The Suspect (1945)

The Worst Film Ever

Simply Perfect

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

I finally got to see The Suspect one of the few Charles Laughton films I had not yet seen. I was totally bowled over by what he did in this film. It's really what film acting is all about, every breath, every nuance, every gesture is carefully delineated and brought to the screen. Laughton had a reputation for driving some of his directors a little nuts with his perfectionism and maybe he did to Robert Siodmark here. I prefer to think the two of them collaborated on a masterpiece.The setting is Edwardian London in 1902. From outward appearances Laughton is a happy man, making a good living with a wife and a grown son. But he is married to one shrew of a woman he's put up with for over 20 years. He's ripe for a midlife crisis and ripe to stray. But a friendship he develops with pretty young Ella Raines recently hired at Laughton's office drives wife Rosalind Ivan up a wall. Later on Ivan dies as a result of a fall down the house stairs. Nobody can prove one way or the other whether it was murder. Scotland Yard's Stanley Ridges is up a wall with it.Laughton and Ivan have a couple of neighbors, married couple Henry Daniell and Molly Lamont. When Ridges confides in Daniell during the course of the investigation, he inadvertently sets the stage for tragedy. Daniell himself says he's a 'total rotter' and proves it the audience's satisfaction. The Suspect is one of many films based on the famous Dr. Crippen murder which was also in the same period. The only fault with the film is that the rest of the cast is fairly one dimensional in their characters next to Charles Laughton. But if you are a Laughton fan, this film is an absolute must.

And it was a very good try, too. It had many of the elements of a Hitchcock movie that make them so enjoyable. Plus, this one starred Charles Laughton, one of the best, although I can't picture him working for Hitchcock. I would think there would be the inevitable clash of personalities which would prevent such a matchup."The Suspect" is about a milquetoast married to a shrewish wife who hounds him until decides to take drastic measures. In the meantime, he meets Ella Raines. She is unemployed, he is smitten. (Put two and two together here). The milquetoast is played to perfection by Laughton, and his wife is played in the same manner by Rosalind Ivan.Now comes an UnHitchcock-like development in the person of the Scotland Yard detective, played with an extremely heavy hand by Stanley Ridges. After introducing himself to Laughton, he immediately reenacts a supposed murder scene without even taking off his coat. He continues his seemingly unmotivated investigation for the rest of the picture, culminating in a completely far-fetched and disappointing ending. That said, the picture is completely absorbing, made even more so by Laughton and by a terrific job in support by Henry Daniell, Laughton's alcoholic neighbor. I just think a better ending would have helped this movie to an even better final rating.

Philip Marshall (Charles Laughton) is trapped in a loveless marriage and his wife Cora (Rosalind Ivan) refuses to grant him a divorce. He meets Mary (Ella Raines) and they embark on a romance of friendship before he puts an end to it because of his married status. Meanwhile, Cora has discovered the secret and jumps to a wrong conclusion vowing to humiliate both him and Mary in both their workplaces and their social sets. Cora has an accident and dies. Phillip and Mary are now free to live together but Inspector Huxley (Stanley Ridges) suspects murder.This is an atmospheric thriller where the viewer is in complete sympathy with the suspect. The cast are all very good with the exception of John Marshall (Dean Harens) and his annoying girlfriend. Why has he got an American accent when he is supposed to be English? Anyway, the rest of the cast give their characters real depth so that we dislike those that we are meant to - Rosalind Ivan as Laughton's wife and neighbour Gilbert (Henry Daniell) - and like the main characters of Laughton and Raines.....and you always think "Oh no" whenever Inspector Huxley appears on the scene.......if only he wasn't so inquisitive and determined.........It's a good film and Laughton is both funny and charming - the scenes between him and his wife are very entertaining.

The one great "crime passionale" of British murder cases is the 1910 murder of Cora "Belle Elmore" Crippen, wife of the American born "Dr." Hawley Harvey "Peter" Crippen. The couple had been married from the early 1890s, and moved from the United States to England, settling in London. Crippen was the possessor of a degree from a small medical college in the midwest, but he really was on shaky ground as a physician under British standards (or the standards of a major American city for that matter). In fact, he was a seller of patent medicines, and practiced some opthalmology and dentistry under questionable auspices. But he was a good businessman, and made a comfortable living. Cora had pretensions of being an opera singer, and trained her voice. She did have some performances at various music halls, but her career was mediocre at best. She also treated the long suffering, mild Crippen as dirt, making him clean up her lover's shoes when they slept over at their home. Crippen hired a secretary, Ethel Le Neve, and they fell in love. In January 1910 Belle disappeared. Her friends became concerned, and Crippen told them she had left him. Later he told them that she died in Los Angelas. But when Le Neve was seen wearing her jewelry they became suspicious. Contacting Scotland Yard about their suspicions, the Yard sent Inspector Walter Dew to see what was going on. At first Crippen seemed plausible, but then he and Le Neve fled. The remains of Belle were found in the basement. She had been poisoned. Crippen and Le Neve (disguised as his son) fled by ocean liner to Canada, followed by Dew, who arrested them off Quebec. They were taken back to England, where both were tried. The Doctor partly tied up his defense by insisting on protecting Le Neve. As a result he was found guilty and she was acquitted. The Doctor was hanged in November 1910.A movie was made, with Donald Pleasance as Crippen, and there have been films based on the story such as WE ARE NOT ALONE with Paul Muni. But this film with Charles Laughton is considered the best. Laughton captures the basic decency of the central figure, who made a bad marriage to a shrew, and fell for a decent woman too late. There are differences in the story. Rosalind Ivan (playing the "Belle" character) is not poisoned (like Flora Robson in the Muni film) but dies in an apparent accident falling downstairs. Laughton has a son who one suspects will marry the Le Neve figure after the film ends. And Laughton never even gets to see Canada, but gives himself up in England to save a neighbor suspected of killing her husband (a blackmailer Laughton has killed - another plot innovation not involved in the actual crime). But the film moves well, and one constantly feels for Laughton's character. Finally the fine Stanley Ridges gives a typically good performance as the counterpart of Inspector Walter Dew, who ended up sympathizing with the man whom he captured.