|
Suspicion (1941) | 
| Actors: Heather Angel, Billy Bevan, Nigel Bruce, Leo G. Carroll, Carol Curtis-brown
Studio: Turner Home Ent
Category: Video
List Price: $14.98
Buy Used: $2.00
You Save: $12.98 (87%)
New (4) Used (10) Collectible (4) from $2.00
Rating:  60 reviews
Sales Rank: 20824
Format: Black & White, Ntsc, Closed-captioned
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: Unrated
Media: VHS Tape
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 99 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.3 x 4.2 x 1.1
ISBN: 0780626702
UPC: 053939658330
EAN: 9780780626706
ASIN: 0780626702
Theatrical Release Date: November 14, 1941
Release Date: July 27, 1999
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Procceds support employment of homeless and formerly homeless New Yorkers
| |
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
Repeated viewings can't dispel the shock of the final scene in this classic 1941 romantic mystery--a brief but disorienting confrontation that suddenly inverts the heroine's mounting conviction that she's married a murderer, forcing us to reconsider virtually every scene and line of dialogue that's preceded it. It's a masterful coup de grace for director Alfred Hitchcock, who has built a puzzle around the corrosive power of suspicion, threaded with deft ambiguities that toy with dramatic conventions and character archetypes in nearly every frame. As embodied by Joan Fontaine, who nabbed an Oscar in this second outing with the director, Lina McLaidlaw is a buttoned-up, bookish heiress whose prim exterior conceals longings for a more engaged emotional life. Her solution materializes in the darkly handsome Johnnie Aysgarth, a gambler, womanizer, and spendthrift who flirts, then pursues, and soon marries her. As Aysgarth, Cary Grant is both irresistible and sinister, capable of deceit and petty theft, as well as grander designs on his bride's impending fortune. Lina's passion for Johnnie is clouded by each new revelation about his apparent dishonesty, from clandestine gambling to real estate development schemes; more troubling are clues implicating him in the death of his best friend, and the prospect that Johnnie may be slowly poisoning Lina herself. By the time we see him ascending a darkened staircase with a suspicious glass of milk, an image made all the more indelible through the spectral glow the director captures in the glass, the evidence seems damning indeed. In fact, even as Hitchcock stacks the deck against Johnnie, and takes full advantage of Grant's skill at conveying such menace, the director also dots his landscape with visual clues to Lina's own neurotic (and erotic) obsessions. The final scene forces us to reevaluate her behavior while leaving enough of a cloud over Johnnie to rob him, and us, of a complete exoneration. It's a wicked, unsettling payoff to a brilliantly executed thriller. --Sam Sutherland
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 45 more reviews...
 Studio Tampering Ruins Hitchcock Thriller October 13, 2008
Scott Rivers (Los Angeles, CA USA)
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
Cut from the same stylistic cloth as "Rebecca," director Alfred Hitchcock's first teaming with Cary Grant was this disappointing 1941 adaptation of Francis Iles' novel "Before the Fact." Hitchcock successfully cast Grant against type as Johnnie - a reckless, irresponsible playboy who marries the shy Lina (played by an ineffectual Joan Fontaine). Because of mounting circumstantial evidence, Lina suspects that her husband is a murderer. Lina's psychological tug of war builds to a ludicrous climax that negates the entire film. If Hitchcock had his way, "Suspicion" would have evolved into a disturbing thriller rather than a missed opportunity. Unfortunately, RKO altered the framework of "Suspicion" with the same callous insensitivity that marred Orson Welles' "The Magnificent Ambersons." Another drawback is the lack of chemistry between Grant and Fontaine. In future films, Hitchcock made certain Grant was paired with romantically compatible co-stars such as Ingrid Bergman and Grace Kelly. "Suspicion" should be viewed as a blueprint for a more rewarding Hitchcock-Grant collaboration, "Notorious" (1946).
