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Amazon.co.uk Review
Repeated viewings can't dispel the shock of the final scene in this classic 1941 romantic mystery--a brief but disorienting confrontation that suddenly inverts the heroine's mounting conviction that she's married a murderer, forcing us to reconsider virtually every scene and line of dialogue that's preceded it. It's a masterful coup de grace for director Alfred Hitchcock, who has built a puzzle around the corrosive power of suspicion, threaded with deft ambiguities that toy with dramatic conventions and character archetypes in nearly every frame. As embodied by Joan Fontaine, who nabbed an Oscar in this second outing with the director, Lina McLaidlaw is a buttoned-up, bookish heiress whose prim exterior conceals longings for a more engaged emotional life. Her solution materializes in the darkly handsome Johnnie Aysgarth, a gambler, womaniser, and spendthrift who flirts, then pursues, and soon marries her. As Aysgarth, Cary Grant is both irresistible and sinister, capable of deceit and petty theft, as well as grander designs on his bride's impending fortune.
Lina's passion for Johnnie is clouded by each new revelation about his apparent dishonesty, from clandestine gambling to real estate development schemes; more troubling are clues implicating him in the death of his best friend, and the prospect that Johnnie may be slowly poisoning Lina herself. By the time we see him ascending a darkened staircase with a suspicious glass of milk, an image made all the more indelible through the spectral glow the director captures in the glass, the evidence seems damning indeed. In fact, even as Hitchcock stacks the deck against Johnnie, and takes full advantage of Grant's skill at conveying such menace, the director also dots his landscape with visual clues to Lina's own neurotic (and erotic) obsessions. The final scene forces us to reevaluate her behavior while leaving enough of a cloud over Johnnie to rob him, and us, of a complete exoneration. It's a wicked, unsettling payoff to a brilliantly executed thriller. --Sam Sutherland
Synopsis
Joan Fontaine's fabulous performance as a woman who grows to fear the man she loves anchors this compelling story in which Alfred Hitchcock shows his love for playing with the audience's expectations. Perfectly cast is the dashing Cary Grant, whose lovable and charming persona is on full display while being completely transformed through Hitchcock's eerie camera work and visual innuendo to the point that the simplest gesture takes on a new and malevolent aspect. Suspicion lives up to its title's promise, weaving dread and ambiguity into a potent psychological net. Fontaine is the beautiful daughter of a wealthy, landed English family. Grant is the lighthearted and irreverent wastrel who charms Fontaine into elopement and succeeds in introducing the young woman to the pleasures of a more carefree outlook on life. However, as Fontaine discovers the legacy of Grant's carefree ways--his numerous debts and pursuers--she begins to suspect a darker past and must confront the horrible implications this has for her future.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:VHS Tape
Joan Fontaine was Oscar-nominated as best actress in the previous year for her much better performance opposite Laurence Olivier in "Rebecca", in a role not dissimilar to that in this typical Hitchcock thriller. That she won the Oscar for this portrayal of Cary Grant's wife who anguishes over the possibility that her new husband may be plotting to kill her says as much for the Academy's penchant at the time for sympathy votes as it does for the talented performances which prevented her winning in 1940. In that year, she lost out to Ginger Rogers' magnificent "Kitty Foyle" and was joined in the also-ran stakes by other memorable turns by Katherine Hepburn for "The Philadelphia Story" and Bette Davis in "The Letter". In 1941, she triumphed ahead of Davis's generally-accepted superior performance in "The Little Foxes", Davis herself having already won the prime accolade twice (for "Dangerous" in 1935 and for "Jezebel" three years later). Thus, she becomes a member of that growing band of performers who have received compensation from the Academy for lesser feats in recognition of more worthy and more-critically acclaimed earlier performances. (In recent years, the example of Paul Newman springs to mind, overlooked for his memorable roles in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof", "The Hustler", "Hud", "Cool Hand Luke", "Absence of Malice" and "The Verdict", but finally rewarded in 1986 for a lower-key but still very effectual turn in "The Color of Money".)
What is perhaps particularly annoying about all this is that, good as her performance is in "Suspicion", Fontaine is not the pivotal focus of the film. That honour must go to Grant for a performance which achieves Hitchcock's objective of prolonging in the viewer the feeling of doubt about his true intentions towards Fontaine, right up to the end of the picture, and thereby enabling the viewer to fully appreciate the conflict of emotions felt by her. Grant was always going to be ideal for the role with his ability to deliver any line of dialogue, whatever the content, whether sincere or fraudulent, endearing or menacing, with that same consistent inimitable style - you can never guess what motives, if any, lie behind his facade, and that uncertainty is the very essence of Hitchcock's suspense and the whole picture.
