Hitchcock Retrospective – Suspicion Review

This is The Brain and you're listening to the

GeekCast Radio Network. Yes! Hello and welcome

to episode 216 of The Cinema Geeks. I am one

of your Cinema Geeks Optimus Solo and joining

me as the huge is the comic concierge. Hello

Dan. Hey, how's it going? Not too bad. We're

back at it again took a little bit of time to

get this last episode out because I was Taking

I feel like I got the plague or something. I

don't know I was It was a weird sickness that

I was sick for a long time, but it was never

anything that was that crazy Like there was no

fever. There was no Flu there was no like body

aches. It was just like the longest cold I've

ever experienced. So yeah I had things going

on with my family, too It was one of those things

where it's like I couldn't record because of

that going on and then you got sick So it was

just a perfect storm. I'm like somewhere in there.

We lost a week that we didn't even know happened.

So Whatever the case maybe we're we're back at

it We're ready to cover some more Alfred Hitchcock

as we continue to march through his filmography

Finding more and more films to cover and today's

topic is the 1941 Romantic Psychological Thriller

Film Noir as Wikipedia calls it, entitled Suspicion.

So this is starring Cary Grant and Joan Fontaine.

Joan Fontaine who we just saw in Rebecca and

they are portraying a married couple. Also features

a few other people that we may or may not get

into. For her role as Lena, Joan Fontaine won

the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1941 and

As far as a plot goes, it kind of starts off

with the meeting between these two characters,

the falling for each other, the marriage, and

then life as a married couple. I guess to not

get into too much specifics, we'll get into that

as we kind of continue. As we do with each episode,

we kind of talk about our experience previously

with this film and then kind of our first impressions.

I believe for both of us, Dan, this was a first

-time watch that we had no experience with, correct?

Yep, I have never watched this before so it's

first time watch for me. Yeah, so first time

watch for both of us went in with no No, I went

in with no knowledge. No expectations. No even

inkling of what this was about I knew Carrie

Grant and Joan Fontaine was in it and I knew

Alfred Hitchcock directed it So that was about

all the material I went in to the movie with

Dan What was your first reaction and response

as you watched suspicion? So yeah, you make a

good point there regarding like Yeah going well,

you mentioned the genre and things like that

and Going into this and when we watch these movies

I try to know as least as possible when I watch

them, you know Sometimes obviously with a movie

like psycho or other ones it's impossible because

they're so ingrained in pop culture But suspicion

not as much right? So I I really didn't know

anything about it and Going into it. I just remembered

when we were talking about different movies to

go over There was one that you mentioned was

actually a comedy And as I was going through

this, as it started off with, I'm like, oh, it

must be this one. Like, a little weird name for

a comedy, but like you mentioned, it starts with

this mute cue between Cary Grant and Joan Fontaine

on a train as he goes into the wrong cabin. presumably

can't pay for his ticket and she helps him out

and You know, they kind of strike up this weird

relationship and then they come back together

and it just it felt like okay this is gonna be

like a romantic comedy of Cary Grant who is like

the Fly of the seat of your pants type of person

that doesn't really have a plan with this more

cold not cold, but very down -to -earth very

more strict Joan Fontaine and it kind of starts

off like that and like okay but they get together

really quickly and they're married i'm like well

where is this going and then slowly the you know

the veneer of carrie grants character starts

to go away and you see like okay this there this

is albert hitchcock still being alfred hitchcock

i guess in this in this case it was still really

early in his career so becoming alfred hitchcock

i guess you could say and so actually it was

in That means the experience I think so much

more enjoyable because I went in thinking it

was something and being able to kind of go on

this ride with it of like Kind of almost the

way maybe people felt when they saw psycho for

the first time thinking it was the movie about

this one character and then that completely changes

and I rather enjoyed it. I thought it was really

well layered and how it approach the character,

uh, um, Cary Grant's character kind of giving

you all these indications of who he is and making

you as the title would indicate, suspect him

for all these different things, like all the

little assets they put into it, you know, making

him love detective novels, uh, how he, you like,

you know, he's not a great guy, you know, it's

like gaslighting before gaslighting existed the

way he would kind of behave sometimes, but Was

he a murderer? Like, would he go that far? I

just found it really well developed in that sense.

Like, I think it had a really well -structured

script. I thought the performances were really

great, and then we've talked about Cary Grant

on this a lot, and this was their first... Time

he worked with Hitchcock and despite, you know

from what I'm seeing what I heard that they did

not get along at all Making this movie. I thought

he was fantastic in this and as you mentioned

Joan Fontaine who won the Academy Award? Differently

so I still think your performance Rebecca might

be a little bit better But she she was the heart

and soul of this movie for the most part. She's

the one that was carrying most of it So I really

enjoyed it. I thought it was I enjoyed the experience

and I found it to be another Hitchcock film where

I thought I became enamored with it because of

the structure of the narrative like there's some

great shots in this but it was really the performances

as well as the structure of the story that really

won me over. You know I think you touched on

a couple things that are definitely noteworthy

and I'm trying to think of somebody besides Cary

Grant that could have pulled off this role because

if you think about it he's Not like you said,

he's not a likable character as far as his actions,

right? like there's a lot of things he's doing

as a Someone who's courting another person as

a husband as a Like there's just a lot of stuff

that you shouldn't like about this character

like the way he goes about things his Work ethic,

you know, there's different things they like

there it shouldn't work and in order to pull

this role off you had to have somebody that had

the presence and charisma to make it believable

that somebody would still be infatuated with

him or still love him or still be willing to

stick around even though he doesn't seem to have

much else to offer. Like he's living strictly

off of charisma. personality like looks whatever

it might be like this is not the person you take

home to your mom and dad proud to like be like

he's not the person that survives the conversation

with the father right like if a woman is courting

someone and brings this gentleman home and he

proceeds to act like he does in this movie reveal

the resume that he has as far as his job and

like his his prospects for the future like no

dad is going to be like yes go ahead with this

guy he seems like a winner like it just doesn't

seem like he has that going like he's going it's

like he goes out of his way throughout this whole

movie to not have a job not have anything that

he's responsible for like they're like the freeloading

friend that just is somehow skating by life and

getting all these things, but you don't know

exactly how he's pulling it off because nothing

adds up. So like, I feel like there's not that

many actors that could pull that role off successfully.

Um, I don't know. I mean, I don't have all of

the actors of that time period, like memorized

or, or, you know, all that type of thing. I'm

even trying to think of like today's day and

age, like Can a Brad Pitt type of person pull

this off? Cause they have to have that like movie

star charisma. Like I don't know if a Leonardo

DiCaprio or a Brad Pitt or someone like that

from our generation could have like pulled off

this role. But I can't think of anybody else.

