Hitchcock Chronology: Suspicion (1941)

November

Alma and Joan Harrison complete an initial treatment of Francis Iles' 1932 book Before the Fact. Screenwriter Samson Raphaelson then spends the next 5 weeks fashioning the full script for what would become Suspicion. Raphaelson would later recall it as being "the easiest and most pleasant" experience he had working in the film industry.^[1]

February

10th - Hitchcock commences filming on Suspicion for RKO, starring Cary Grant and Joan Fontaine.^[2]

June

Still unsure of the best ending for the film, Suspicion is shown to a test audience. The filmed ending — which sees Joan Fontaine drinking a glass of milk she believes to be poisoned only to discover Cary Grant is instead intending to commit suicide by poisoning himself — is rejected. Hitchcock later tells the New York Herald Tribune, the audience "booed [the ending], and I don't blame them." In desperation, Joan Harrison and Hitchcock eventually come up with a new ending, which is the one used in the released film.^[3]
George Schaefer, head of production at RKO, sends a memo to Hitchcock with a suggested new ending for Suspicion.^[4] A few days later, writer Samson Raphaelson sends the director a letter with his thoughts about the ending.^[5]
RKO, who have recently undergone a change of management, threaten to recut Suspicion to under an hour. Furious protests by Hitchcock, Myron and David O. Selznick force the studio to back down and release Hitchcock's version of the film, but not before changing the film's title from Beyond the Fact to Suspicion, much to the director's consternation (a "cheap and dull" title).^[6]

October

8th - Actor Nigel Bruce, who appeared in Rebecca and Suspicion, dies of a heart attack, aged 58.

August

6th - Actor Cedric Hardwicke, who appeared in Suspicion and Rope, dies from cancer aged 71.

February

24th - Composer Franz Waxman, who scored Rebecca, Suspicion, The Paradine Case and Rear Window, dies from cancer aged 60.

February

14th - Cinematographer Harry Stradling, Sr., who worked with Hitchcock on Jamaica Inn, Mr. & Mrs. Smith and Suspicion, dies aged 68.

November

19th - Actor Cary Grant, who starred in Suspicion, Notorious, To Catch a Thief and North by Northwest, dies aged 82.

December

15th - Actress Joan Fontaine, who starred in Rebecca and Suspicion, dies aged 96.

References