A review by Brooks Rich
In order for me to explain why this film doesn't work for me fully I need to spoil the ending and explain how studio interference ruined what could have been one of Hitchcock's best films. So if you've never seen Suspicion by all means go see it. It still works for the most part and Cary Grant and Joan Fontaine are fantastic together. But if you have seen it or don't mind spoilers, please keep reading.
Joan Fontaine plays Lina, a spinster who becomes infatuated with charming playboy Johnnie Aysgarth, Cary Grant in his first tole for Hitchcock. Grant would go on to star in three other films for Hitchcock, making him one of Hitchcock's most trusted collaborators along with Jimmy Stewart. Lina and Johnnie fall in love and get married but soon Lina grows suspicious of Johnnie and suspects him of trying to kill her.
It's interesting to see Grant play a less than honorable character. Johnnie is at first very much like a lot of the characters he plays but to his credit Grant makes us buy it when we have to be suspicious of Johnnie. Hitchcock also uses subtle ways to hint towards Johnnie trying to kill Lina. For example when Johnnie brings Lina a glass of milk she suspects he's poisoned, Hitchcock lights the glass so our eyes are drawn to it.
With great performances from Grant and Fontaine, the latter of which won best actress for her role in this film, the only Oscar winning performance from a Hitchcock film, this film should be considered one of Hitchcock's classics. It's full of suspense and we're questioning everything Johnnie does right up until the reveal. Sadly someone from the studio stepped in and made Hitchcock go away from the original ending, where Lina is poisoned fatally by Johnnie but has him mail a letter she has written her mother raising concerns about Johnnie trying to kill her. The last shot would have been Johnnie mailing the letter incriminating himself. That's a great bleak ending and I personally feel the film was leading up to something like that. But the studios didn't like the idea of Cary Grant as a killer and so they changed the ending of the film where Johnnie has been suicidal the whole time. The explanation is flimsy and it feels like an ending tacked on by a studio.
I suppose you can argue that Johnnie could be lying and thus the ending is ambiguous. If that helps you enjoy the film more, have at it. But to me it reeks of studio interference ruining a fantastic suspenseful film. I guarantee if Hitchcock had remade Suspicion later in his career when he had more say and power, he would have stuck with that original ending.
In order for me to explain why this film doesn't work for me fully I need to spoil the ending and explain how studio interference ruined what could have been one of Hitchcock's best films. So if you've never seen Suspicion by all means go see it. It still works for the most part and Cary Grant and Joan Fontaine are fantastic together. But if you have seen it or don't mind spoilers, please keep reading.
Joan Fontaine plays Lina, a spinster who becomes infatuated with charming playboy Johnnie Aysgarth, Cary Grant in his first tole for Hitchcock. Grant would go on to star in three other films for Hitchcock, making him one of Hitchcock's most trusted collaborators along with Jimmy Stewart. Lina and Johnnie fall in love and get married but soon Lina grows suspicious of Johnnie and suspects him of trying to kill her.
It's interesting to see Grant play a less than honorable character. Johnnie is at first very much like a lot of the characters he plays but to his credit Grant makes us buy it when we have to be suspicious of Johnnie. Hitchcock also uses subtle ways to hint towards Johnnie trying to kill Lina. For example when Johnnie brings Lina a glass of milk she suspects he's poisoned, Hitchcock lights the glass so our eyes are drawn to it.
With great performances from Grant and Fontaine, the latter of which won best actress for her role in this film, the only Oscar winning performance from a Hitchcock film, this film should be considered one of Hitchcock's classics. It's full of suspense and we're questioning everything Johnnie does right up until the reveal. Sadly someone from the studio stepped in and made Hitchcock go away from the original ending, where Lina is poisoned fatally by Johnnie but has him mail a letter she has written her mother raising concerns about Johnnie trying to kill her. The last shot would have been Johnnie mailing the letter incriminating himself. That's a great bleak ending and I personally feel the film was leading up to something like that. But the studios didn't like the idea of Cary Grant as a killer and so they changed the ending of the film where Johnnie has been suicidal the whole time. The explanation is flimsy and it feels like an ending tacked on by a studio.
I suppose you can argue that Johnnie could be lying and thus the ending is ambiguous. If that helps you enjoy the film more, have at it. But to me it reeks of studio interference ruining a fantastic suspenseful film. I guarantee if Hitchcock had remade Suspicion later in his career when he had more say and power, he would have stuck with that original ending.
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