{"id":31080,"date":"2013-05-02T16:08:35","date_gmt":"2013-05-02T23:08:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=31080"},"modified":"2022-06-22T09:56:01","modified_gmt":"2022-06-22T16:56:01","slug":"suspect-the-1944","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=31080","title":{"rendered":"Suspect, The (1944)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;Just to be suspected leaves a mark.&#8221; <\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Suspect-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Suspect-Poster-300x234.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"234\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-31082\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Suspect-Poster-300x234.jpg 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Suspect-Poster-128x100.jpg 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Suspect-Poster.jpg 535w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nA kind shopkeeper (Charles Laughton) with an unbearably shrewish wife (Rosalind Ivan) befriends and romances a pretty young woman (Ella Raines). When his wife threatens to expose his affair with Raines, Laughton kills Ivan, making it look like an accident &#8212; but a suspicious investigator (Stanley Ridges) is convinced Laughton is guilty, and won&#8217;t leave him alone.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Blackmail<\/li>\n<li>Charles Laughton Films<\/li>\n<li>Ella Raines Films<\/li>\n<li>Henpecked Husbands<\/li>\n<li>Henry Daniell Films<\/li>\n<li>Historical Drama<\/li>\n<li>Homicidal Spouses<\/li>\n<li>Robert Siodmak Films<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary\u2019s Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nAs Peary writes, &#8220;Charles Laughton gave one of his best but least-known performances&#8221; in this &#8220;outstanding melodrama&#8221; (set in 1902 London) about a &#8220;fat and middle-aged&#8221; but &#8220;kindly&#8221; tobacconist who is &#8220;unable to take [his] shrewish, shrieking wife Rosalind Ivan any longer&#8221;, so &#8220;kills her&#8221;. It features &#8220;expert, atmospheric direction by [Robert] Siodmak&#8221;, who pulls us ineluctably into this tale of a man who &#8220;makes his own decisions rather than being controlled by fate&#8221;, and is &#8220;caught because of a choice he makes&#8221; but &#8220;does not suffer guilt&#8221;. Indeed, we&#8217;re astonished to find ourselves actually rooting for Laughton, and <em>perhaps<\/em> even agreeing that he&#8217;s done the right thing &#8212; such is the seductive power of Siodmak&#8217;s direction, Laughton&#8217;s performance, and the taut screenplay (by Bertram Millhauser and Arthur T. Horman). As Peary writes, &#8220;Laughton&#8217;s a sweet soul and you have to resent the smug Ridges for wanting to arrest him, especially since Ridges takes advantage of Laughton&#8217;s decency&#8221;; with that said, the film ends on the perfect note for such a morally ambiguous scenario. <\/p>\n<p>While Laughton&#8217;s performance stands above the rest, Ivan is effective and convincing as the wife any man would be desperate to get away from; it&#8217;s interesting to contrast her performance with that of Flora Robson in an earlier iteration of the same general story, <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=31109\"><em>We Are Not Alone<\/em><\/a> (the latter based on a novel by James Hilton, who was apparently inspired by the real-life case of <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Dr._Crippen\">murderous Dr. Crippen<\/a>). In Hilton&#8217;s version, not only is the husband (played by Paul Muni) completely innocent, but his wife is a much more complex villainess; here, however, there are no two ways around it: Ivan&#8217;s a true henpecking b*tch. Raines, meanwhile, is appropriately sweet as Laughton&#8217;s romantic interest &#8212; and it&#8217;s at least partly to her credit that we are easily able to believe someone so young and beautiful would genuinely fall for an older, less-than-physically-attractive man like Laughton. Finally, Henry Daniell is perfectly cast as the wife-beating &#8220;rotter&#8221; of a neighbor who propels Laughton towards his ultimate fate; in an interesting bit of trivia, he played a small role in <em>We Are Not Alone<\/em> as well (as the lawyer working to convict Muni). <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Charles Laughton as Philip<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Suspect-Laughton.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Suspect-Laughton.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"748\" height=\"574\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-31089\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Suspect-Laughton.png 748w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Suspect-Laughton-128x98.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Suspect-Laughton-300x230.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 748px) 100vw, 748px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Rosalind Ivan as Cora<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Suspect-Ivan.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Suspect-Ivan.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"748\" height=\"574\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-31088\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Suspect-Ivan.png 748w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Suspect-Ivan-128x98.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Suspect-Ivan-300x230.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 748px) 100vw, 748px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Ella Raines as Mary<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Suspect-Raines.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Suspect-Raines.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"748\" height=\"574\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-31083\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Suspect-Raines.png 748w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Suspect-Raines-128x98.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Suspect-Raines-300x230.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 748px) 100vw, 748px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Henry Daniell as Mr. Simmons<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Suspect-Daniell.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Suspect-Daniell.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"748\" height=\"574\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-31086\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Suspect-Daniell.png 748w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Suspect-Daniell-128x98.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Suspect-Daniell-300x230.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 748px) 100vw, 748px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Fine attention to period detail<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Suspect-Sets.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Suspect-Sets.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"748\" height=\"574\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-31084\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Suspect-Sets.png 748w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Suspect-Sets-128x98.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Suspect-Sets-300x230.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 748px) 100vw, 748px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Atmospheric cinematography<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Suspect-Cinematography.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Suspect-Cinematography.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"748\" height=\"574\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-31085\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Suspect-Cinematography.png 748w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Suspect-Cinematography-128x98.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Suspect-Cinematography-300x230.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 748px) 100vw, 748px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Strong direction by Siodmak<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Suspect-Direction.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Suspect-Direction.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"748\" height=\"574\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-31087\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Suspect-Direction.png 748w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Suspect-Direction-128x98.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Suspect-Direction-300x230.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 748px) 100vw, 748px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nYes, as a most enjoyable unsung classic. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Categories<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Genuine Classic<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0037330\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1945\/02\/01\/archives\/the-screen-roughly-speaking-presented-at-the-hollywood-with.html\">NY Times Original Review (scroll down to second review)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.timeout.com\/london\/film\/the-suspect\">Time Out Capsule Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Just to be suspected leaves a mark.&#8221; Synopsis: A kind shopkeeper (Charles Laughton) with an unbearably shrewish wife (Rosalind Ivan) befriends and romances a pretty young woman (Ella Raines). When his wife threatens to expose his affair with Raines, Laughton kills Ivan, making it look like an accident &#8212; but a suspicious investigator (Stanley Ridges) is convinced Laughton is guilty, and won&#8217;t leave him alone. Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Blackmail Charles Laughton Films Ella Raines Films Henpecked Husbands Henry&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=31080\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31080","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-responses-to-peary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31080"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31080\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81454,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31080\/revisions\/81454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}