The Suspect

Unlike the grim dramas of Fritz Lang Edward G. Robinson played in (Scarlet Street and The Woman In the Window) Charles Laughtons' character of a genteel middle aged and middle class Englishman of the early 20th Century seems to be a figure of strength and solidity. The only thing to ruin this is a classic harridan of a wife at home. A loveless marriage that has produced a son the only point of agreement this couple has agreed to in the two decades + of this anchor on Mr. Marshall's soul. Then comes the heavenly disaster of love in the form of newly unemployed Ella Raines. No Joan Bennett sexpot/wench as in Woman In the Window,but a Good and proper English girl down on her luck who meets the kindly Mr. Marshall who at first is only doing the Good Deed that has earned him the respect of his neighborhood. But when you have the Nag from Hell(played to the nines by an icy shrewish Rosiland Ivans) and Henry Daniells as your pseudo-Gentleman stumblebum in the area Deep Trouble for the Good Man awaits. Add in Stanley Ridges performance as a Scotland Yard Inspector who Sherlock Holmes would respect as an equal,and you have a very distinct and classy journey down the Boulevard of Bad Choices for Good Reasons. Daniell's realization (too late)that Mr. Marshall has steel in his backbone is Movie Cool.