Lyrics
We're
caught in a trap
I can't walk out
Because I love you too much baby
Why can't you see
What you're doing to me
When you don't believe a word I say?
We can't go on together
With suspicious minds (suspicious minds)
And we can't build our dreams
On suspicious minds
So if an old friend I know
Drops by to say hello,
Would I still see suspicion in your eyes?
Here we go again
Asking where I've been
You can't see the tears are real
I'm crying (yes i'm crying)
We can't go on together
With suspicious minds (suspicious minds)
And we can't build our dreams
On suspicious minds
Oh let our love survive
I'll dry the tears from your eyes
Let's don't let a good thing die
When honey, you know
I've never lied to you
Mmm yeah, yeah
Repeat Verse 1 & 2
We're caught in a trap,
I can't walk out x6
I can't walk out
Because I love you too much baby
Why can't you see
What you're doing to me
When you don't believe a word I say?
We can't go on together
With suspicious minds (suspicious minds)
And we can't build our dreams
On suspicious minds
So if an old friend I know
Drops by to say hello,
Would I still see suspicion in your eyes?
Here we go again
Asking where I've been
You can't see the tears are real
I'm crying (yes i'm crying)
We can't go on together
With suspicious minds (suspicious minds)
And we can't build our dreams
On suspicious minds
Oh let our love survive
I'll dry the tears from your eyes
Let's don't let a good thing die
When honey, you know
I've never lied to you
Mmm yeah, yeah
Repeat Verse 1 & 2
We're caught in a trap,
I can't walk out x6
Jailhouse Rock is of course a great song, and so is Hound Dog. But for the most part I am a bit indifferent towards Elvis Presley. I like most of his faster paced rock songs, but do not really put them on voluntarily. And his ballads, such as this one speak even less to me. Having said that, Elvis Presley is one of those artists about whom it doesn't matter squat how you feel about him. He is one of the greatest, and most important musicians of all time. His cultural influence is undeniable, and maybe bigger than of any other artist on this list. I won't write much else about him, because I don't really have anything to add to what's already been written about him. But if you want to read a film critic write extensively about Elvis, you should read the blog of the great Sheila O'Malley. I'll just move on to the film I am going to discuss, which is a rather obvious choice. A song about suspicious minds must result in a movie by a certain director. Coincidentally that director can also be seen as a cinematic counterpart to Elvis. There may have been no more an influential director than Alfred Hitchcock.
The Movie: Suspicion (Alfred Hitchcock, 1941)
Some of my favorite recent movies are Bernie, The Informant (which is by far the greatest film Steven Soderbergh ever made) and David Cronenberg's new Maps to the Stars (I am surprised to see that this one got such negative reviews. I loved it). What all these movies have in common is a protagonist (or in the case of Maps to the Stars, a couple of protagonists) who is placed in a (romantic) comedy setting. At, least, that's how it appears to be. Gradually, the plot unfolds, and we get to meet the other characters better, and the movie becomes darker. We realize that the main protagonist is actually placed in a rather realistic, dramatic setting, but that the movie plays as a (black) comedy is because we are watching the movie from the point of view of the main protagonist. And you can even perhaps say that we are watching the movie as if it were made by the main protagonist. That's certainly true about The Informant and Bernie. I find this a very interesting way to make a character drama, as it allows the directors to really dig deep into the dark mind of their main character. It also makes the characters more disturbing and fascinating than if they were simply presented as sociopaths/psychopaths in a more straightforward drama, which is of course not to say that these movies are by definition less valuable.
Hithcock does a similar thing with Cary Grant's Johnny in Suspicion, and for most of the time this is a very interesting mix between a thriller and a romantic comedy. It is, certainly for a Hitchcock movie, a bit light on tension and suspense, but its characterizations are very strong. Joan Fontaine got an Oscar for her role as Lina, Johnny's wife, and although I haven't seen the other nominated performances, I think Fontaine's Oscar (interestingly she beat her sister Olivia de Havilland, who was nominated for Hold Back the Dawn) is very deserved. She gives a great performance as a really rather normal, but slightly shy woman. That the movie can be called one of Hitchcock's lesser efforts is because of the ending, which utterly disrespects the character of Lina.
During the movie Johnny has been quite greatly portrayed as a sociopathic gambler and liar, who doesn't even seem to realize that his behavior is/may be considered problematic. While he is wooing Lina he acts as a familiar character of a romantic comedy, and so does Lina. Eventually Lina falls for him, and they marry and go on a honeymoon. Considering that happiness never really lasts long in a Hitchcock film their marriage and honeymoon are handled in two very short scenes, after which Lina and Johnny start their life as a married couple in their new home. Lina begins to act as a serious ordinary responsible woman, while Johnny is stuck in a romantic comedy mode. Moreover he is broke and doesn't seem to care about it. Johnny's behavior slowly grows more shocking, and Lina is rightfully becoming more and more afraid and suspicious of him. Some of these scenes are quite powerful, exactly because Johnny is presented in a quite benevolent way. Without really being evil he is slowly and silently abusing Lina and making her submissive to him. The scene in which Johnny and his best friend try to make Lina laugh, and eventually succeed may be the best example of this. For a while this movie is such a stark portrayal of latent sexism that one can't help but think that those critics accusing Hitchcock of being a misogynist should really watch this movie. Unfortunately these critics would consider themselves right by the movie's ending. But the fact that the ending is sexist is not its biggest problem. I would not really object to it, had it been consistent with the characters' behavior. It also cannot be called ambiguous, because of the stylistic choices made by Hitchcock. I understand that Hitchcock himself was not happy about the ending, and that it was imposed on him by the studio because it didn't want Cary Grant to be a villain, but that doesn't make the ending less sucky. It brings the movie down as a whole.
Anyway this was a rather short piece, and not the most interesting one on a Hitchcock movie you'll ever read. That would be the case even if the movie had a better ending. It would have been a fun character drama, making some interesting points, but this is not one of Hitchcock's richer movies. This was most certainly not the last Hitchcock movie I'll discuss here though. And those other movies, and posts will certainly be more interesting, though my feelings about Hitchcock are a bit similar to those about Elvis, though I get much more out of Hitchcock's movies than out of Elvis's songs. It's undeniable that Hitchcock's movies are great. Modern critics may sometimes be a bit to defensive about them, but if you wanna write that his movies are overrated, you really don't have any bossiness writing (about film). I just enjoy Hitchcock's movies mostly on a textual/narrative level. There are other directors whose themes and ideas they explore I find much more interesting than Hitchcock's, even if Hitchcock most often explores his themes and ideas more expertly than these other directors.
