Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Distributor: RKO Radio Pictures
Top Billed Actors: Cary Grant, Joan Fontaine, Cedric Hardwicke
Won 1 Oscar:
Best Actress - Joan Fontaine
Nominated for 2 more:
Outstanding Motion Picture - RKO Radio
Best Scoring of a Dramatic Picture - Franz Waxman
Plot: A romantically inexperienced heiress falls for a man child susceptible to getting into debt and suspects him of impending wrongdoing.
Distributor: RKO Radio Pictures
Top Billed Actors: Cary Grant, Joan Fontaine, Cedric Hardwicke
Won 1 Oscar:
Best Actress - Joan Fontaine
Nominated for 2 more:
Outstanding Motion Picture - RKO Radio
Best Scoring of a Dramatic Picture - Franz Waxman
Plot: A romantically inexperienced heiress falls for a man child susceptible to getting into debt and suspects him of impending wrongdoing.
We close out 1941 with Alfred Hitchcock's Suspicion (1941), an adaptation of a psychological thriller novel. Just in the past two years, we've seen three Hitchcock films get nominated for Best Picture with one of those winning the top prize. Sadly, this is his penultimate film to be nominated for the top award and Joan Fontaine is the only Hitchcock-directed performance to win an Oscar. Fontaine overcame a slew of veterans in the first year that there were no first-time nominees in a category. Also an Academy first is that two siblings were head-to-head in a category as Fontaine beat out her sister's nomination (Olivia de Havilland). Pundits would speculate that Fontaine's win was, like James Stewart's win the year prior, really for a performance from the past. I will say that her performance in Rebecca (1940) has the edge over her performance here but we are talking about four other nominees and I am of the opinion that the race at the 13th Awards was much more intense than the 14th. Cary Grant is said to have been crabby about Fontaine's nomination and eventual win as well as her "preferential treatment" on the set. Any ill feelings between Grant and Hitchcock would later subside as he starred in three of his future pictures.
I am mixed on the adaptation of the novel overall. I will get into what doesn't work for me in the next paragraph but I will commend the sense of suspense that is felt throughout. A lot of that has to do with Fontaine's performance but I also have to acknowledge how this plays out like a novel, with scraps of details adding up over time. Because this is a Hitchcock film, I kept waiting for some wrongdoing or at least suggestions of ill will, but the movie is mostly reserved in this perspective. It seems like a majority of the picture is the accumulation of these details so the suspense and Fontaine casting aversions late in the story works. I enjoy seeing everything from her limited point of view so we could guess along with her whenever Grant and his jolly buddy ever wandered into her sitting room. The film also looks wonderful as well. It's not as dark and foreboding as Rebecca but there are a few moments, in addition to an overall shadowy lighting design, that pop out. There's a kiss between Grant and Fontaine in which the camera swivels from one side of the pair 180 degrees to the other side in a half-circle motion. 180 degree rule be damned, that was cool. The other moment that sticks out to me is when the milk is lit up in the dark. This milk plays a huge role in the story wrapping up and seeing it shine in the dim-lit hallway is such a great touch.
That glass of milk would have made an excellent ending to the film. Granted, there is an overall sense of ambiguity that I appreciate in a Hitchcock thriller-turned-mystery, but ending it like the novel would have been more ideal. I won't get into the specifics for fear of spoiling the story, but I just can't accept the real ending at face value. Hitchcock is said to have regretted this and his hands may have been tied, but I'm also not in love with the characterization of Grant's Johnnie leading up to this muddled ending. Apparently, there was a lot of pushback from the studio claiming they did not want to see a leading man such as Grant acting too dastardly. There is one moment that he flares up and yells at Fontaine but if there was more of that, I could have gotten behind her suspicions all the more. Instead, Grant never elevates above a bumbling playboy for me and any sinister notes were diluted.
Overall, a finely crafted adaptation with plenty of suspenseful moments due to a suitable performance from Joan Fontaine, moody cinematography, and a keen attention to details doesn't quite stick the landing.
My Score: 7/10
I am mixed on the adaptation of the novel overall. I will get into what doesn't work for me in the next paragraph but I will commend the sense of suspense that is felt throughout. A lot of that has to do with Fontaine's performance but I also have to acknowledge how this plays out like a novel, with scraps of details adding up over time. Because this is a Hitchcock film, I kept waiting for some wrongdoing or at least suggestions of ill will, but the movie is mostly reserved in this perspective. It seems like a majority of the picture is the accumulation of these details so the suspense and Fontaine casting aversions late in the story works. I enjoy seeing everything from her limited point of view so we could guess along with her whenever Grant and his jolly buddy ever wandered into her sitting room. The film also looks wonderful as well. It's not as dark and foreboding as Rebecca but there are a few moments, in addition to an overall shadowy lighting design, that pop out. There's a kiss between Grant and Fontaine in which the camera swivels from one side of the pair 180 degrees to the other side in a half-circle motion. 180 degree rule be damned, that was cool. The other moment that sticks out to me is when the milk is lit up in the dark. This milk plays a huge role in the story wrapping up and seeing it shine in the dim-lit hallway is such a great touch.
That glass of milk would have made an excellent ending to the film. Granted, there is an overall sense of ambiguity that I appreciate in a Hitchcock thriller-turned-mystery, but ending it like the novel would have been more ideal. I won't get into the specifics for fear of spoiling the story, but I just can't accept the real ending at face value. Hitchcock is said to have regretted this and his hands may have been tied, but I'm also not in love with the characterization of Grant's Johnnie leading up to this muddled ending. Apparently, there was a lot of pushback from the studio claiming they did not want to see a leading man such as Grant acting too dastardly. There is one moment that he flares up and yells at Fontaine but if there was more of that, I could have gotten behind her suspicions all the more. Instead, Grant never elevates above a bumbling playboy for me and any sinister notes were diluted.
Overall, a finely crafted adaptation with plenty of suspenseful moments due to a suitable performance from Joan Fontaine, moody cinematography, and a keen attention to details doesn't quite stick the landing.
My Score: 7/10