Cary Grant and Joan Fontaine star in Hitchcock’s Suspicion. Nominated for Best Picture, Fontaine walked away with a Best Actress Oscar, and she is nothing short of fantastic.

Grant is Johnnie Aysgarth, a charming rogue with a penchant for detective novels, a penniless playboy who seems to be conning and gaslighting everyone from his friend, Beaky (Nigel Bruce) to his wife, Lina (Fontaine).

Johnnie sweeps into Lina’s life, a quiet, bookish existence, and sweeps her off her feet. Urged on to prove her parents wrong, that she’ll become a spinster, she throws herself into the relationship, and soon begins to realize that not only is Johnnie broke, despite his egregious spending habits, he’s a liar, a schemer, and may be capable of murder.

Is she his next target?

Grant is wonderful, he has his banter and patter down, exuding charm, and then layering it with just a hint of anger and tension, but Fontaine shines as she slowly begins to suspect more and more, only to be disuaded repeatedly by Johnnie’s actions, and charm. But she fins herself plunged into tension and terror with the arrival of a pair of investigators with news of Beaky’s death, possibly murdered, and a local Agatha Christie-type novelist, Isobel Sedbusk (Auriol Lee) supplying troubling information and ideas!

From there a cat-and-mouse game begins between husband and wife, exacerbated when Lina discovers a letter informing Johnnie the only way he can get the money required is through the death of his wife. This sets up the race to the climax that just gobsmacks the viewer the entire way.

Grant is charming throughout, and everything he says is layered with double meaning, and they all resonate with Lina, especially the further along the film progresses.

There are twists, turns and one last shocking reveal that changes everything that went before it. I loved this one, but I love a lot of Hitch’s early work, and while Grant had such a horrible experience working with Hitchcock in this one, so much so that he swore never to do it again – a promise he broke a few times, this one was fantastic to watch.

If you’re looking for a classic Hitchcock, and I was surprised I hadn’t seen this one yet, and like Cary Grant, check this one. It’s exceptional, entertaining and kept me guessing until the end. It’s the perfect movie to curl up with in the evening over some popcorn and a bottle of wine.