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Suspense (1946)
Topic Started: Sep 9 2015, 09:10 AM (200 Views)
rodney
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Say…when’s the last time you saw an ice skating, musical, noir film?

I could also just as well ask when the last time was that you saw a Monogram movie that cost over a million dollars?

As near as I can figure, Suspense is the first and only example of movies in both of these categories.

Here’s what you’ve got. Barry Sullivan (he plays a guy named Joe)rolls into town from New York and quickly gets a job as a peanut vendor at a large ice skating show. Don’t worry. You’ll see lots of ice skating in this film.
Joe is paying lots of attention to the star of the show, Belita (here called Roberta), and her husband Frank, who produces the ice show doesn’t like it. Yet, in spite of this, through a couple of lucky breaks Barry quickly becomes head guy of the ice show, but that’s not quite enough. He decides that he wants to push Frank out of the picture and get everything. Unfortunately for Joe (Sullivan), Ronnie (Bonita Granville) shows up.

Ronnie and Joe have some kind of a past together, and because of the kind of movie this is, we can assume it’s nothing good. Still, as near as I can recall, we never really learn what that is. Meanwhile, while Ronnie is digging up some dirt on Joe, he decides to go spend a couple of weeks at a cabin with Roberta and Frank during a snow storm. Frank gets wise to what’s happening and then everything goes haywire.

I’d previously been wary of this movie because of a batch of bad reviews, including this vintage one from Bosley Crowther: "The Monogram people are so puffed up by the fact that their new film, Suspense, which came yesterday to the Victoria, is their first 'million-dollar release' that we wonder why some boastful genius didn't give it the title 'Expense.' At least, such a tag would betoken the little there is in this film and it wouldn't provoke expectation of something that isn't there. For, apart from some ice-skating numbers (which presumably coat all that coin), it has nothing to recommend it—let alone the thing of which the title speaks ... Frank Tuttle was the director from a script by Philip Yordan. Neither of their contributions is in the million-dollar class."

Plus, keep in mind that I actually like Monogram movies, but I wasn’t sure if I could handle one that’s nearly an hour and forty five minutes long. That said, I liked it. I didn’t love it, and the ice skating scenes in particular drag everything to a stop and must be where they spent all of their money. The cast is good, the plot is somewhat engaging, and it’s nice to see them actually put some effort into something.
They screened this 8 or 9 years ago at Cinevent, and in the program guide stated that if you come in 5 minutes late, you’ll think it’s an RKO. I would agree with that.

It’s available from Warner Archive in a pretty good print that has slightly muffled sound sometimes. Although it should be noted that other reviewers have praised the quality of the transfer.
Edited by rodney, Sep 9 2015, 09:41 AM.
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