Like this to me is not something that Jimmy Stewart

could have pulled off. It's not something that

some of the other lead actors that we've seen

throughout the Hitchcock filmography to me could

have pulled off. um which makes it interesting

and i watched recently a documentary about carrie

grant i think it came out last year possibly

and it makes a good point in that documentary

how in this time period there was a lot of the

leading men were a lot more strong is such a

terrible word to use but i don't know if gritty

or strong or like They had that bravado and they

had like this thing that Cary Grant comes along

and he is a completely different type of actor

during this time period because he does have

that comedic touch. He does have that almost

like a flamboyant nature to how he acts and portrays

himself with like this careless recklessness

like that's not necessarily like the the guy

that's going to be like the the godfather you

know what I mean it's it doesn't have that persona

to him and so he was really breaking the mold

as he comes onto the scene and I feel like this

is a type of film that was uh in role that was

perfect for him to kind of use those types of

acting skills and use that type of persona where

it's kind of breaking down a little bit of like

the macho man uh I guess stereotype and and just

giving us a completely different thing It's not

as obviously comedic as we're going to see in

other films that we've already talked about,

you know, it's not the comedy of North by Northwest

or things of that nature, but. Under the like,

it's just right there under the surface like

it could be if he wanted to take it that way,

but then obviously they add this whole kind of

suspense thriller aspect to it where we're not

sure who we can trust, and that's kind of an

interesting. thing that we've witnessed as we've

gone through Hitchcock's filmography is different

films that we've covered where we know who's

guilty and who's innocent and it might be you

know an innocent person that we know is innocent

that's trying to like prove that or different

plays off of that and here I think we get one

where as an audience for one of the first times

we're not sure what the real deal is. Which to

me separates us a little bit from any of the

other things we've watched unless I'm just forgetting

something most of the time we're in on it and

we know what the deal is and in this situation

I feel like it was one of the ones that so far

that we've watched where it's like We're somewhat

along for the ride not knowing If he's good or

bad if that makes sense. Yeah, I definitely agree

there and I Just trying to think if there's any

movies like it I feel like it's been a while

since we've gone through all these but I guess

maybe a little bit in Something like notorious

a bit. Maybe not. I'm not sure but but yeah this

it certainly had More mystery to it in the sense

of you know with North by notice what there's

mystery to it because we don't know what's really

happening but that's you know, I and similar

to like something like Or to go, for example,

but with here, we don't know what's happening

in the sense of like, if this guy guilty or not,

like where we know obviously he is not a great

guy. Um, he has, he's a person who clearly, like

you said, he's like James Bond. If he was just

a normal dude. because he's trying to just get

by his wit and his charm and, you know, hoping

people doesn't, if he just moves fast enough,

people won't really notice. And it's worked for

him for the most part, but I think Cary Grant

plays it really well too, because you get those

moments, like that moment with him in the room

with the... the portrait of her father and like

there's just like the way he plays that the wonder

like is there a bit of a darker underbelly there

like you know is how far will he take this you

know is is there more of a you know psychotic

element but like desperate is simply you know

he's a person who clearly can be desperate so

what would it lead him to do and that that I

really enjoyed and looking into this too it was

like the first time as you know Cary Grant Was

in a dramatic role like this. He was known for

being more in the comedy and not a serious like

actor per se and he would And to me he showed

so much range here. It's sad that he never got

like even after this. It seems like he never

really got the notoriety when it came to like

the awards the accolades and definitely think

it's deserved because he he shows so many different

degrees here, but he he does it in an understated

way and and even like going back to certain scenes

like the Probably the most famous scene in this

is the milk scene where he's carrying this glass

of milk. It's beautifully shot It's the best

shot of scene of the entire thing and most of

that you don't see his face but it's in his body

language the way he's carrying himself and I

think that goes a long way and why I thought

this was so successful and having those thrills

and not knowing the story and knowing Hitchcock

like yeah, maybe like He knows from he's known

for for murder. So we haven't had a murder yet.

So who knows? Maybe it's common. Right, right.

And I think the other thing that kind of struck

me in this film is I believe that Hitchcock in

this film does a great job of. Putting the little

breadcrumbs down, but not in a way that makes

it predictable, not in a way that makes it obvious.

He's putting all these things down that as a

viewer you're right with Joan Fontaine's character

of Am I blowing this out of proportion? Is there

a good reason? Do I take this at face value like

you're right there and it's like there's nothing

crazy enough where you're questioning like okay,

she should definitely be Choosing a different

course like you're you're with her every step

of being like okay I can buy why she's sticking

around or I can buy why she's having what pun

intended I guess why she's having these suspicions

but why it's not enough necessarily to act on

it in a way and like so I think it's just like

balancing and walking that line in a perfect

way throughout this movie from a direction standpoint

or maybe even from a screenplay standpoint I

don't know who exactly you would give credit

for this but like they do it in a very Conscientious

way of not going too far in one direction or

the other where like you're you're not faulting

the characters for the decisions they're making

so far because a lot of it at first you're like

You want to believe it's like you want to believe

that Cary Grant's not as I Don't know if despicable

is the right word But you you want to you want

to think that he's not like not as bad as what?

Everyone's thinking you like you're waiting for

him to have a good explanation for why this is

happening or why he did this And it's good. You

want, you want her to fix them. Like he, she,

she can fix them. It's like, it can be the thing

that gives them that opportunity. She'll get,

he'll get a job with her father or what have

you, but you know, he just, and every step. And

then you're like, okay, you, you have that moment

where he sells the chairs and it's kind of awful.

