Alfred Hitchcock's Suspicion (1941)

Here’s a new genre for the world, how about a “thrilling romantic comedy” as only Alfred Hitchcock could doit!? And you get the added bonus of seeing Cary Grant in his prime, and an academy award winning performance by Joan Fontaine. They don’t come much better than this.

This is the fourth movie for Hitchcock since coming to Hollywood, and it was his second nomination for an Academy Award direction. He called it his “first British movie made in America”, since all the players were British or British born, the setting is British, and the situations, (aristocracy, fox hunts, country squires, that sort of thing ) all incontrovertibly British.

What makes this movie fascinating is the buildup of tension , anticipation, and fear in a rollercoaster of emotions, with all the devices that Hitchcock uses so well, from music, verbal hints, shady dealings, obscure meanings, focused imagery and symbolism, and above all the performances of Fontaine and Grant to create the aura of, you guessed it-SUSPICION!

HITCHCOCK ELEMENTS

All are present, and all are used to create a perfectly edited masterpiece that will take you in the moment you start to watch it. The very first scene occurs in a train in the dark, as Aysgarth steals into Lina’s train compartment. A very mysterious beginning, that Hitch quickly diffuses with humor.

Franz Waxman wrote the score for Suspicion, and it is perfectly tailored to the movie. It was nominated , bit did not receive an Oscar. Each sequence is enhanced by the small musical phrases that accompany it, and while it sounds a little romantic and slightly overdone by today’s standards, in the context of the movie, it worked quite well. Of more significance, however, are the use of dramatic pauses, and complete silence, for dramatic emphasis. So we have a score that works, and doesn't overwhelm the plot.

Hitchcock’s humor is in abundance in this movie, making it entertaining as well. The most delightful repository of this humor is Nigel Bruce, who plays a friend of Aysgarth, and allows full expression of the fun, where the two romantic characters are deadly serious, all puns intended.

The coalescing imagery for setting the stage for this thriller are set up brilliantly in one scene in particular, as Lina sits in a large room , off center, contemplating the intentions of her husband. The camera moves away from her as the light, shadows, even the design of the furniture create a giant spider web, with our heroine caught in the middle as prey. Even the landscape becomes part of the plot, in traditional Hitchcock fashion.

In another scene, as the suspicion grows, a glass of milk brought by the suspected spouse is highlighted with a bulb inside the glass, making it all the more ominous. These are but a few of the things Hitch does so well.

By the way, of you are waiting for the famous Hitchcock cameo appearance you will have to wait 45 minutes in to the movie to see it.

THE PLOT

Lina McLaidlaw is an only child of propertied country gentry. She has led a sheltered life, reads psychology books for fun, and is not seen as the best prospect for marriage. She is traveling on a train n (returning home, as it turns out) when a handsome young man accidentally wanders into her first class compartment with his third class ticket. His name is Johnnie Aysgarth. He is out of pocket for the change, and shamelessly borrows from the young woman to pay it. She is , incidentally, reading about the sophisticated young Johnny in the society pages.

At a local fox hunt, he sees her again, and is intrigued. She seems more interesting now, and he finagles a meeting with her. He is utterly charming. The first hint of danger is fed to the audience as they take a walk instead of going to church, and he touches her neck, and she responds by struggling. While this is an ominous hint that will set the tone for this story, it gives us some insight into her personality as well.

Laughing he says

“What did you think I was going to do, kill you? Oh I know, you thought I was going to kiss you.”.

He then tells her he sees possibilities in her hair, and for the moment he became “a passionate hairdresser”-and a very endearing scene follows where he messes with her hair, making a mess of it by the way, and coins his nickname for her “Monkeyface”.

This could have been the last meeting of this attractive pair, but she hears her parents talking about her prospects. Her mother describes her as “fairly spinsterish”. She turns and kisses Johnny.

From that moment on the romance flourishes, and she marries him secretly, eloping into the night, knowing her parents would disapprove. They go off on a whirlwind honeymoon, shown cleverly through the luggage labels. But when they get home, there are things Monkeyface just didn’t know about the man she married.

