Review #420: 'Suspicion' (1941)

Cocky and handsome playboy Johnnie Aysgarth (Cary Grant) romances the timid Linda (Joan Fontaine) and eventually convinces her to marry him. Her father, the wealthy General McLaidlaw (Cedric Hardwicke), strongly disapproves but cannot stop the two embarking on a very expensive honeymoon, and buying an extravagant home. It is at this point that Johnnie admits he is completely broke, and has numerous gambling debts, and was hoping that Linda's inheritance will eventually sort out their problems. After Johnnie accepts a job working for his cousin, two of Linda's valuable family heirlooms go missing, and the lies and suspicious activities start to build up.

Based on the 1932 novel Before the Fact by Frances Iles, Alfred Hitchcock's thriller is notable for the casting of heart-throb and screwball comedy regular Cary Grant as a possible homicidal maniac and compulsive con-man. The man with the longest arms in cinema gives one of his most memorable performances here, morphing himself into an irresponsible, childish and spoilt degenerate with apparent ease. Joan Fontaine won the Oscar for Best Actress (the only one for an actor working under Hitchcock), but Grant has remained strangely unrecognised, perhaps for the attitudes and behaviours of his character. 

There were stories of a studio fallout during the making of this film, with RKO concerned with the fact that Suspicion may ruin Cary Grant's heroic image, and this led to major changes having to be made from the book-to-screen adaptation, and this is the film's main problem. For such a great build-up, the climax and the big unravelling is just a big let-down, with the studio's influence as clear as day. It also slightly beggars belief how much Linda's character takes from her slimy husband, whether he is a potential murderer or not. She is truly an old-fashioned female character, standing by her husband no matter what, as boys will be boys regardless. As handsome and charming as Johnnie is, it is hard to take watching Linda forgive him almost instantly as he reveals he was hoping her vast future fortune will solve his own problems. 

Yet this is still a nicely played thriller, with Hitchcock's usual big set-pieces making way for something much more low-key. It has the same kind of money-focused, pulpy feel that the Coen brother's have come to perfect in the last twenty years or so, and would not seem out of place in a Southern gothic setting. Like most Hitchcock films, Suspicion is effortlessly watchable, but it is a shame that Hitchcock was still yet to become the colossal figure in cinema that would have seen him have complete artistic control over the film, and would have no doubt led to a much more satisfying experience. 

Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock

Starring: Cary Grant, Joan Fontaine, Nigel Bruce, Cedric Hardwicke

Country: USA

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie