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| Cary Grant and Joan Fontaine in "Suspicion" Photo Credit: Imdb.com |
During the spring semester of my senior year of college, I was fortunate enough to take a class called “Alfred Hitchcock in America,” where, once a week, we would watch one of his movies, starting from near the beginning of his Hollywood career and working our way forward. Having thought about that class recently and doing these Retro Reviews, I wanted to watch a Hitchcock movie that I haven’t yet seen. There are several of those, but one that popped into my mind was his 1941 psychological thriller, “Suspicion.” While having Hitchcock as a director is enough of a draw, the prospect of watching a suspenseful movie with the pairing of acting icons Joan Fontaine and Cary Grant makes a movie sound even more enticing than it is already.
One day, Lina McLaidlaw (Fontaine) meets the suave playboy Johnnie Aysgarth (Grant) on a train. Some time later, they decide to elope. While their marriage seems pleasant at first, Lina soon begins to suspect that Johnnie may be planning to murder her for her inheritance.
Fontaine, who stared in Hitchcock’s “Rebecca” the year before, delivers a performance that makes you experience the sense of being trapped in a perilous situation from which there doesn’t seem to be a way out. She presents a vulnerability that attaches us to her character, but steadily brings out Lina’s ingenuity as she follows the clues as to who Johnnie is and what he intends to do. There’s a subtle strength to Lina when she formulates her plans to expose her husband, which makes her all of the more engaging because of Fontaine’s character being an ordinary person, a trait that makes her journey both heart-pounding and emotional due to the circumstances into which her quiet life is thrown.
Grant, who would go on to star in Hitchcock’s “Notorious,” “To Catch a Thief,” and “North by Northwest,” is fun and devilish as someone who knows what he wants, but is calm and particular in how he’s going to get it. He has Johnnie always being on his toes to dodge any suspicions that might come his way from Lina, seeming slightly jittery at points, but is quick to pull himself back together. He exhibits his character’s power to make Lina remain in his side to throw her off his trail, having an attitude that can be affable with the perfect shade of understated malevolence, someone who doesn’t seem like he could be a killer, but could have that darkness lurking underneath. This is a concept that’s wonderfully encapsulated in a dinner conversation within the last half hour when several characters discuss a person’s chances of being a killer.
The screenplay by Samson Raphaelson, Joan Harrison, and Alma Reville (Hitchcock’s wife), which is based on Francis Iles’ 1932 novel, “Before the Fact,” does well in playing around with a couple of different genres. The first act plays out like a standard, well-acted romance, one that makes Lina and Johnnie’s relationship seem loving (from Lina’s standpoint, with her still being in the dark about Johnnie’s true intentions). However, given the effectively slow nature of the disclosure of Johnnie’s true self to Lina, the shift that the movie takes into thriller territory works because of that buildup. Once we get into the second act, there’s still more buildup to be had, with the screenwriters not going headlong into giving us thrill after thrill, but rather unsettling us with the calculated nature of Johnnie’s dastardly plans and reassuring us with Lina’s careful thoughts as to how she will escape from danger.
The cinematography by Harry Stradling Sr.’s, who collaborated with Hitchcock on his comedy, “Mr. and Mrs. Smith,” does well in making us feel paranoid about when and where Johnnie will appear. There are several times where Stradling frames a scene in such a way where Johnnie soon steps in, but it’s done in an unexpected way that puts you on edge, and you’re soon placed in the same state of apprehension in which Lina soon finds herself. This is a simple tactic, but it’s effective every time it’s utilized.
Hitchcock has the ability to make anything suspenseful. With this film, as in many of his others, the numerous opportunities that he has had to work with fully developed characters has allowed him to heighten his talents for making simple conversations so filled with suspense. What could begin as seemingly ordinary interactions soon become something more disquieting as Hitchcock cuts between reactions as we see characters catching onto certain things and increasing the tension with their realizations. Other than this, he presents his talent for letting scenes play out for the right amount of length for optimal impact, while also injecting humor here and there before tightening the cord once again. As is the grand Hitchcock tradition, he works his magic to keep you guessing, just as the title of this film suggests.
Grade: A
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