- Johnnie Aysgarth (Cary Grant) is a playboy, a gambler, and a liar. But is he also a murderer? That's the question that preys upon the mind of Lina McLaidlaw (Joan Fontaine) in Alfred Hitchcock's Suspicion. In the early stages of their courtship, Johnnie makes light of his reputation, even claiming that once, when trying to fall asleep, he counted the women in his life instead of counting sheep. Johnnie's laziness is similarly amusing. "Well, if the worst comes to the worst and there's no other way out, I'll have to...borrow some more," he says. It never occurs to him to try working for a living. When the wedding presents from Lina's father go missing, however, Lina begins to suspect that there is a more serious side to her new husband's proclivities. Soon, she finds that Johnnie has lied to her about his income and his trips to the racetrack. So is Johnnie a lovable rapscallion or something far worse?
- Lina first wonders if Johnnie is capable of murder when they are visited by his charmingly oblivious friend Beaky (Nigel Bruce). In a wonderful scene, Beaky spells out words like "doubt" and "murder" in an anagram game while Lina imagines Johnnie pushing Beaky off of a cliff. So how much of this scenario is the product of Lina's imagination? Well, Beaky does nearly drive off of a cliff under Johnnie's supervision, but he also lives to tell the tale. An ambiguous outcome at best, I think. Beaky's trip to Paris, however, proves to be fatal. Could Johnnie have killed Beaky? Could Johnnie want to kill Lina, too?? He sure does like to read crime novels! With thoughts like these racing through Lina's mind, even items as innocuous as a glass of milk start to resemble murder weapons.
- Unfortunately, Suspicion squanders much of this wonderful suspense by deflating it with a brief and unsatisfactory ending. Just when it appears as though Johnnie is trying to throw Lina from the car, we discover that it was all a big misunderstanding. Sure, Johnnie's a liar and a thief, but he's no killer. And maybe Lina has a slightly overactive imagination, but who could blame her for misinterpreting Johnnie's bizarre behavior? I suppose we are also to assume that they live happily ever after. Weak endings aside, however, Suspicion is an enjoyable suspense film that features some of the earliest demonstrations of the director's fascination with psychology and crime theory. It also contains one of the best scenes in Hitchcock's filmography, in starkly terrifying black and white. I wouldn't have thought any director could make a man walking up the stairs with a glass of milk seem menacing, particularly when that man is Cary Grant, but Hitchcock accomplishes exactly that.
- Apparently, Hitchcock was at the post office, but I didn't spot him.
