Review of Suspicion (1941) by Jeff Q — 15 Jul 2009

This is a tough film to review properly without major spoilers, so I will go through a basic overview followed by a section with spoilers. Don?t worry, you will be warned beforehand.

Suspicion has some fantastic suspense built into the script and Hitchcock knows exactly how to play it. We the viewer bounce back and forth trying to figure out what is really going on between our two lead players, skillfully acted by Joan Fontaine and Cary Grant. If you enjoy romantic dramatics, you would most likely be completely mesmerized with this psychological thriller. I, on the other hand, had some issues with the pacing. I felt the character development could have been handled more exciting without losing any effect. But that problem is more personal preference, but still affects my overall rating. For the most part, Suspicion is a fantastic who-dun-it style film with some great audience point-of-view uniqueness.

** The following contains spoilers **.

I have a major problem with the ending (and so did Hitchcock apparently). The film ends with Cary Grant keeping his gentlemanly appeal and would not show his character the sinister antagonist the entire film built up to be. Suspicion ends completely horribly and fraudulent, turning all the suspense into the protagonist?s hysteria. I haven?t been so disgusted with an ending since watching The Usual Suspects (check out that review for more info). This ending alone drops the film from a probably getting an 8 all the way down to a 4 despite all the other positives about the film.

Here is the list of Hitchcock.

Psycho.

The Lady Vanishes.

Strangers On a Train.

Number 17.

Spellbound.

Shadow of a Doubt.

Vertigo.

The Birds.

Suspicion (Hitchcock?s preferred vision).

Rope.

Notorious.

To Catch a Thief.

The 39 Steps.

Sabotage.

Rear Window.

Frenzy.

North by Northwest.

Suspicion (Studio vision that was produced).

Family Plot.

Saboteur.

Marnie.