This is one of Hitchcock’s best films of the 40s and it’s best scenes have retained considerable power and force after all these years, aided in no small part by excellent performances from Cary Grant and Joan Fontaine. People have mentioned the issues with the ending(which formed a convenient excuse for Hitchcock-still the shy schoolboy fusspot in his 60s when he explained this to Truffaut and the rest) but that’s just a small part of this film.

SUSPICION is the story of a weak woman. She is shy, bookish but also beautiful. She marries outside of her class and her husband fulfills her romantic fantasies(and he’s played by Cary Grant) but the constant excitement and adventure that Johnny brings to the film also means that she is totally depended on him for life support. SUSPICION anticipates VERTIGO in that it shows romantic love as a fount for weakness and abject insecurity rather than as a source for inspiration.