Very good early Hitchcock; misses the top tier due to questionable casting. Nice DVD package July 6, 2008
Penumbra (Atlanta, GA USA)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Joan Fontaine won the Academy Award for her performance in 1941's "Suspicion." The previous year she had portrayed a very similar character in Hitchcock's "Rebecca - Criterion Collection." Lina McLaidlaw is a slightly more confident and sophisticated version of The Second Mrs. de Winter. Both characters are naive young Englishwomen, swept off their feet by handsome worldly men. They discover too late that the men they married may be capable of anything - even murder.
After the briefest possible acquaintance, Lina defies her family's wishes and elopes with Johnnie Aysgarth. Her father has warned her that Johnnie is wild. Society whispers about his crimes, possibly cheating at cards or being named correspondent in a divorce. He is a man who has disgraced his name and his family, and now lives on the fringes of polite society surviving only only on his looks and his charm. General McLaidlaw does not approve of Johnnie, but Lina doesn't care.
Almost immediately after they return from the honeymoon, Lina begins to learn that her new husband is not the man she imagined. The first revelation is that he is completely broke, living on borrowed funds, and expects to be supported by Lina's allowance from her family - and one day to live in style on her inheritance.
As the film progresses, the suspense is masterfully built up as Lina learns that Johnnie is also a liar, a thief, a gambler, and an embezzler. His addiction to the horses has left him perpetually broke and desperate for funds. She begins to suspect that, in order to get money, Johnnie will stop at nothing, not even the murder of his best friend... or the murder of his wife.
If there is a flaw in this film, it's casting Cary Grant as the notorious Johnnie Aysgarth. Hitchcock once said that one didn't direct Cary Grant, one simply put him in front of a camera. He certainly has the looks and charm; but is he believable as a villain? For the movie to really work, you have to believe that Cary Grant is capable of a host of heinous sins. Hitchcock really strains suspension of disbelief here.
As Johnnie's best friend, Beaky, Nigel Bruce give us his trademark good natured, bumbling Englishman character - very similar to his version of Dr. Watson in The Complete Sherlock Holmes Collection.
Hitchcock is a master with black and white cinematography. In one of the film's most famous scenes, Johnnie slowly climbs a curving staircase, carrying a tray with a single glass of milk to his ailing wife. The house is dark, Johnnie is seen only as a shadowy silhouette, but the glass of milk actually glows on the screen. Hitchcock wanted us to focus on that glass. Could it contain...poison?
The film also boasts a beautiful score by Franz Waxman built around Lina and Johnnie's love theme, the Strauss waltz, "Vienna Blood."
The DVD has an English only soundtrack with available subtitles in English, French or Spanish. It also includes an original theatrical trailer, and a documentary about the making of the film and the transition between the source material (Before the Fact (Pan Classic Crime)) and the changes made by Hitchcock and the studio.
This is one of Hitchcock's best early efforts, but it would have been an even better film had the studio not interfered with his original vision. Nevertheless, it's still a very good movie. Recommended.
 Hitch Guru May 4, 2008
T. Collinson (Australia)
Suspecion is a great edition to add to your Hitchcock collection. This film has been great acclaimed for the use of its symbollic visual concept with shaply shadows and the penatrating use of lighting. Hithc never fails to show is creative side with the camera which can also highten the motivation for the audiance.
Storyline wasnt increbibly gripping like Notorious, also starring Cary Grant, but it still deserves a great review.
Kudos.
 Excellent April 27, 2008
Raizin Moyd
Suspicion
I truly enjoyed watching this movie. I encountered no problems from purchasing the movie to watching it. I received it in a timely manner and the quality was excellent. You would really enjoy this particular copy. I recommend it highly.
bad casting decision April 5, 2008
frothy (IN, USA)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I'm a big fan of Hitchcock but this film just doesn't work for me and the reason for that is the casting of Cary Grant in the main role. In order for this film to work you have to be able to buy Cary Grant as a possible murderer. I mean, it's CARY GRANT. You know he's not going to murder anyone. As a consequence there's no tension in this movie at all because you know he's innocent from the get-go. Now if they had given Joseph Cotton the role things would have been different.
|
|
|
|
powered by full speed | |
