Review of Suspicion (1941) by Jenna I — 06 Feb 2018
Hitchcock and I rarely mix to be honest. Short of North By Northwest and The 39 Steps I'm really hard pressed to think of a movie of his I feel is a masterpiece. Suspicion is most definitely a lesser one of his. The ending for one is god awful, though appently Hitchcock claims the studio forced it.
The bigger problem is there's not much momentum because Cary Grant does an excellent job of making himself truly hateable - from the negging "monkey face" shit to the groping, lying and swindling. (Which is a feat because I mean it's Cary Grant, most lovable handsome '40s - '50s man around.) So when things are going down the drain it's like well, yeah. Duh. You just want to shake Joan Fontaine and tell her she's insanely beautiful and deserves to have more confidence. (Fontaine who, by the way, really nails it as the sheltered and timid wife swept off her feet.).
The whole movie just feels sad. It's a sad portrait of a woman in an abusive relationship who doesn't have the strength to leave it. So all of the hitchockian intrigue and 'humor' kind of falls flat around that.
This review of Suspicion (1941) was written by Jenna I on 06 Feb 2018.
Suspicion has generally received very positive reviews.
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