Movie Stats:
Released 1941 (USA)
American, in English
Director - Alfred Hitchcock
Stars - Cary Grant, Joan Fontaine, Nigel Bruce
Plot Summary:
After a whirlwind romance, wealthy “spinster” Lina McLaidlaw (Fontaine) marries playboy Johnnie Aysgarth (Grant), but once the honeymoon is over, she begins to have serious doubts. Bruce co-stars as Johnnie’s friend, Gordon “Beaky” Thwaite.
Warnings:
Very minor violence.
Bad Stuff:
I know this has been a trope in Hollywood since time immemorial, but slapping a pair of glasses on a beautiful woman and putting a “nerdy” book in her hands doesn’t make me believe she’s socially awkward or ugly or a spinster, etc.
The “violent” scenes are pretty cheesy.
I think Grant was miscast. He didn’t give the role of Johnnie everything it needed.
Good Stuff:
I loved Beaky.
It’s one of those rare suspense films that’s actually suspenseful/kept me guessing. I had no idea until the end whether or not Lina’s suspicions were founded.
It does a great job of exploring its two main themes: 1. That it’s generally a bad idea to marry someone you hardly know and 2. That being untrustworthy in one regard typically makes one untrustworthy to others in all regards.
I like that it didn’t go for the obvious ending.
About the Performance:
I liked Fontaine. I thought she did an okay job, pretty standard 1940s heroine stuff, but in no way do I think she deserved an Oscar for this role. (I wonder if it was a “make up” award for not receiving the Oscar for “Rebecca.”) I’d like to see more from her, maybe do a head-to-head with her sister’s movies, in honor of their lifelong feud.
Other performances of Fontaine’s I’ve reviewed: Rebecca.
The Verdict:
It’s not the most masterful suspense film I’ve ever seen—Hitchcock certainly has better—but I quite liked it. I enjoyed the mystery of Lina trying to figure out whether Johnnie being one kind of cad meant that he was also a different, more sinister kind of cad. I’m also a fan of the costuming, set design, and soundtrack. But really, Nigel Bruce made the movie for me. As soon as he arrived on-screen, everything got ten times better.
I give it 4.25 stars.
2 comments:
My most famous example of nerdy glasses do not make someone ugly: Just My Luck starting Lindsay Lohan and a pre-Star-Trek Chris Pine. It was the fourth movie I watched flying from Amsterdam to Portland. Chris Pine is supposed to be this guy that Lindsay Lohan wouldn't want to be with, partially because of his nerdy glasses. And I'm watching this film thinking, "I don't know who that actor is, but those glasses aren't hiding how incredibly gorgeous and fit he is."
Oh yeah, there's no hiding how gorgeous Chris Pine is. Or Joan Fontaine for that matter.
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