‘The Suspect’ or — Siodmak’s Sympathy?
Robert Siodmak’s ‘The Suspect’ (1944) initially plays out in somewhat similar fashion to Fritz Lang’s ‘Scarlet Street’ (1945) as we watch a mild-mannered, middle-aged man with a nagging shrew of a wife fall for a younger, prettier woman and as it all seems too good to be true we suspect murder is just around the corner. The only question is — who’s it going to be and who’s going to do it?
It all starts innocuously enough as married shop manager Philip Marshall (Charles Laughton) strikes up a platonic, yet intense, friendship with Mary Gray (Ella Raines), a friendship so intense it’s not long before a jealous Mrs. Marshall (Rosalind Ivan) becomes increasingly suspicious. Confronting her husband about this “platonic” friendship Philip does the honourable thing, puts his own happiness aside and informs Mary that they can never see each other again. Philip might now be miserable but he’s decent and has retained his dignity before he ended up doing anything foolish.
Until…
‘The Suspect’ does such a good job of convincingly selling this highly unconvincing romance between the young and glamourous Raines and the middle-aged, jowly Laughton that I forgot this was a thriller and not a full-blown love affair I was watching, but when the moment comes when we suddenly, and quite excitedly, realise who is going to get it and by whom everything clicks into place and with some of the pieces fitting into quite unexpected slots.
A good example is that of Philip’s neighbour, Gilbert Simmons (a fantastic Henry Daniell), a drunken, layabout, snobbish rake who doesn’t work and holds those who do, such as lowly shop managers, in utter contempt so when Gilbert fully enters into the narrative halfway through the film shifts from murder/mystery terrain into a scathing look at the bitter resentments driving the British class system. And Gilbert gets to deliver some outstandingly condescending and snarky lines.
Gilbert also helps humanise Philip because although Philip might possibly have done something naughty Siodmak and Laughton do a great job of never having us come close to losing sympathy or understanding for the poor guy, something also helped by Laughton never attempting to steal the limelight and allowing all the many and varied colourful background characters to really shine through instead.
But it’s Siodmak’s tight and unfussy control over everything that really keeps ‘The Suspect’ moving forward, keeping us guessing (total engagement!) and manipulating our emotions and expectations to the perfect degree. The film is brimming with lovely little flourishes, visual treats and character moments that inject a tonne of life into all we’re seeing without it ever feeling obtrusive. There’s also a touch of mercy at play here with Siodmak never putting Laughton’s character completely through the wringer for sadistic pleasure. Instead, there’s a streak of compassion running throughout which helps sweeten the fact that we might’ve been secretly egging a murderer on all this time (I know was).
‘The Suspect’ is great. It’s one of those delicious films that’s packed with so many delightfully horrible meanies that we just know they’re being set up as cannon fodder, so much so that the ending feels less like a lesson in morality and more the film telling us to calm down and that “we can’t just go around murdering everybody now, can we?” All that makes ‘The Suspect’ a fun enough thriller as it is but with that added element of class commentary (and just the right amount so it never overwhelms), a surprisingly touching romance and some outstanding performances means there’s a hell of a lot to enjoy here.
