Suspicion

Plot synopsis:
Lina McLaidlaw (Joan Fontaine) is a prim, proper English lady, and Johnnie Aysgarth (Cary Grant) is a suave, charming playboy. They're as surprised as anyone when they fall madly in love with each other, but since Lina's stuffy parents would never approve of her romance with a cad like Aysgarth, she must elope. Setting up a lovely home after a whirlwind honeymoon on the Continent, Lina begins to see another side of Johnnie; his charm and bonhomie hide the fact that he's not only broke, but a very accomplished liar.Worried about their future, Lina presses Johnnie to find employment, and when he comes home one day showering expensive gifts on her, she believes his story of working for an obscure cousin, managing his estates. Dropping in one day at the office of this cousin, Lina is shocked to find that Johnnie was discharged weeks ago, and is told that she need not worry, as his former employee will not prosecute, at least not at this time.Johnnie always manages to allay Lina's fears with his charm, but she trusts him less and less. One of his old school chums, 'Beaky' Thwaite (Nigel Bruce) has dropped in for a long visit, and Lina begins to suspect the the two of them are cooking up some scheme to cover Johnnie's gambling debts. Beaky has money but little business sense, while Johnnie is always thinking about making money without actually working for it. They have a plan to buy some rocky coastline property and develop a seaside resort, but Johnnie changes his mind at the last minute, so he and Beaky must go to London to dissolve their business arrangement.Lina's suspicions get the better of her as she imagines Beaky meeting an untimely death on the dangerous road along the coast. Johnnie has been reading lots of murder mysteries, intrigued with the techniques of poisoning someone without leaving a trace. When the police come calling a day later, she learns that Beaky has indeed died mysteriously, and when Johnnie returns she finds she can no longer trust him. She cannot even stay in the same room at night with him, and when he brings a simple glass of milk to her before bed, Lina is filled with dread. She fears that Johnnie now plots to poison her, and collect the money from her life insurance.Trying to get away while she still can, she tells Johnnie she must visit her Mother. Johnnie is angry with her, but insists on driving her down the same dangerous coastal road, lined with its jagged cliffs.They speed along, Johnnie drives faster and faster, skirting the edge of the cliff, and veering at the last second down a "shortcut". Lina can only ride along in terror of what Johnnie has planned.As he swerves around a curve, Lina's door falls open and she nearly tumbles out over the edge of the cliff. Screaming, she clings to the car, as Johnnie's hand reaches over. Siezed with terror, she tries to avoid being pushed out, but he lunges at her, and at the last instant pulls her back into the car.Skidding to a stop, he demands to know what's gotten into her. "How much can a man stand?" he asks. Gradually, understanding comes over her, and as Johnnie explains, she realizes that he had nothing to do with Beaky's death, and that his fascination with poison is centered on himself. He meant to commit suicide rather than face his insurmountable debts, and spare his beloved Lina the shame of seeing him in prison. Clinging to him, she vows that they will face the future together, and they turn the car around for home.

Tags: romantic, murder

Review:
The movie gets quite a lot out of a relatively simple plot.Joan Fontaine gives an excellent performance as Lina, a quiet young woman who finds herself swept away by, and suddenly married to, the charming but irresponsible Johnnie, played by Cary Grant.
Not everyone likes the way that it all ends, but it is worth seeing and deciding for yourself what you think about it.The rest of the cast have mostly limited roles, but give good performances that add to the portrayal of the main characters.
Especially good is Nigel Bruce, who provides a few lighter moments as one of Johnnie's old cronies.While lacking the complexity and excitement of Hitchcock's best pictures, "Suspicion" is still a good example of his ability to keep the audience in lasting suspense.
Having bought the rights to Francis Iles' novel, and despite Hitchcock's insistence on sticking with the original ending, neither preview audiences nor the studio were ready to accept Cary Grant as a murderer.
When you and the audience thought I was in Paris murdering Beaky I was really in Liverpool!" Etc.Huh?In other words, this beautifully produced, directed, acted and written psychological suspense thriller turns out to be about a charming lazy n'er-do-well who's sponged and embezzled his way through life, who marries a beautiful but neurotic aristocrat who, from day one, increasingly assumes the worst about her husband -- convincing herself (and us) that he's killed before and now is about to kill her?"Just kidding," the tacked-on final scene says.
Cary Grant (Johnnie Aysgarth) was 37 when this was released and perhaps at the pinnacle of his sexual charm (but not at the pinnacle of his career by a long shot); and Joan Fontaine (Lina Aysgarth--not "Linda," as the video jacket mistakenly has it), 24, was fresh from her very fine performance in Rebecca (1940) alongside Laurence Olivier, also directed by Alfred Hitchcock, for which he garnered his only Best Picture Oscar.
