Suspicion. 1941. USA. Directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Screenplay by Samson Raphaelson, Joan Harrison, Alma Reville, based on the novel by Francis Iles. With Cary Grant, Joan Fontaine, Sir Cedric Hardwicke. 35mm. 100 min.
Joan Fontaine discovers that her new husband (Cary Grant) is a gambler, a swindler—and possibly a murderer. Hitchcock confides in Truffaut that he had an alternate ending in mind for Suspicion: “The scene I wanted, but it was never shot, was for Cary Grant to bring her a glass of milk that’s been poisoned and Joan Fontaine has just finished a letter to her mother: ‘Dear Mother, I’m desperately in love with him, but I don’t want to live because he’s a killer. Though I’d rather die, I think society should be protected from him.’ She drinks the milk and dies. Cary Grant, whistling cheerfully, walks over to the mailbox and pops the letter in.”