A man is wedded to his own demons, and trapped by his misery in the self-made prisons of his home and heart in Robert Siodmak’s “The Suspect.” 

“The Suspect” is a keystone in the bridge between melodrama and noir, the latter genre, in which Siodmak would eventually establish himself as an essential name. Somewhere between “Gaslight,” and Siodmak’s hard boiled masterpiece “The Killers,” lies a man pacing the parlor and the empty streets, followed by his own predilections. 

That man is inhabited by all time acting legend Charles Laughton. Here, as in most every film of his, at odds with his director over a performance that threads the needle between cartoonish villainy and emotional pathos. They are perhaps no other…

I was sold on the charming recreation of turn-of-the-twentieth-century London from the outset: fog rolling through the cobbled streets, a visual shorthand for our protagonist's state of mind, deep shadows closing in and a distant church bell tolling dolorously. All done on the Universal back lot of course, but done well, setting the scene for the drama to come.

Superficially anodyne, there's a little more depth to the simple setup of murder and concealment than first meets the eye, rooted in Philip Marshall's moral quandary. The film takes care to establish Marshall as a good man through his kindly interactions with the boy Merridrew and Mary Gray, in order to ask the question: can even a man like this be…

The Suspect is yet more proof that Robert Siodmak is a master of noir, even when his film is set in Edwardian London and deals with fairly mundane characters. We know right off what Philip Marshall (Charles Laughton) will do because his wife, Cora (Rosalind Ivan), is such a nag. We know how things will end up because this is 1944 after all. But Siodmak takes us on a captivating journey to the inevitable conclusion. Marshall is like an insect trying to avoid spider’s webs, and how he tries to live a normal life despite his actions carries the narrative. We can’t help rooting for him. After all, he only kills people who deserve it.

“Mr. Marshall’s a fine gentleman.”…

"All beer and skittles now isn't it?"

Philip Marshall (Charles Laughton) is an aging man who feels trapped in an unhappy marriage to his wife Cora (Rosalind Ivan). When Cora quarrels with their son John (Dean Harens), it's the last straw for Philip, who moves into the room across the hall and begins flirting with a younger woman, Mary Gray (Ella Raines), setting in motion a chain of events leading to the murder of both Cora and scumbag neighbour Gilbert (Henry Daniell). It doesn't take long for Inspector Huxley (Stanley Ridges) to pick up the trail and for Philip to become the titular suspect. 

The Suspect is at its best as a mid life crisis film exploring Philip's existential crisis…

For what it is, Suspect is very well done: suspenseful and compelling, with a central character with whom we consistently sympathize, despite his shocking crimes. The problem — and this, I guess, is a me thing — is that everything Mary (Ella Raines) says to Philip (Charles Laughton, who is reserved and excellent) when he comes upon her, sobbing alone, is so laughable, and transparently a line that when it doesn't turn into a set up, with Mary as femme fatale and Philip as her willing patsy well, everything from that point on is at least a little disappointing. I mean, who puts Ella Raines in a movie, saying things like "Golly gee, Mister, I was so busy trying to…

Robert Siodmak's early noir The Suspect is alright, but not quite great. I mean, it is graced with Paul Ivano's wonderful cinematography and the acting of Charles Laughton as our henpecked anti-hero. Unfortunately for the film, it is bested by Lang's Scarlet Street, which came out the following year, and perfects the kind of story presented here with a slower build and deviously biting humor. In this one, Laughton stars as Philip, who develops a hard crush on his employee Mary (Ella Raines) at work. When he tells his wife Cora (Rosalind Ivan) that he wants a divorce, she rejects his overture. When she dies from a fall down the stairs, the authorities suspect Philip. Complicating factors is a blackmail…

“Bring me another cherry tart.”

I want to give Charles Laughton a great big hug. Wonderfully subverts expectations at every turn. Ella Raines’ young woman that comes into the life of the old and lonely Laughton never turns into a backstabbing femme fatale. And their relationship is portrayed as surprisingly wholesome and loving, despite all the possible secret murder stuff.

In any other noir, gothic or melodrama (which this shares elements of), Laughton’s adult son and his new, beautiful wife would come together to work some underhanded scheme against the sweet and naïve Philip (Laughton), but that never happens! No ulterior motives! It’s very refreshing, and credit to both Laughton and Raines for portraying such a believably honest older man/younger…

The Suspect is a tale of murder most justified and murderer most easy to sympathise with. We set our scene in foggy Edwardian London, where Charles Laughton's kindly office worker is henpecked by his awful nagging wife. Light shines down on him when he strikes up a friendship with Ella Raines' beautiful typist in need - but the situation soon escalates leading to murder. Robert Siodmak's film is slow burning but keenly focused. Laughton's lead character carries all the weight of the plot. He may be a murderer, but he only kills horrible people and its not his fault that he had to do it. The film stays away from depicting the more lurid details - the murders are not…

Hollywood gossip, especially from the Golden Age of Hollywood, is the stuff that has always added that extra bit of spice to those old school stars with secrets. Whether it was the monster cocks of Milton Berle and Forrest Tucker, or tales about decadent Hollywood parties that would put Damien Chazelle's Babylon to shame, scandal was everywhere, from illicit affairs to drug problems, rape allegations to pornography rings, and I often think about Danny DeVito's character in L.A. Confidential and how he operated. From Chaplin's penchant for underage girls, to Uncle Walt's Nazi connections, Fatty Arbuckle's rape and manslaughter scandal, to abortions, and the stars who hid their sexuality for fear of alienating audiences and producers alike. From Cary Grant…