Suspense

My God, Bosley Crowther's an idiot. The one thing in this good noir from scenarist Phil Yordan and director Frank Tuttle that the former New York Times critic liked, namely the ice skating stuff, is the one thing in the film that is truly ordinary. Everything else is either better than expected (i.e. Belita's acting) or fairly compelling (i.e. Barry Sullivan and Eugene Palette's performances). And while the film did not, ironically, contain much suspense it had plentiful supplies of darkness and disturbance courtesy of Yordan's terse dialogue and Tuttle's three AM of the soul direction. Indeed, the general Woolrichian look and feel of the film has caused me to want to view more of this unknown director's work (only film of his that I can recall viewing is "This Gun For Hire" with Ladd/Lake, which I also liked). Give it a B.

PS...Wonder why Barry Sullivan never made it (in movies, that is) while less talented contemporaries with the same look, like Stack, Mature and Wilde, did?

1946's "Suspense" was another step toward respectability for Poverty Row's Monogram Pictures, soon upgrading its higher budgeted films with the new Allied Artists emblem. Moving up the Hollywood ladder (his eighth feature), Barry Sullivan is well suited for the part of sleazeball Joe Morgan, who lucks into a managerial position for an ice show run by Frank Leonard (Albert Dekker), starring Leonard's beautiful wife Roberta (top billed Belita). Morgan immediately takes an interest in Mrs. Leonard, and when her husband finds out, tries to shoot his rival in the snow covered mountains of the High Sierras, resulting in an avalanche that seemingly buries Mr. Leonard. Although seemingly widowed, Roberta is reluctant to continue the ice show, convinced that Frank may not have died after all (only his cap and gun were found in the snow). Belita, whose career was unfortunately brief, proves herself a capable actress, and would again co-star opposite Barry Sullivan in a similar title, "The Gangster." Eugene Palette completed a Western for Republic ("In Old Sacramento") before retiring from Hollywood, while former Nancy Drew Bonita Granville threw in the towel after six more films, confining herself to television thereafter, going on to produce the popular LASSIE series ('Bonita' is Spanish for 'beautiful'). Other familiar faces abound- George E. Stone, Leon Belasco, Nestor Paiva, George Chandler, Byron Foulger, and 7 year old Billy Gray ("The Day the Earth Stood Still," FATHER KNOWS BEST), in one of his earliest roles. Definitely a noir, occasionally slowed by its numerous (if well done) skating scenes and romantic entanglements, a curious non horror title to appear four times on Pittsburgh's Chiller Theater: Mar 14 1970 (followed by 1969's "It's Alive!"), May 8 1971 (followed by 1967's "Those Fantastic Flying Fools"), Apr 22 1972 (preceded by 1965's "The Eye Creatures"), and May 18 1974 (followed by 1965's "Night Caller from Outer Space").

A very trippy film noir.

Noiristas, make this a must because it has an inventive approach to it's noir story. Plenty of ice skating, rumba music and lions. The leading lady, Belita, is a treat. Barry Sullivan is superb. My favorite Sullivan performance.

Director Frank Tuttle and his cinematographer Karl Struss provide plenty of visual panache to make up for writer Philip Yordan's so-so script.

Yordan does deliver plenty of great noir lines for the actors to chew on.

I've seen Suspense three times now and appreciate it a little more each time. It's weird. I'm recommending a freaking ice skating noir.

Monogram threw some money at this one and produced a nifty noir starring Belita, Barry Sullivan, Bonita Granville, Albert Dekker, and Eugene Palette called "Suspense," a 1946 film directed by Frank Tuttle.

Figure skater Belita plays Roberta, whose skating show is produced by her husband Frank (Dekker). Frank hires down and out Joe Morgan (Sullivan) to sell peanuts, and Joe starts working his way up to more important things, such as falling for Roberta. Frank catches on and, while he and Roberta are relaxing at their lodge, Joe drops in with papers to sign. Frank has him stay the night. The next day, Frank takes a hunting gun and intends to kill Joe, but the gun report starts an avalanche, and Frank is presumed dead. Presumed...but is he? Joe keeps Roberta's shows going after a fashion, all the while rejecting an old girlfriend (Granville) who has the hots for him. She doesn't like his attitude, and wants to know why he left New York in such a rush.

A few minutes shaved off of this film might have helped the pace, which is stopped cold every once in a while by a big skating number, several of which (particularly the first) are really wonderful. Belita of course never had the popularity of Sonia Henie - at the age of 12, she placed 16th at the 1936 Olympics, one of Henie's gold medal years. Belita didn't stay an amateur long and eventually entered films as poverty row's answer to Sonia. Strangely, Belita, with her background in Russian ballet, comes off as more modern and frankly a more exciting skater than Henie. Her lines are gorgeous and she enters her spins faster.

There are some interesting shots in this film, particularly the technique of the overhead light swinging back and forth, taking Sullivan and Belita in and out of the light as they are talking.

Highly entertaining with a good performances by the always solid Sullivan and the imposing Dekker. This was Eugene Palette's final film, as he retired after this. It's a fitting ending - he does a great job as Frank's and then Joe's assistant. It's really a good cast, very un-Monogram like, as were the production values.

Great entertainment. If you like film noir and figure skating, this is the film for you.

It's hard living up to such a broad yet existential title as SUSPENSE; but the very beginning does it perfectly... albeit lasting only several seconds as an armed woman, flanked by two goons, aims her pistol at a ratty-looking fella, and then fires... hitting a target and winning the teddy bear prize, handed over by her "victim" working the stand...

Who then gives homeless-looking loser Barry Sullivan's Joe Morgan directions to an ice skating rink/auditorium... and what follows are the best sequences as Sullivan talks his way from being a popcorn vendor to security guard to practically running the show by making it more dangerous and thus... suspenseful...

Of course being a Noir he soon falls head-over-heels for a taken woman, and that's where real life ice skating champ Belita, married to the always-menacing Albert Dekker, comes in... she's the showcase star and he's the wealthy, enigmatic owner... and we eventually learn that Sullivan's quick climb was for reasons other than his fast-talking charm...

A shame since his character needed more spontaneous con artistry since, once he and Belita realize they're both equally smitten with each other... despite her husband's deadly intentions and a shady dame from the past (Bonita Gransville)... SUSPENSE, directed by THIS GUN FOR HIRE Frank Tuttle, in becoming a full-blown sport-propaganda/romantic melodrama, leaves those initial crime-genre origins on ice.