RKO's front-office boys were uneasy with Hitchcock's original ending and he was forced to re-shoot it before release. However, if the revised denouement does appear to be a cop-out (and I suggest that it does so only to those who are aware on viewing the film that the punch-line had been changed), it matters little as the joy of the picture has in any event been fulfilled by that time.
33 of 36 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Sadly the 2007 release is exactly the same as the 2003 DVD -- a (relatively) poor black & white transfer, a pointless colourised version, and no extras.
Much better is the 2004 region 1 US release from Warners, which features an excellent transfer and a 22 minute documentary.
It's a shame Universal UK sees fit to keep on re-releasing the same old transfers (e.g. the current transfer for "Psycho" is the same poor quality one first used for the 1999 DVD release).
Much better is the 2004 region 1 US release from Warners, which features an excellent transfer and a 22 minute documentary.
It's a shame Universal UK sees fit to keep on re-releasing the same old transfers (e.g. the current transfer for "Psycho" is the same poor quality one first used for the 1999 DVD release).
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Some people are inclined to slate 'Suspicion' as a result of the ending, which is often deemed anticlimactic. I beg to differ: the story is solid, the cast is stellar, the suspense is engaging: for fans of Hitchcock, who could ask for anything more?
Without giving too much of the plot away, Lina Laidlaw (Joan Fontaine) marries penniless Cary Grant (Johnny Aysgarth). Various clues from Johnny convince Lina that he is plotting murder, not only of his friends, but of Lina herself. The climax consists of the original "unsteady drive in a car along a steep cliff" and I maintain that from beginning to end, 'Suspicion' is a true nail-biter (especially during the classic scene where Grant serves her an eerie-looking glass of milk that may or may not be poisoned)! Impressive Hitchcock-ian touches are evident throughout the film and in many respects, this classic includes one of, perhaps, the greatest performances of each of the major stars. Joan Fontaine certainly deserved her Oscar for Best Actress and effectively conveys the many emotions she feels during the film and Cary Grant is sleek (as per usual) but brilliantly conjures an smoothly evil air. In short, go for it!
Without giving too much of the plot away, Lina Laidlaw (Joan Fontaine) marries penniless Cary Grant (Johnny Aysgarth). Various clues from Johnny convince Lina that he is plotting murder, not only of his friends, but of Lina herself. The climax consists of the original "unsteady drive in a car along a steep cliff" and I maintain that from beginning to end, 'Suspicion' is a true nail-biter (especially during the classic scene where Grant serves her an eerie-looking glass of milk that may or may not be poisoned)! Impressive Hitchcock-ian touches are evident throughout the film and in many respects, this classic includes one of, perhaps, the greatest performances of each of the major stars. Joan Fontaine certainly deserved her Oscar for Best Actress and effectively conveys the many emotions she feels during the film and Cary Grant is sleek (as per usual) but brilliantly conjures an smoothly evil air. In short, go for it!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Average
One of Hitchcock's lesser works. The film is slow to get going; it's a thriller, but this isn't in evidence for the first half of the film which plays as a rather dull romantic... Read more
Published 5 months ago by David Clarke
What a great bargain!
This is a great deal....4 movies in one box set. All have been remastered and look pretty darn good for their age! Read more
Published 7 months ago by Tinksjane
Two differing halves as Hitchcock blends a winner, of sorts........
Suspicion, unfortunately these days, seems more famous for its debatable ending, well that and the accusation that Joan Fontaine got a pity Oscar after being ignored for the far... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Spike Owen
A Comedy Drama that really works
This is probably one of Hitchcock's best films. Not only is it very suspenseful but it's equally great as a drama and a comedy. Read more
Published 8 months ago by J. Lafferty
great movie
Perfect for a lazy night in, good story line, Cary Grant is elegance itself. The dialogue is quite funny. Read more
Published 8 months ago by anna
Terrible print ruins film
Strongly advise you go for the Region One print of this movie. This version is awful, the colorised version is unwatchable and the black and white washed out and not at all... Read more
Published 14 months ago by Les G. Solomon
Suspicion is suspiciously good!
This movie is the last one in my Hitchcock-Collection and a fantastic addition.
I love the films of Hitch.... Read more
I love the films of Hitch.... Read more
Published 20 months ago by Schwedenfan
Suspicion
Believe it or not this film was my marriage! The building of the tension is fantastic and if you have lived with someone like Cary Grant- it helps people understand how you end up... Read more
Published 23 months ago by Mrs. H. L. Barnes
Great suspense!
A young woman meets a man on a train, falls in love, and marries him all too quickly. Not really having time to get to know him enough, she gets the wrong end of the stick on... Read more
Published on 16 April 2010 by FAMOUS NAME
Hardly suspicious at all!
Lina (Joan Fontaine) and Johnny (Cary Grant), a match made in heaven. Doubt seeps slowly but steadily into the relationship as Johnny gradually sheds his shell, only to reveal... Read more
Published on 26 Dec 2009 by Bart
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