And he kind of lies about it. Then he's able

to correct it. So like, oh, okay. Maybe maybe

this is actually. Something if he's gonna turn

it around here, right? Obviously, obviously,

you know, he's not because you need but still

but then he just finds another way like every

Every step he takes it's like, you know, and

it's interesting cuz that first you're like,

okay. Well, maybe he's just a little bit It has

just a certain personality right like this care

carefree like I don't care about anything. I'm

just floating in the wind type personality and

you're like, okay, like that's fine. People can

be like that, but you know, we can kind of ground

him and we got to find him a job or we got to

find him something that's solidifies him as someone

that's like contributing to society. Like, you

know, everybody wants to do. And then you're

like, okay, but he, you know, he sells these

chairs and okay, well, he's just a carefree person

that also has a gambling problem, but that can

be like addressed. And then it's like, well,

he's just a carefree person that has a gambling

problem. And that may be capable of Hurting somebody

like you keep adding another element, but like

excusing it like you're rooting for him to not

be Guilty of everything that these little breadcrumbs

are saying that he is guilty of so it's it's

kind of a magical way that they they weave that

in a way that I feel like wouldn't happen today

because it would be way too heavy -handed in

today's world or it would be something that's

a little bit more obvious or predictable or It

would be something that you're not buying Lena

Lena's characters Actions and steps along with

and not just her I think to talking about another

character that we could bring in here Nigel Bruce

plays a character named Gordon Thwait or they

call him Biki who is Johnny Asgarth a Cary Grant's

characters old friend right uh friend from previous

time in his life who comes and visits them and

kind of stays with them a little bit and you

have that interaction then between the two of

them and he adds this whole other layer because

he's outright telling her that you know he's

not a not a honest you know forthright person

but then this guy's still friends with him and

still like potentially going on these business

ventures with him so it adds like this whole

other character that's like Also balancing that

line because he's adding to the fact that she

shouldn't trust him. But then at the same time

Adding to the fact that she should because he's

friends with him and he's stuck around with him

So it's like I find his character kind of interesting

as well. What did you think of the biki character?

Yeah, because he comes in almost like as comedic

relief, you know, just his presentation, you

know feels like this larger -than -life character

he you wonder At to like you you wonder, like,

is he similar to Cary Grant's character? And,

you know, because he seems to try to take advantage

of every situation he's in. Like, he's going

to stay there for the weekend when he just met

her for the first time. But then you have that

scene too, where he's drinking, you know, the,

I forget what exactly it was, some sort of alcoholic

drink. And he has that reaction where he's coughing

and nearly dying. And again, that's, I think,

a great scene by Cary Grant where, like, just

kind of just watches it happen. And again, making

you wonder, A, it's kind of giving you insight

to who he is as a character, but also giving

you that curiosity regarding like, is he planning

something here? Because we know he loves those

detective novels. So it's just something like

he's testing out. And then as the story goes

on and Biki plays a bigger role, you think back

to that scene. So I think, as you mentioned,

it does a really good job of building upon itself,

like, laying the groundwork. And it's like, you

know, it's not the most complicated thing in

the world, but I think it's just really well

done and how, like, everything matters. Like,

every scene feels like it has a point. It's all

connects, even if it doesn't seem like it at

the time. So I thought his character was really

important and how he, one, added a bit of fun,

but also... And how it was a reflection of Cary

Grant's character and how important he became

as the story moved on Right, and I'm not trying

to necessarily Close this out in any way shape

or form and but I feel like we have to Talk a

little bit of before we talk about like maybe

over some more overall thoughts of the film.

