Suspicion (1941)

Better Late Then Never

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

The acting in this movie is really good.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

On the surface, "Suspicion" looks like a film that would be a perfect fit for Hitchcock's directorial touch. It contains two star leads, great opportunities for tremendous acting, and even more possibilities for intense drama/suspense. Unfortunately, Hitch fails to cull all those aspects together in this case, instead producing a middling film with a conclusion that will have you wondering if it was all worth it.For a basic plot summary, "Suspicion" sees debonair gentleman Johnnie (Cary Grant) marry the rather practical Lina (Joan Fontaine). After the fabulous courtship, however, Lina discovers that Johnnie is nowhere near what he seemed at first, and that he may even have some murderous intentions in order to get himself out of debt.The trouble with "Suspicion" is twofold:First, none of the character development ends up leading anywhere. I won't give any major spoilers here, but suffice it to say that in the end, you will be severely disappointed with how the characters turn out. In typical "40's cinema" fashion, emotions turn on a dime with no rhyme or reason and are explained away with a single sentence at the end.Secondly, the "suspense" promised us only comes near the very end of the film, and then is quickly ruined by (again) the cop-out ending. The rest of the run-time is filled with scenes that should be building up the two lead characters, but instead amount to waffling back and forth between "Lina loves Johnnie" and "Lina suspects Johnnie".Put simply, "Suspicion" may have thrilled film fans during its time, but it certainly does not hold up well today. I'll give it 2.5 stars because the acting is quite fine throughout, but other than that there just isn't much to get excited about here.

What can be said to introduce this one. It's yet another smoothly directed, very well acted mystery Hitchcock with a lingering intrigue that baits the viewer from the beginning to the very end. The dialog is great, Cary Grant excellent in his mad-hatter's type role and Joan Fontaine is too beautiful to be described swiftly enough to fit this summary and portrays her worried, eventually tortured character just right.The story holds in one place solidly and coherently but the developments in the plot make this one vary greatly in pace and dynamics. We see just about what's going on in the bigger picture, but there seems to be so much happening behind the curtains - so to speak. The ending, as almost always with this famous director, is of the most expeditious kind. It fits the film, but clearly it is the bulk of the film as a cinematic experience that matters more than its outcome, as seems to be the case so very often with Hitchcock.

Suspicion starts out like a nice romance. You wonder where the typical Hitchcock mystery and intrigue are going to arise from. Cary Grant meets Joan Fontaine and seems to immediately like her. He's charming and very forward and pretty soon she seems to fall for him as well. Still, the whole thing feels a bit rushed and really they don't know each-other that well, which is probably asking for trouble. In real life, I've often found people end up not as perfect or as nice as you thought they were once you get to know them. Cracks start appearing in their personality, little nasty or hypocritical things about them.Well, perhaps Grant's character is not so flawless after all. What's good about the movie is that we can strongly relate to Fontaine's character. She starts to become ever more concerned and frustrated at her husband's behaviour. She comes across as intelligent and perhaps her only weakness is how much she loves him - she may be too forgiving. I can't say much else, but the movie cleverly leads us to feel more and more suspicious without ever revealing anything explicit. We can never be sure, there is always some doubt.Joan Fontaine won an Oscar for her performance (the only ever acting Oscar won for a Hitchcock movie) and perhaps it was also a nod to her acting in Rebecca (1940) the previous year. But she is very good in this film as is Cary Grant. I found Grant funny in a lot of scenes but then started to feel uncomfortable about him. It is a scary situation to be in, feeling afraid of someone but having no solid evidence of misdeeds and having no good excuses to behave any differently from normal. He appears cold at times but we don't necessarily know exactly why.Suspicion reminded me of The Prestige (2006) in that I wanted to discuss it with other people afterwards. It engaged me, put me through some emotional ups and downs and left me feeling a bit confused and unsure. But that can be good. It's not predictable and there is certainly some amount of ambiguity by the end. But because of that, it stays in your mind and you keep pondering it, analysing it.There are parts that are truly haunting and also heart-breaking. The main characters really do appear to be in love. But one of them has bad habits and a tendency to be manipulative at times. Maybe he can't help it and maybe he can change. Maybe it's not worth the trouble for his wife but then can't love conquer all? Her suspicions feel justified but could he really be like that? I think we are much more vulnerable to those we love and to even suspect them of something can cause immense pain. Joan goes through these feelings and so do we.

Alfred Hitchcock's Suspicion is a movie with a great suspenseful mood where Lina Auysgarth (Joan Fontaine) suspects that her husband John (Cary Grant)suspects that he is going to kill her. Though I really liked the story, acting, writing, and directing. My 2 biggest gripes with this movie is a small part of the story which is that Fontaine's character suspects that Grant's character is going to kill him when she visualized him killing Mr. Thwaite she just faints and just jumps to the conclusion that she may be the next target when she isn't. The ending just isn't an original Hitchcock ending because Grant and Fontaine end up happily ever after (really not like other Hitchcock movies). But in the end it is a well done movie with equally wonderful work from the cast and crew to this movie.On average 9.8/10= 98%