suspicion

The first time I saw this movie, I was kind of undecided. I had taped an Alfred Hitchcock marathon on TV and I only watched it for the sake of watching another Hitchcock film. The second time though, was in the back seat of a conversion van on a LONG road trip and I had a lot of time on my hands, so the more movies I had to watch, the better.

I thoroughly enjoyed it. Having read about the movie, I knew that the ending wasn't Alfred Hitchcock's first choice, but I thought the final shot was very beautifully filmed, and the ending was ok with me.

Of course, the whole movie is beautifully filmed in brilliant sunlight. I think the only really dark scene is the milk one. However, the theme of a woman suspecting that her husband is a murderer is indeed dark.

The movie is about Lina McLaidlaw (Joan Fontaine) who marries the rascally Johnnie Aysgarth (Cary Grant). She slowly begins to suspect that he is plotting to murder her for money, and it certainly doesn't help when his best friend dies under mysterious circumstances. Fontaine is excellent in her role and she certainly deserved her Oscar.

The movie is really quite entertaining. Many people consider Rebecca or Notorious Hitchcock's best movie of the 40's. I like both films a lot, but something about Suspicion makes it my personal favorite of the decade.

This is a must-see for Hitchcock fans. Full of classic performances and of course, suspensefully directed!

That could have been Cary Grant's most chilling line in his long career.

*SPOILERS*

Except RKO didn't have the courage of its convictions. Having bought the rights to Francis Iles' novel, and despite Hitchcock's insistence on sticking with the original ending, neither preview audiences nor the studio were ready to accept Cary Grant as a murderer. So its present ending was hastily written and shot. It completely subverts all the fine work that's gone before.

Joan Fontaine was a brilliant actress and valiantly, passionately, breathlessly tries to make the shockingly amateurish dialogue in the final scene work -- "Oh, Johnny! You were going to kill yourself instead of me, like the audience and I have thought for the last 90 minutes! Oh, Johnny! It's as much my fault as it is yours! Oh, Johnny! I was only thinking of myself . . . ," etc.

Cary Grant does his best with this final abomination of a climax. "Lina! Lina! How much can one man bear! When you and the audience thought I was in Paris murdering Beaky I was really in Liverpool!" Etc.

Huh?

In other words, this beautifully produced, directed, acted and written psychological suspense thriller turns out to be about a charming lazy n'er-do-well who's sponged and embezzled his way through life, who marries a beautiful but neurotic aristocrat who, from day one, increasingly assumes the worst about her husband -- convincing herself (and us) that he's killed before and now is about to kill her?

"Just kidding," the tacked-on final scene says. "It was all innocent. You eating popcorn out there in the dark, and Lina, should be ashamed for even THINKING such things! Go home now."

It helps, out of self defense, to watch "Suspicion" with the original ending in mind. Yes, the milk is poisoned. Yes Johnny killed Beaky in Paris. Yes, he's a psychopath who lies, cheats, steals and kills. Yes, Lina believed him and loved him deeply -- the only man she's ever loved. Yes, her life is no longer worth living, now that she knows the truth about Johnny. Yes, she rightly suspects that milk is poisoned. So she writes a letter to her mother, telling the truth about Johnny's exploits, and that he is poisoning her as she writes -- and that she intends to die. She seals the letter and gives it to Johnny to mail. She drinks the milk. Johnny leaves and unknowingly drops Lina's letter into a mailbox, thus sealing his fate.

THAT'S a rewarding ending.

It also makes everything that's gone before (including writing, directing, performances and cinematography) plausible. It gives "Suspicion" a reason to exist.

But that's the novel's ending.

The film's "Lina and the audience are just paranoid" ending makes fools out of all the talent on display here. And of us.

Hold mentally to the original ending and you'll love it.

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.

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

Hitchcock's 'Suspicion' starts off as a slow moving silly romantic comedy before switching to a thriller. Hitchcock's style of narrating the story as the events unfold is brilliant as usual. Cary Grant turns on the charm button but it is Joan Fontaine who steals the show. Lina's increasing suspicion, confusion and despair as she discovers Johnnie's deadly secrets are skillfully displayed. Hitchcock maintains the element of suspense and increasing tension very well. However, it is the ending that is a let down and the only reason I can think of why such a closing was chosen was to fulfill the Hollywood 'happy ending' standard. 'Suspicion' could have been an excellent dark thriller had the ending been more plausible and made sense of all the preceding events. Yet, it remains a good job mostly because of the crafted way Hitchcock builds tension throughout the movie.