We got to touch on The ending of this film. I

guess that's like the most I don't know if you'd

say controversial or whatever, but it's it's

the definitely critiqued a lot as far as how

this film ends compared to how the novel ends

the studios I guess quote -unquote the studios

interference versus what Hitchcock may have wanted

wanted the film to end What was your take on

kind of anything you read about the ending or

how the film actually ended? I will say it did

catch me off guard when I am going, you know

watching it and I was like Okay, like it I was

Wondering like, you know, is there more is there

like a Marvel after credit scene or something

right that because it does come it does come

a bit out of nowhere in reflection and reflection

though, you know, it is called suspicion, right

and Once that's and once that suspicion is, you

know eliminated I guess you would say or or things

kind of become more clear I guess in a way that

then the story is over there. So It does make

sense. It is, like I said, abrupt. It does make

it feel like a weird pacing in that sense. But

I didn't hate it. It didn't completely ruin the

experience for me. And I kind of could understand

it in the sense of what story you're specifically

saying and trying to tell. But I did feel like

they didn't know how to end it. So they just

kind of ended it there. Or there was just something

that I don't know. It felt like it needed a little

bit more or like it could have Right. Brought

it together. Yeah, go ahead. It seems like well,

it seems like there was it wasn't just like a

even two different endings It's like there was

at least three different endings. It felt like

they could have gone in because in the novel

She drinks the milk. I believe if I read that

correctly, but then she has given him a letter

or something to mail and he unknowingly kind

of puts that in the mailbox, even though it It's

her saying that he's killing her basically and

that yeah, she's just you know result the kind

of Resolute to just go down that path so that's

one ending and then the other ending is what

it seems like it's going to in this movie where

there's actually gonna be a murder or Both of

them potentially dying or at least one of them

dying in this car right at the end Which isn't

like way number two it could have ended and then

there's obviously the third way which they kind

of flirt with the the death in the car or the

accident but then you know continue to i guess

go down this road together and see what happens

in the future so i don't know i i don't know

which one i would have preferred i do know that

it was a little jarring on first watch like you

said it's like yeah okay uh you know like you're

saying you're searching for the end credit scene

or you're searching for like the there's got

to be something else right like that's not just

it's not just ending right here um so it is kind

of tricky and I guess you know obviously the

studios and part of it is they didn't want Cary

Grant to be unredeemable because they're viewing

him as I guess you know the movie star the hero

that in that time period I guess you couldn't

play a bad guy then I don't know I don't know

what the you know I guess that's the thought

process but either way I I don't know if there

was a a right way out of it for Hitchcock and

for the people involved in the movie. I almost

wonder if I get people who don't like ambiguous

endings, but it made it a little bit stronger,

kind of thinking about the ending of The Birds

that we just recently talked about. I guess in

a way, it's similar to that. Make where that

this kind of ends abruptly and you kind of ready

for go and it just kind of ends But at least

with this one, like I said, if it at least the

story felt complete like I didn't feel like I

needed to Give us more in the sense of like what

it was going but I think I do think it could

have Like you like you can tell that if interference

felt very Transparent and that right so I almost

would have rather than like them allude to that

milk let her Drink it without us knowing whether

he had or had not poisoned it and then like somehow

have that lead to an ambiguous ending where we

don't know If he actually went through with something

or not like somehow weave that into the ending

and just avoid the the almost car accident Type

or the almost whatever you would call it the

car scene Or you could just have them driving

away, and you don't know I don't know like I

feel like there was a way to have an ambiguous

ending without Necessarily framing him as for

sure like it would still just leave us with the

suspicion, right? Like we still don't know if

he he did it or not So maybe that would have

been a fun way to go But you know, I don't even

know if this studio would have allowed that so

it's hard to say back in that time period with

All the different things that they did or didn't

allow, you know We learned already in this filmography

that you know at one point you couldn't flush

a toilet on a screen So you never know what's

going on back here Was there any other characters

or moments that kind of stood out to you? Obviously

we deal with Lina's family a little bit with

her dad who is the general and Her mom and a

couple other different things that happen along

the way anything else that stood out to you from

a scene standpoint or character standpoint One

thing I think we can't believe we haven't brought

up is like how he gives her like the worst nickname

ever and monkey face like that's Like that seems

like I'm like, okay, that's but he's gonna oh

no, he's gonna he's just gonna call her monkey

face throughout That's, that's a choice, man.

Like again, like you said, like most people would

not be able to get away with that if they did

not have the charm of Cary Grant. Cause like,

that's just, that's just me. Yeah. I want to

know who came up with that. Was that him improving

or was that somewhere written down? That's like

color monkey face. What? Cause also it doesn't

even make like, she's a beautiful woman. Like

I don't understand where that comes from, but

I mean, I think that's part of it. Cause he just

like, he knows she's beautiful. So. But he wants

to insult her. I don't know. You know, it's like

being it's like that little talk It's like little

kids who like, you know push each other when

they like each other right and has that mentality

but I also feel like it's almost like a control

I don't know if it's a control tactic, but it's

like Like a test almost like I'm gonna kill you

this and you're gonna stay with me. Anyways,

I don't know. It's weird I think I think control

is a good way to going it cuz like that's him

in this all the time he's trying to control every

situation he's in even though he doesn't have

it showing up to the the ball with no uh no invitation

you know or saying he's going to come to situation

like you know meet here someplace and then never

showing up and then sending a letter i think

he like he would be king of gaslighting but i

know gaslighting goes in i think back then but

that was something that he certainly was very

much capable of yeah, I There was something I

wanted to bring up but I completely It I lost

my train of thought. What did you think of his

interaction with with her parents? What did you

think of that kind of dynamic and how that played

into it? I was I was ready for her parents to

kind of stand up for her a bit more I was especially

with his her father having that military background.

