Very disappointing...

Too much of everything

Good concept, poorly executed.

For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

One of Hitchcock's better films from the 1940s, "Suspicion" holds up well despite its disconnection from the modern world. Maybe that's part of its appeal. It's got all the Hitchcock hallmarks - suspense, humor, glamour, sophisticated repartee, fine craftsmanship. Cary Grant is endlessly charming whether he's a hero or villain; It doesn't matter. Joan Fontaine commands the screen in a quiet, subtle way. She is lovingly photographed throughout, looking, arguably, at the peak of her beauty. The ending is highly problematic. Some viewers are okay with it. I find it awkward and stagy. It upends everything that's gone before it, blithely dismissing all that previous tension with a wordy and bogus explanation. The plot builds to a murder which never occurs. Still, "Suspicion" engages on every repeated viewing.

When the movie "SUSPICION" is concerned, I am almost certain that the director somehow inhibited. In this film Hitch remained incomplete. I was wondering if it comes to interpretation of the novel, actors, censorship or disagreement to the production. The director certainly did not fail in his distinctive segments. The atmosphere is classy, complications are good (maybe a little predictable), suspense and tension are constant. The place is exciting, but abrupt and I think that the director rushed to this work completed as soon as possible.A fruity and cheerful drama yarn in a strong psychological mystery. I doubt that the director ran out of material, because the story is intriguing.Joan Fontaine as Lina McLaidlaw Aysgarth, was shy, but rich spinster who begins to suspect her husband. I am convinced that her doubts about the marriage started an avalanche. For that reason, the end of the film is not logical. Suspicion has changed her personality. Fontaine was good.Cary Grant as Johnnie Aysgarth is charming seducer who is at the end turns out to be irresponsible and wasteful playboy. I think it was Grant better pace in the first part of the film. I am not thrilled with the change in the character of his "hero" in the second part of the film. Grant is well directed acting, but just something missing. Apparently the director saved him at the end of the film.Hitchcock is a little "crooked". Lack of originality. However, this psychological thriller is from start to finish exciting.

In "Suspicion", Hitchcock takes the audience on a ride. The story starts by mixing two seemingly incompatible people--Cary Grant as Johnnie and Joan Fontaine as Lina--and making them a couple. She is a studious, introspective, conservative woman and he is an impetuous, impertinent, immature extrovert. Their joining is the recipe for some kind of discord.Lina is the viewer's avatar in the film. Notice how the story follows her point of view. Much of the circumstantial evidence that points to Johnnie's guilt is viewed through her eyes, conveyed through her external clues to inner turmoil in a great performance by Fontaine. Note the way Hitchcock lights the interior of their home--usually with a multitude of shadows. He frames Lina with the shadows of the large window, a cage, making her a prisoner of her own love for Johnnie.The dream of happiness that was the center of their honeymoon becomes a nightmarish roller coaster ride of emotions as soon as they return home. Lina is an amateur regarding relationships, so it takes her a while to understand her feelings and to learn what limits her fidelity has.As the evidence--circumstantial and otherwise--piles up (perhaps a little too neatly), Hitchcock asks the viewer to understand Lina's confusion and her ambivalence. But it is human nature to want to exhaust every last shred of doubt in defending one's love, so we take the journey with Lina until finally there is only certainty. The script is very tight and cleverly written and the score is lush, accenting the emotional highs.Hitchcock wanted a darker ending, but still managed to create an ending that delights in having taken the audience for a ride. He would get his darker ending two years later, with "Shadow of a Doubt". In both cases, note how he uses a waltz theme for the one under suspicion.I thoroughly enjoyed this film. It is filled with prototypical Hitchcockian elements (e.g. his focus on her hair). Joan Fontaine's performance alone--so nuanced, especially when compared to some other portrayals of women spiraling toward a breakdown--makes the film worth watching.

A rich wallflower (Joan Fontaine) falls in love with a charming playboy (Cary Grant). Despite his reputation, she marries him. Before long she becomes suspicious of his motives for marrying her and soon realizes her life may be in danger. Enjoyable Hitchcock thriller with notorious studio-imposed ending that is not in sync with the rest of the film. Even with a more fitting ending, however, I don't think this would be considered one of the great director's best. It's a good one, for sure. Grant, Fontaine, and the supporting players are all excellent. Hitch's direction is terrific, as well. But the story just isn't all that special and the whole thing is predictable, at least until the out-of-left-field ending that most fans don't even like.