Best Actress: Joan Fontaine

Joan Fontaine's the only actor to ever receive an Oscar for an Alfred Hitchcock film. Ponder that one for a moment.

via puranonofficial

Though he's lauded as one of the greats these days—and was in those days as well—it's true: Joan Fontaine's the only person who was ever critically awarded for being in a Hitchcock film. Imagine if Ingrid Bergman had've won for any of her Hitchcock films; or Grace for her spate of thrillers. Tippi Hendren? It's amazing there isn't a stable of Hitchcockian Oscar winners. 

But we're not here to talk about how Hitchcock had a knack for pulling Oscar-winning performances out of his actors, we're here to talk about Joan Fontaine's turn as the shy, retiring, mousy and suspicious Lina McLaidlaw. 

She possesses none of the cool, detached glamour of a traditional Hitchcock blonde. She lands the handsome hunk, but she's never really sure of his motives, and indeed, seems to only marry Cary Grant's Johnnie Aysgarth because she wants out of her father's house. That's the crux of the story: Lina is suspicious of her husband. He lies about everything, his job, his background, his new job, his financial security, and just expects Lina to go along with it like a good little housewife who's supposedly sitting on a family nest egg (that never materializes, unfortunately for him). 

And because Johnny's suspicious, Lina spends the whole movie reacting to the trickles of information she gathers about his character. Everything gives her pause. Even the milk. She thinks she knows what Johnny's capable of—he's got a gambling problem—and every time she thinks she's reached the summit, she finds a new suspicion.

I won't give away the ending; it kinda fizzles out though. I hadn't seen this in years, and I only vaguely remembered the storyline. But when it came to the ending, I jerked back: "That's it?" Sure enough! Lina's nothing if not resigned to her fate. Couldn't be me!

Now let's talk about the Joan Fontaine of it all. I'm a big Joan fan. I'm also a big Olivia de Havilland fan. I think if you made me choose I'd find it practically impossible to do so. They're both so talented, excelling at such different ways of playing characters, and even though they both played a lot of similar roles, I don't think either could have swapped films and have done it better than the original. 

In 1941, they became the first pair of sisters to be nominated for the Oscar in the same category (Lynn and Vanessa Redgrave would repeat it in 1966, though neither won). I think Joan's nomination, although earned, probably came on the heels of Rebecca being snubbed. She was great in Rebecca and probably might've won if Kitty Foyle and Ginger Rogers didn't exist. Olivia, meanwhile, was coming off of Gone With the Wind and riding the success of her partnership with Errol Flynn. 

I think Joan was a great actress; she said so much with the tilt of an eyebrow. Really, aside from Vivien Leigh, I don't think there was an actress working at the time that could do so much with just her eyebrows. She imbues her characters with sensitivity and earnestness. Just as I don't think she could've played those cool, sexy Hitchcock blondes that he idolized, I don't think any of those actresses could've played Lina without becoming a parody. Joan was the shy and retiring, saying so much in the quiet moments kind of actress. 

Much like the year before, when Ginger prevailed over a pantheon of similarly great actresses, Joan was up for a challenge in 1941. Her fellow nominees included Bette Davis (The Little Foxes), Olivia de Havilland (Hold Back the Dawn), Greer Garson (Blossoms in the Dust), and Barbara Stanwyck (Ball of Fire). I'm of the opinion that Joan deserved the Oscar for Suspicion, but I really enjoyed Blossoms in the Dust and The Little Foxes.

If nothing else, this Oscar ceremony helped build the longstanding feud between Olivia and Joan: according to her own autobiography, No Bed of Roses, Liv had to practically walk Joan to the Oscars that year because she didn't want to go. And, while we'll get into it later, when Liv won a few years later, her gratitude and grace didn't extend as far as her sister's hand: Joan was standing backstage waiting to congratulate her older sister and got snubbed for her efforts. 

Egads. Feud? I think it's more than just suspicion... 

DID I LIKE SUSPICION? It's not up there with my favourite Hitchcock films (those belong to To Catch a Thief, Rear Window, The Man Who Knew Too Much and Mr. and Mrs. Smith) nor my favourite Joan films (those belong to The Constant Nymph, Frenchman's Creek, Letter from an Unknown Woman, and Maid's Day Out) but it's quite a good story and Joan's great in it. 
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Did you like Suspicion? What are your thoughts on Joan Fontaine's Oscar win? 

Keep up with all my Rewatching the Best Actresses posts here.