I was kind of ready for like that to happen So

it kind of kind of did it if anything did they

just seem to accept it because She didn't they

didn't think she'd get married. So at least she's

just out of the house. I guess I don't know but

yeah, I was I don't know I was ready for her

parents to kind of play a bigger role than they

ended up doing Yeah, they definitely kind of

fade away from the movie, you know about halfway

through or even a little bit earlier Which is

kind of interesting. I didn't have any other

characters in my mind that really like necessarily

stood out obviously we have some people that

he owes some debts to and some You know a boss

that he's not working for anymore and a couple

people like that But I don't think any of them

necessarily like stood out so now we do see a

couple familiar faces that have been in some

of the other films like Leo Carroll who has been

in Strangers on the Train and North by Northwest

shows up here as his employer and cousin and

then a couple different, you know people that

we've seen before so it's kind of interesting

to see those folks, but I it was this film is

interesting to me because My first reaction was

somewhat negative. I'm gonna admit like I don't

know if it was just I don't know if it was just

because of the ending or what kind of threw me

off, but I felt like a first watch the movie

gets over and I kind of had a bad taste in my

mouth a little bit like it like just like did

that work or not, but the more I have thought

about it and we've had a little extra time to

think about this one since we we had a little

bit of time here before this record um the more

i digested a little bit and even like talking

through this review with you the more positive

i get the more time i spend with it so it's one

of those interesting films that i think like

for me grows with you as more time goes by and

as you get to appreciate the like the little

nuances that yes there's not anything like big

and boisterous that happens necessarily like

it is a It's all about the details. It's all

about the nuances It's all about how these characters

are playing off of each other and their decision

-making along the way So I don't know if it would

work for everybody as far as especially compared

to some of the other films we've we've watched

which is maybe why we haven't heard it as much,

you know in as As we've gone through with our

different Film circles and people that we talked

and read about films with like this one doesn't

get brought up as much and I wonder if that's

a little bit why is like it didn't necessarily

respond to like people in general, but I feel

like anybody that likes like the nuances and

the details of a film would appreciate this.

And especially the more they talk with people

about it and the more they kind of digest it,

if that makes any sense. And it did obviously

do well from a like a critical reception at the

time. I mean, it got whatever it was, three or

four Academy Award nominations and I believe

it does. It is received well. Like on Rotten

Tomatoes, it has a 97 percent, which is excellent.

You know, we looked at a bunch of different websites

and rankings and lists to try to come up with

what films we were going to cover. And I looked

at a bunch of them in particular, like IndieWire

and Den of Geek and Independent Screen Rant,

you know, just different things. Taste of Cinema

to try to like get a feel for like, what are

the ones that we have to watch? This one doesn't

get listed on a lot of them. It gets I think

it's number 16 on IndieWire and number 14 if

you look at like a ranker list, but a lot of

the other lists leave it off. So it's kind of

like a weird conundrum of a film where the people

that see it. Seem to like it, but then it also

gets forgotten in a way. I don't know what your

take is overall in the film. Yeah, I could I

could see that in the sense of it's not as flashy.

It's not it's a movie in a sense of you watch

it. It doesn't feel like an Alfred Hitchcock

film. It feels more like a Cary Grant and John

Fontein John Fontein movie where you know outside

of that one like he does have some good shots

in this for sure that like the milk seemed as

I meant we mentioned where all he did was put

a little bit of a a light into the milk, but

it worked so well. It was just ingenious filmmaking

there. And again, I could see why it wouldn't

be ranked amongst the best, as we mentioned.

The ending isn't really strong. It maybe undercuts

it a bit. And it doesn't necessarily have. like

it doesn't have like the infamous iconic scenes

like a psycho or northwest northwest or you know,

it doesn't have the Remarkable set design of

something like rear window where it's like this

does something that no other film has done and

It sets the bar like it's I wouldn't say there's

anything in the sense of like that with this

like it's it's not a movie that is so iconic

or pushes the boundaries in any way. But I think

it's an important movie in the career of Hitchcock,

because one, financially, it did really well.

It was one of its biggest early hits in America.

So it allowed all those other films to be successful.

