Suspicion

Suspicion (1941)

Runtime: 99 minutes

Directed by: Yes, another movie from Hitchcock

Starring: Cary Grant, Joan Fontaine, Cedric Hardwicke, Nigel Bruce, Dame May Whitty

From: RKO

Pro tip: never trust a loved one who constantly refers to you as “monkey face.”

As I continue on my marathon of reviewing Alfred Hitchcock films-who knows how many more days it will last-my opinion on this first time watch won't be as blasphemous as my take on Vertigo. The movie is pretty good although either the movie studio or “the production code”-I've heard both-necessitating a change in the story hampered the plot (an outside entity negatively impacting a motion picture and the director's intent? The more things change...) and in another case of history not changing, Joan Fontaine is said to have won an Oscar for her role here as atonement for her role in Rebecca not earning an Oscar the previous year... yes, the Academy Awards did such things even 80 years ago!

That is not to slight Fontaine in this movie-I've never seen Rebecca and she totally carried Suspicion. Cary Grant is usually pretty solid but here he either decided and/or was lead to play his role as totally obvious and one-note... from the beginning this “charming playboy” was totally a phony, a goof that the lead girl mainly falls for due to circumstance and wanting to break her “spinster” image. Old Joan was totally the highlight of the film.

Sure, the movie has a plot that never was boring, had some laughs before it got serious, and BEAKY was a character I dug due to his nickname and his jovial nature. But it was Fontaine who held everything together. As she learned more about her man's misfortunes and lies, her heart is broken and when she spots clues which seem to suggest that he wants to murder her for the insurance money... as typical it was a solid job of direction from Hitch. The aforementioned change from what Sir Alfred wanted to do is only a small part of the story, although it definitely changes the denouement and that is unfortunate. In any case, this shouldn't be viewed before his many classics yet it does have worthwhile elements and was at least an entertaining noir.