First, he had no money, and expected to live from her allowance. He has even borrowed money for their honeymoon. When the money fails to materialize, he reluctantly agrees to take a job, although he sells family heirlooms, and she finds out he used the money to bet at the track. The disappointment shows on her face.

An old friend, “Beaky” shows up and tells her more about the carefree Johnny, and he is the only person who seems to be a true friend to her husband. But more and more things happen. And just when you think you have pieced it all together, you have not! Is Johnny - this man who remains charming and inscrutable, cold and deceptive, and utterly without a conventional sense of right and wrong-scheming to murder her? You’ll have to see for yourself how things end with Johnny, Monkeyface, and Beaky for that matter. There are many a scare between this point and the end of the story.

THE CAST

Cary Grant-as Johnny Aysgarth- in this movie, the character played is not necessarily the good guy. The entire story depends entirely on the ambiguity Cary Grant can project, and he does it well. He has wonderfully romantic moments, and delightfully sinister moments as well. And as a temper surfaces, he becomes positively frightening. After you see the movie, keep in mind that the ending is not the one that Hitchcock wanted. Another scenario had him going off to join the Royal Air Force, which has no grounding at all in the rest of the story. Grant huffily said this would be his first and last Hitchcock movie, since he felt the female lead was getting all the attention from the director. He obviously had those words for dinner.

Joan Fontaine- as Lina McLaidlaw Aysgarth. Joan Fontaine earned this Osxcar, because the entire plot plays out in her performance. She alternately is trusting and suspicious, frightened and reassured, angry and forgiving, and shows the full extent of her active imagination in her face and in her gestures. She was wonderful, no doubt of it. For my money, she had actually earned the Oscar the year before in Rebecca, but nobody asked me (and couldn’t have since I wasn’t even born). This is not the same character, by any means. A very complex and interesting character.

Cedric Hardwicke-as General McLaidlaw-this character is a minor one, but full homage to the character actor, whose career had started many many years before in silent films. He is stuffy and opinionated -you know, an American’s view of a stuffy country squire.

Nigel Bruce- as Gordon Cochrane “Beaky” Thwaite. This is my favorite character, and the one that keeps this movie from being very depressing. It is an absolutely delightful performance of an endearing character. Too bad that...oops almost told you.

Dame May Whitty as Mrs Martha McLaidlaw-homage to this delightful actress as well, as the proper mother for our sheltered girl, although her part is small.

Isabel Jeans as Mrs Newsham- a small part, again old Hitchcock friends reappear in Hollywood.

Heather Angel as Ethel-the maid. The other comedy break in the drama and romance. It is sometimes necessary to keep the romance from being too mushy. Can’t have too much kissing going on, you know.

Auriol Lee-Isobel Sedbusk, the author who writes murder mysteries. Interesting character, as a friend of the family, she helps, unintentionally to promote the paranoia in Lina, as she discusses ways to murder people without getting caught-on several occasions. Murder mysteries are an interest of our Johnny, it seems. Best line is “I always think of my murderers as heroes."-as does the director.

Reginald Sheffield as Reggie Weatherby-dances with Lina at a ball, where she has given up on Johnny coming.

Leo G. Carrol as Captain George Melbeck. This actor shows up in a lot of movies with Cary Grant, and in Hitchcock movies as well. In this one, he plays the employer who fires Johnny for embezzlement, which, by the way, Johnny never tells his wife. He is a voice for the evil nature of our leading man, and a perfectly respectable one.


FINAL RECOMMENDATION


This movie is only available on VHS, through “Turner Classic Movies”. I would love to have this as a DVD , but the VHS is an excellent edition of the movie, and you won’t be disappointed.
This is a terrific movie, for anyone. But for Hitchcock fans, don’t waste any more time without adding this one to your list of Hitchcock greats.



*****Special note for cable TV usersThis movie will be aired September 25, 12 N EST on TCM channel