And two, I think it, in a way, it shows that

he can do a movie like this, in the sense of

letting the actors be the story, letting the

story be the story. That is that's what I took

away from it. Like is it what I put it amongst

the best I don't know. I mean i've been ranking

these as I go I still think there's some stronger

films within this and the sense of what I like

what I took away from it was just it It not being

as talked about it not being as Brought up made

it a bit of a better experience because of that

for me because I knew so little about it and

I was able to go and fresh and Go in with in

and experience this movie in a way that we don't

they did when they first watched it Which is

really hard to do with a lot of the different

films So I think that's probably why I might

rank it much higher And some others because I

was able to experience it in that way and it

just really worked with me on that in that regard

Almost like a hidden gem there for you something

that you're not really Yeah, realized is gonna

be there then you watch it. You're like, hey,

this is why I want why didn't people talk about

this one more? Yeah, kind of like the opposite

of rope where like that was everyone told us

that was a hidden gem and I was ready for it

to be the hidden gem and it didn't work because

right in this this kind of worked the opposite

way. So yeah, like you said, though, there's

not quite as many maybe like Hitchcock Ian things

in this film. We do have the Hollywood blonde

with Joan Fontaine and we do have a Hitchcock

cameo. I think he mails a letter at some point

in the first hour or something like that. I can

believe I didn't I didn't see it until. back

and look for it, so I missed it. Yeah, but other

than that, like there's not. There's not a ton.

I don't think I mean. It does still play. We

talked about it still does play a little bit

with guilt versus innocence, which we've seen

obviously portrayed a ton of times like you know

whether it be the innocent person that is trying

to escape capture or escape. You know being framed

for something or in some situations where we've

seen somebody that we know is guilty. And like

we saw with Rebecca in a way, I guess, like we,

you know, we know that character is guilty of

murder and coming to terms with it. So there's

a lot of guilt versus innocence that I guess

we do get that here, but there's not like there's

not a mom relationship necessarily with the male

character. I guess you do have it with Joan Fontaine's

character a little bit. There's I didn't pick

up anything as far as what we've seen with some

of the male relationships in this film. Yeah,

I don't you know, I don't I think it would be

stretching to try to say that there was anything

between you know, Johnny and Biki I don't think

that's nice at all. So like I don't I don't think

you have that string coming through in this film

but a couple things here and there that I guess

Still are hitch cocky. But like you said, I don't

think this is a film that somebody watches and

just knows that it was done by Alfred Hitchcock

Now if they went out that knowledge Definitely

you could you could tell this was made before

he had that power to kind of do what he wanted

Well, I guess you get to argue fear but as much

as any director could at that time But this is

you know it being successful along with some

other films Let him get to that point where he

was able to take bigger chances take bigger swings

And even though he didn't take as many I think

the ones he did take did take ended up hitting

really well Yeah, absolutely. And this is just

coming one year after Rebecca. So it's kind of

his first some of his first films from sound

films in America, like you're talking about.

So this is definitely early on. The only other

film that we've covered that was prior to Rebecca

and Suspicion was The 39 Steps, if I'm not mistaken.

And that was obviously not made in America. So

it's definitely interesting. And we're going

to kind of continue going through this. We're

going to move two years into the future for our

next film, which is called Shadow of a Doubt

from 1943. I'm interested in this one for similar

reasons like Suspicion. going to go into this

one with no knowledge whatsoever. I'm not even

familiar with the stars of this film who are

Teresa Wright and Joseph Cotton. I know nothing

about it. Don't know the stars. Don't know what

I'm getting into. So again, this could be a hidden

gem or we'll see. Or maybe there's a reason why

it's not talked about as much as some of the

main ones. But have you seen Shadow of a Doubt

at all or what are you kind of going into with

this one? Just, yeah, I know nothing about it

at all. What you said is as much as I know, I

knew the title of it and So I'm looking forward

to seeing it. Yeah, even looking through the

cast list, which is like you said earlier, I'm

not. I try not to go in with any knowledge, so

I'm not looking at any plot synopsis. I'm not

looking at anything like that, but even looking

through the cast list, I don't recognize. I don't

know if I recognize a single name, so it's going

to be an interesting. experience going through

this Shadow of a Doubt, which obviously has been

listed on some websites and some lists as a top

Hitchcock film, which is why we're including

it. So I'm definitely interested in going through

that. Dan, what are some ways that people can

keep in contact with content that you're putting

out and other things that you're doing on social

media? Just search Comic Concierge on all the

different platforms, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram,

and you'll find me there. Alright, and you can

search out myself at Optima Solo or you can search

out the show at the Cinema Geeks or you can look

up the network that most of our stuff is featured

on, the Geekcast Radio Network and find all kinds

of different geeky content covering cartoons

and video games and movies and TV shows and comics

and all kinds of stuff like that. So that does

it for this episode of The Cinema Geeks. Tune

in next time for another chance to listen to

us talk more. Alfred Hitchcock with 1943's Shadow

of a Dead.