What is apparent is that Hitchcock had one ending in mind and then had to change it and wasn't able to redo some of the earlier scenes that worked better with the old ending.At any rate, Joan Fontaine is very good, lovely, graceful and focused.
What they wanted here was Cary Grant and Joan Fontaine together romantically with some mystery and doubt along the way.(Note: Over 500 of my movie reviews are now available in my book "Cut to the Chaise Lounge or I Can't Believe I Swallowed the Remote!" Get it at Amazon!).
However, the theme of a woman suspecting that her husband is a murderer is indeed dark.The movie is about Lina McLaidlaw (Joan Fontaine) who marries the rascally Johnnie Aysgarth (Cary Grant).
Charming and entertaining Hitchcock thriller notable for the genre switch.The film starts out as a romantic comedy, rich girl falls for likeable rogue, but gradually the plot gets darker as Johnnie (Cary Grant) lies and swindles to cover his gambling debts.
Eventually Lina (Joan Fontaine) begins to suspect that he is planning to murder her for money....My only criticism of this film would be the idealised Hollywood version of pastoral English countryside complete with huntsmen, dogs and an eccentric mystery writing spinster.
His acting is so bad at times that I have seen better performances in high school plays or college Theatre Experience classes where a Chemical Engineer is acting for the first time with no formal training.After about 30 minutes of watching this film you may find yourself reaching for the DVD sleeve in the dark to see if you accidentally picked up some kind of special edition version that was cobbled together without any editing.The subject matter is serious, yet the film has a silly and trite feel to it that just seems so out of place you become numb with perplexity."Suspicion" is basically unwatchable and another very very very overrated BAD movie..
In Suspicion, it only makes me wish I were watching another Hitchcock film.Suspicion is about a bashful and unrealistically fragile young woman, played with unseemly melodrama by the otherwise incredibly graceful Joan Fontaine, who marries an enchanting gentleman, only to increasingly suspect him of attempting to kill her.
The film gets better after Grant stops behaving like a buffoon and there are some nice Hitchcock touches, such as the classic scene with the glass of milk, but it is not enough to save this from mediocrity..
But to Hitch didn't like the film for the cutting out the ending, due to production's insistence to retain the sympathetic image Gary Grant, the most attractive of all Hollywood actors ; however Hitch will let ultimately to remake his movie .The motion picture is based on a novel titled : ¨Before the fact¨ and screen written by his familiar brain trust, his wife Alma Reville and Joan Harrison.
-- Besides, didn't Cary prove that your money is not at the root of his love when he married you anyway even after your father cut off your inheritance because of his suspicions of Johnny.Joan Fontaine deserved her Oscar in the film's central role.
"Suspicion" is a classically Hitchcockian film, with Joan Fontaine as a woman who marries a charming scoundrel, played by Cary Grant, who she begins to think might kill for money.
As good as Fontaine is in the role, and she probably is the best thing the film has to offer, the character of Lina never works completely.
Joan Fontaine, star of Hitchcock's previous movie 'Rebecca', is wonderful as Lina ("monkeyface") the woman he woos.
Joan Fontaine won a curious Best Actress Oscar as the increasingly-nervous wife, while Cary Grant (in his gorgeous glory years) works seriously to make the disreputable lout of a husband into a charming cad.
Although this movie features a fabulous cast, including Joan Fontaine, who won an Oscar for her role as Lina Aysgarth, I think it's Cary Grant who steals the show in "Suspicion."  Grant is magnificent as Johnnie Aysgarth, an irresponsible yet dashing scoundrel.
=)Masterfully directed by Alfred Hitchcock, this movie belongs on a top ten list of Cary Grant's best films.
This is unique in films of Hitchcock's that I've seen, in that I didn't really enjoy it.In fact, I actually found this quite predictable and annoying.Cary Grant and Joan Fontaine are a newly married couple.
He's the kind of "lovable rogue" character that you've seen in many films, without ever being lovable as far as I am concerned!In fact, it was a barely believable relationship at best, and at times seemed particularly false and implausible.Unable to hold down a job and trying to live an opulent lifestyle, Grant is led to borrow money that he cannot pay back.Fontaine is convinced that he is trying to kill her in order to get the money she is insured for; and presumably what her late father was worth.Average and rather uninteresting all round actually, but as usual you can see the influence on films that have come at a later date..
When two detectives come to their house to investigate the mysterious death of Beaky in Paris, Lina believes Johnny is the murderer and she will be his next victim."Suspicion" is another delightful movie from Alfred Hitchcock, supported by an intriguing and ambiguous plot and wonderful performances of Joan Fontaine, Cary Grant and Nigel Bruce.
