Review of Suspicion (1941) by Lewis C — 30 Sep 2010

"If you're going to kill someone, do it simply.".

Suspicion is aptly named. In fact, you could say that the entire movie is summed up in the title. In this Hitchcock thriller, the famed director once again tackles the subject of murder. Through a series of suspicious events and her own intuition, Lina (Joan Fontaine) becomes suspicious that her loving but deceitful new husband (Cary Grant) is capable of murder. Will she end up dead as a means to an end to pay off his gambling debts, or will her imagination end up making her unfairly push away her loving husband?

Hitchcock does a good job of keeping the viewer in the dark about Johnnie's true nature until the end, and keeps the movie interesting, as a result. I liked Fontaine and Grant in this, they gave good performances. They didn't surpass their work with Hitchcock in Rebecca and To Catch a Thief, respectively, but I certainly didn't have any complaints. Grant is suitably ambiguous, and Fontaine portrays the see-saw emotions of her character well.

Overall, Suspicion didn't blow me away the way that my favorite Hitchcock movies did, but it was enjoyable. Even middle-tier Hitchcock is worth checking out, in my book.