Suspicion

Composite Score: 83.03

Starring: Cary Grant, Joan Fontaine, Cedric Hardwicke, Nigel Bruce, May Whitty, Isabel Jeans, Heather Angel, Auriol Lee, Reginald Sheffield, and Leo G. Carroll

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Writers: Samson Raphaelson, Joan Harrison, and Alma Reville

Genres: Film-Noir, Mystery, Thriller, Romance

MPAA Rating: Approved

Box Office: $4.50 million worldwide

Why should you Watch This Film?

                Suspicion is an early film-noir from Alfred Hitchcock, loosely based upon the novel Before the Fact by Francis Iles, about an heiress who marries a degenerate gambler and begins to fear that her new husband wants to kill her for her money. It features many of Hitchcock’s standbys – strong female characters, plot twists at the eleventh hour, and commentary on social structures and ills – on its way to becoming its own unique entry into the film-noir canon. The film received Oscar nominations for best score and Best Picture and won Joan Fontaine an Oscar for best lead actress. All told, it’s a solid example of Hitchcock’s filmography and worth checking out.

Why shouldn’t you Watch This Film?

                Suspicion leaves a bit to be desired in its messaging department (or perhaps in its treatment of its leading lady). The film’s premise is that of a wealthy woman who marries for what she thinks is love and then finds might actually have been greed who then spirals into a state of near inconsolable suspicion at everything her husband does only to find that she was not entirely correct by the time it all ends. As it progresses, the story makes for a compelling “men are trash” narrative, offering a commentary of sorts on the societal pressure for women to marry and the lengths that we will go to excuse a man’s behavior if he is good-looking. Unfortunately, the film’s twist leaves most of that commentary by the wayside and ends up making the film into just a simple mystery thriller without any meaningful message other than “love makes you do crazy things.” There’s so much potential for the film to have had much more to say that I feel like this particular finished product leaves a little to be desired.

So wait, why should you Watch This Film?

                Joan Fontaine’s Oscar-winning performance helps sell so much of Suspicion’s story and helps make it a film worth watching. Her power and capability from start to finish in the film helps the audience to buy into her side of the narrative, being pulled into her paranoia about her husband along the way. Her ability to play such a shy character at the film’s start while still coming across as fully in control and worth rooting for speaks to the weight of her performance. She brings to bear so much in simple vocal inflections and facial movements, communicating swathes of emotion and suspicion with very little action – it’s a joy to watch.

                Were it not for the odd taste left by the film’s ending, the story of Suspicion would undoubtedly be considered one of Hitchcock’s best, even if it is one of his most straightforward. Starting with the chance meeting between Lina and Johnnie on the train, the film works to make the audience distrust Clark Gable’s Johnnie while rooting for his success at the same time. The story walks the delicate line between celebrating Lina’s independence from her parents and condemning her foolishness for leaving them for such a questionable gentleman. Introductions of side characters add depth to the story, and the film’s introduction of new details to the plot keeps the audience waiting in anticipation of the seemingly inevitable tragedy or twist coming at the film’s end. Even though that particular ending didn’t land perfectly for me, the set-up is incredibly well-executed and should be applauded.

                Suspicion shines thanks to its leading lady Joan Fontaine and its well-designed story that hooks the audience and keeps them interested and guessing from start to finish, never letting them off their toes in a film that has earned a spot among the greats. Though its conclusion leaves something to be desired, particularly thematically, this particular noir thriller has enough to offer prior to that that most audiences should still be satisfied. This film is currently available to rent on most streaming services if you’d like to check it out.