The real treat though is seeing character actor Nigel Bruce (who had a small role Hitchcock's Rebecca) in a slightly larger part as Cary Grant's bumbling best friend Beaky.
From my personal point of view it is one of the British Director more subvalorated films This movie was important for Cary Grant, he won  his first Oscar nomination, he made here the transition  from being a comedian to being respectable character actor, and also was his first collaboration with the master of suspense.
The film slowly develops some wonderful suspense when Lina (Fontaine) begins to suspect that her gambling playboy husband (Grant) may be plotting murder, though, once again, I fear that the vivid colours distracted significantly from the desired atmosphere.
Apart from being the good old master of suspense, Hitch also showcases his sinister and pitch-black sense of humor (notably during the scene when Grant receives a pair of antique chairs as a wedding gift) and his expressionist vision (the famous milk-moment).*edit/update: I just learned that Joan Fontaine passed away at the age of 96; only 3 days after I submitted this review.
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 don't know, maybe English times were different back in those days but I for one don't think a story that casts the greatest comedic/dramatic actor film has ever known as a secretive control freak/bully makes for a good movie going experience (this thing was made in America at that).Judging this as simply a point in the progression of Hitchcock's great career is this film's only saving grace.
Often talked about as being a grim story in essence, it's something of a comedy drama flecked in mysterious romantic dabblings.Cary Grant is cynical society playboy Johnnie Aysgarth, who romances and then weds Lina McLaidlaw (Fontaine), possibly only for his treasure seeking leanings?
The director then takes his characters, and us the viewers, to the cliff's edge, and delivers an ending that most probably had him chuckling away with carefree abandon.Far from the top tier of Hitchcock movies, Suspicion is however, impeccably acted, well paced and devilishly cheeky.
Alfred Hitchcock directed this romantic suspense yarn that stars Cary Grant as Johnny Aysgarth, a charming but irresponsible gambler who meets Lina McLaidlaw(played by Joan Fontaine) on a train.
The shy Lina is swept away by his charm and good looks, and they get married, much to the chagrin of her parents(played by Cedric Hardwicke & Dame Witty) who know little about him, but it turns out Johnny lives off the money he borrows from friends, one of whom, an amiable man named Beaky(played by Nigel Bruce) mysteriously dies.
Good cast and direction can't save this disappointing film, that never does generate much suspense, and ends most unsatisfactorily; still, Joan Fontaine did win a best actress Academy Award!.
People and the studios weren't happy with this and demanded a lighter tone, mainly for the core details of that suspicion.Cary Grant plays Johnnie Aysgarth, a charming Bon Vivant who spends his life gambling, womanizing and having a good time every time he can.
Nigel Bruce, as Johnnie's best friend gives that dark humor touch that the master always liked to put in film.Alfred Hitchcock was right at home with this tale of obsessive behavior (one of his favorite subjects), and carefully planned the plot of this story based on the novel by Anthony Berkeley.
the sad thing is that the studio was so displeased with the idea of having Cary Grant as possible murderer that they forced Hitchcock to tone down the dark parts and even change the ending he had envisioned for the movie, opting for an anti-climatic that brutalizes what was accomplished at that point.Nevertheless, the master of suspense manages to keep the movie at the right tone and gives great moments thanks to his expert eye with the camera and his ability to tell a story.
Johnnie (Carey Grant) basically tried to kill his wife Lina (Joan Fontaine) by speeding up the car at then of the movie.
In a well developed film by Alfred Hitchcock, the movie is about Johnnie(Grant) being this sincere gentleman for the first time in his life and falls in love with Lina(Fontaine).
...goes the old Elvis song and that's just what smooth seductive Cary Grant does for most of this film to the demure, repressed Jona Fontaine character in Hitchcock's excellent psychological thriller from his early Hollywood era.I'll be blunt and put my cards on the table in agreeing firmly with those who believe that Grant should have stayed a villain right until the end (as I understand was Hitch's original intention, certainly it would have been true to the source novel).
There's good support from the mainly Anglophile cast, particularly Nigel Bruce in a typical bumbling but endearing role as Johnny's best friend and biggest dupe.As well as carrying forward the narrative in characteristic to-the-point style (though perhaps aided unintentionally by the cuts insisted upon by the misguided production top-brass), there are some great Hitchcockian flourishes which true fans will savour, like the cutaway scene on the cliff-top between Fontaine and Grant, (even if placed too early in the narrative) the near-death scene in the car and of course the famous "glowing glass of milk" scene near the end.I'd never seen this minor Hitchcock classic before and really enjoyed it (great musical score too, by the way) while always at the back of my mind harbouring that abiding regret however that we'll never get to see the true director's cut as you surely would with more modern studio-skewered classics..
