Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5520 in DVD
• Released on: 2007-06-04
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Formats: Black & White, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 95 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
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, womaniser, 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

Synopsis
Joan Fontaine's fabulous performance as a woman who grows to fear the man she loves anchors this compelling story in which Alfred Hitchcock shows his love for playing with the audience's expectations. Perfectly cast is the dashing Cary Grant, whose lovable and charming persona is on full display while being completely transformed through Hitchcock's eerie camera work and visual innuendo to the point that the simplest gesture takes on a new and malevolent aspect. Suspicion lives up to its title's promise, weaving dread and ambiguity into a potent psychological net. Fontaine is the beautiful daughter of a wealthy, landed English family. Grant is the lighthearted and irreverent wastrel who charms Fontaine into elopement and succeeds in introducing the young woman to the pleasures of a more carefree outlook on life. However, as Fontaine discovers the legacy of Grant's carefree ways--his numerous debts and pursuers--she begins to suspect a darker past and must confront the horrible implications this has for her future.

Customer Reviews

The excellent performance surpassed my high expectations...as did this film!
Some people are inclined to slate 'Suspicion' as a result of the ending, which is often deemed anticlimactic. I beg to differ: the story is solid, the cast is stellar, the suspense is engaging: for fans of Hitchcock, who could ask for anything more?

Without giving too much of the plot away, Lina Laidlaw (Joan Fontaine) marries penniless Cary Grant (Johnny Aysgarth). Various clues from Johnny convince Lina that he is plotting murder, not only of his friends, but of Lina herself. The climax consists of the original "unsteady drive in a car along a steep cliff" and I maintain that from beginning to end, 'Suspicion' is a true nail-biter (especially during the classic scene where Grant serves her an eerie-looking glass of milk that may or may not be poisoned)! Impressive Hitchcock-ian touches are evident throughout the film and in many respects, this classic includes one of, perhaps, the greatest performances of each of the major stars. Joan Fontaine certainly deserved her Oscar for Best Actress and effectively conveys the many emotions she feels during the film and Cary Grant is sleek (as per usual) but brilliantly conjures an smoothly evil air. In short, go for it!

Hitchcock finds another style for Cary Grant
We've seen Cary Grant as the cold manipulator in Notorious and the glamorous ex-thief in To Catch a Thief. Here he plays the unemployed bumbler who is suspected of marrying for money. By today's standards this is a slow movie and the painted backdrops are lame. However the performances are excellent and the subject matter is interesting - how far can you trust someone? Compared to the hapless recent Julia Roberts movie, Duplicity, this old film is subtle and powerful. Not Hitchcock's best but it does show the range of Cary Grant and reminds you of old Hollywood, where movies never tried to be anything other than entertainment.

disappointing
Sadly the 2007 release is exactly the same as the 2003 DVD -- a (relatively) poor black & white transfer, a pointless colourised version, and no extras.

Much better is the 2004 region 1 US release from Warners, which features an excellent transfer and a 22 minute documentary.

It's a shame Universal UK sees fit to keep on re-releasing the same old transfers (e.g. the current transfer for "Psycho" is the same poor quality one first used for the 1999 DVD release).