Cary Grant, (Johnnie Aygarth) played the role of a complete playboy who falls in love with monkey face, a nickname he called Joan Fontaine, (Lina McLaidlaw Aygarth) his wife who he met on a train and borrowed money her for his fare on the train.
It's a natural progression that one might see in other Hitchcock films (to a degree I'm reminded of Shadow of a Doubt, despite that being a far more sinister picture for its upfront attitude), and it works splendidly for the most part because Grant and especially Fontaine are so good in the parts.
Another thrilling mystery from the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock's Suspicion tells the story of Lina; a shy young woman who falls for a charming gentleman named Johnnie, ends up marrying him but when his true character is disclosed, she begins to suspect him of trying to kill her.Hitchcock has given us some of the finest thrillers of all time & even though this film isn't close to his finest efforts, it nonetheless manages to create a gripping atmosphere of doubt & uncertainties and wraps itself up on an ambiguous note, thus leaving its viewers with their own interpretation of the ending.Like any Hitchcock film, Suspicion is technically sound and the plot also benefits a lot from good performances by Cary Grant & Joan Fontaine.
After Johnnie accepts a job working for his cousin, two of Linda's valuable family heirlooms go missing, and the lies and suspicious activities start to build up.Based on the 1932 novel Before the Fact by Frances Iles, Alfred Hitchcock's thriller is notable for the casting of heart-throb and screwball comedy regular Cary Grant as a possible homicidal maniac and compulsive con-man.
Joan Fontaine won the Oscar for Best Actress (the only one for an actor working under Hitchcock), but Grant has remained strangely unrecognised, perhaps for the attitudes and behaviours of his character.
The two films are really miles apart despite coming out in consecutive years in 1940 and 1941, but Fontaine's performance in both highlights Alfred Hitchcock's ability to scout the finest talents in addition to crafting master suspense."Suspicion" is a true romantic thriller that almost exactly like "Rebecca" follows a relatively naive and previously sexless young woman who weds the man of her dreams only to find not everything is as it seems.
In this movie, the daughter (Joan Fontaine) of a general hooks up with a suave dude (Cary Grant) whom she begins to suspect of murder.Among the common themes in AH's films are the guilty woman and the wrong man.
Hitchcock may have been brilliant but he caved in to what the audiences wanted to see.The glass of milk glows eerily as Cary Grant offers it to Joan Fontaine.
The two lead characters, Johnnie (Cary Grant) and Lina (Joan Fontaine), are old fashioned and somewhat locked into antiquated ways of thinking and behaving.
Not having any interest in either Johnnie or Lina, I really could not have cared less how the story ended.I can see how this film might appeal to some viewers, if they are older, or if they like love stories, or are fans of Cary Grant or Joan Fontaine.
Playboy Johnny Aysgarth (Cary Grant) meets quiet Lina McLaidlaw (Joan Fontaine) on a train.
Lina has suspicion that Johnny may have killed him and trying to kill her for the insurance money.Cary Grant is so charming that it's no problem to believe Joan Fontaine would fall for him completely.
Joan Fontaine, Cary Grant and Alfred Hitchcock in Top Form.
Hitchcock has said in print that this film is really about a woman's fantasy life and when looked at from that perspective it is brilliantly executed directorially and by all the actors, especially Joan Fontaine, and it doesn't really quite matter how it ends.
The acting is uniformly excellent, with Cary Grant charming and sometimes chilling as the man suspected of trying to murder his wife, and Joan Fontaine, looking gorgeous as ever even better as Lina giving a performance of edge and vulnerability.
Cary Grant, perhaps the most famous and popular movie actor in the world at the time, gives his most complete performance in his first role for the great Alfred Hitchcock.
The plot is rather simple, and it follows dapper, yet irresponsible, playboy Johnnie Aysgarth (played by the great Cary Grant) and his marriage to Lina (Joan Fontaine), a young woman that he met on a train.
Johnnie Aysgarth (Cary Grant) and Lina McLaidlaw (Joan Fontaine) meet and fall in love.Soon they get married.Lina finds out her husband is broke and believes he wants to kill her.What is the truth?
Fontaine was good.Cary Grant as Johnnie Aysgarth is charming seducer who is at the end turns out to be irresponsible and wasteful playboy.
The story is about doubt, Hitchcock creates just as much doubt in the film with Joan Fontaine's character as he creates for the viewer.