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| Frank Tuttle: Suspense (US 1946). |
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| Frank Tuttle: Suspense (US 1946). In the center: the ice queen Belita as Roberta Elva. |
Orgasmo / Mord i isbalettern.
US 1946. Director: Frank Tuttle. 101 min
Sog., Scen.: Philip Yordan. F.: Karl Struss. M.: Richard V. Heermance. Scgf.: Frank Paul Sylos. Mus.: Daniele Amfitheatrof.
Int.: Barry Sullivan (Joe Morgan), Belita (Roberta Elva), Albert Dekker (Frank Leonard), Bonita Granville (Ronnie), Eugene Pallette (Harry Wheeler), George E. Stone (Max), Edit Angold (Nora), Leon Belasco (Pierre Yasha).
Prod.: Frank King, Maurice King for King Brothers Productions. DCP
PC: Monogram Productions, Inc.
Music titles: "East Side Boogie" by Tommy Reilly. "With You in My Arms," comp. Dan Alexander, lyr. Dunham. "Cabildo," comp. and lyr. Miguelito Valdes.
Unreleased in Finland.
Bologna: Il Cinema Ritrovato 2020: Guns for Hire: Frank Tuttle vs. Stuart Heisler
DCP from Warner Bros.
E-subtitles in Italian by Sub-Ti Londra.
Viewed at Cinema Jolly, 30 Aug 2020.
Ehsan Khoshbakht (Il Cinema Ritrovato 2020): "Shabby-looking Joe Morgan is offered a way out of skid row when he lands a job as a peanut seller at an ice-skating show. He quickly rises to become the righthand man of impresario Frank Leonard and begins an affair with Frank’s wife, Roberta, the star of the revue. Joe’s involvement with the couple leads to an even quicker reversal of his fortune. Written by Philip Yordan, Suspense has been described as an imaginative riff on Gilda. The films were released only two months apart, so there could be no possibility of influence. Yet, if compared, Tuttle’s work can be seen to be tapping into the darker aspects of his lead character – who, unlike Glenn Ford in Gilda, starts out as a sympathetic bum and ends as a distraught murderer. There is a similar erotic, even voyeuristic air; Frank’s window onto the ice rink is almost like a movie screen, through which he watches his wife’s sensual routines. Performed by English Olympic figure skater Belita, the dancing often becomes orgiastic (the Italian title of the film was Orgasmo), reaching its climax with turns executed at such a speed that the performer’s face can no longer be discerned – transforming her into a statuesque body of desire. Advertised as the King Brothers’ “first million dollar picture”, the film’s hefty budget is reflected less in the choice of actors than it is in the visual quality of the film, especially the impressive set design by Frank Paul Sylos, who was well acquainted with European modernist painting. (Los Angeles’s Pan Pacific Auditorium, with the help of a matte shot, serves as the location for the ice rink). The film plays on cinematic perception, opening with a scene of a woman shooting a man in cold blood, only to reveal later that it has been an illusion, breaking with the conventions of the shot / reverse-shot. The viewer is continually deceived in this way, creating a sense of uncertainty – a tension between what is shown and what is withheld. We see none of the deaths that occur in the film, except maybe the last. Tuttle establishes a world that is continually threatened by what is outside the frame, sustaining a sense of malaise." Ehsan Khoshbakht (Il Cinema Ritrovato 2020)
AA: "Avalanches, cats, ike skaters, jealousy" are the subjects listed for Suspense in the AFI Catalog of American feature films.
After a long period as a contract director for Paramount Pictures (1924–1944), Frank Tuttle, to avoid blacklisting, became independent. Suspense was produced by Monogram Pictures, the very company to which Jean-Luc Godard dedicated À bout de souffle / Breathless, from which the poster photograph of the 2020 edition of Il Cinema Ritrovato has been taken.
Suspense was photographed by Karl Struss, a legendary cinematographer of Paramount elegance, schooled by Alfred Stieglitz, taught to glamour by Cecil B. DeMille and Gloria Swanson, the DP of Murnau's Sunrise and Chaplin's The Great Dictator.
The production numbers featuring Belita, the British Olympic figure scater, are not only stunning. They are beautiful, elegant, and full of poetry, beautifully shot by Struss in dizzying long takes. They are a kind of a farewell by Frank Tuttle to his period as a director of comedies and musicals at Paramount.
Belita had participated in the 1936 Winter Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, and she had been groomed as a successor to the Norwegian Ice Queen of Hollywood, Sonja Henie.
In Suspense, she portrays the ice star Roberta Elva, managed by her husband and impresario Frank Leonard (Albert Dekker). Elbowing his way between them is an East Coast hustler, Joe Morgan (Barry Sullivan). He characterizes himself as an "in-between guy", "always between jobs". But Roberta is a strong woman: "I always take the driver's seat".
In an eerie turn, Joe sneaks his way even into Frank and Roberta's mountain ski hideaway. In the morning, Frank goes skiing armed with his big game shotgun while Joe observes Roberta practicing on an icy pond. A gunshot launches an avalanche, and Frank vanishes without a trace, but back in L.A. his ring appears in Joe's glass, his reflection flashes by, and his still warm pipe is found on the floor.
Joe has proposed for Roberta her most dangerous number, a jump through a loop of long knives and this "dance of death" figures in the exciting finale.
The score by Daniele Amfitheatrof is effective, and the soundtrack is versatile with blues, danse macabre themes, Latin numbers and "dancing in the starlight".
A welcome touch of humanity is provided by Eugene Pallette in his final role. His Hollywood career had started in 1913; we best remember his Friar Tuck, co-starring with Errol Flynn as Robin Hood in 1938.
Frank Tuttle does not distance himself from touches of lurid, melodramatic excess, nor perhaps does he want to. Joe, the male lead, is an anti-hero, whose dismal fate we applaud. Roberta is cool and elegant but remains distant, not surprising for an ice queen.
Quote of the day: "I never shake hands, it's unsanitary".
A brilliant DCP from Warner Bros.
After leaving New York under suspicious circumstances, Joe Morgan gets a job in Los Angeles with ice skating impresario Frank Leonard.
Joe is attracted to beautiful Roberta Elva, the star of the show and Frank's wife. Although Roberta does not encourage Joe's interest, he pays close attention to her performance and suggests that she liven up the act by jumping through a hoop of knives. Frank is impressed enough with the idea to offer Joe a position as his assistant.
When Frank travels to Chicago to buy another ice rink, he leaves Joe in charge of the business. That night, Joe takes Roberta to dinner and, on returning home, finds Ronnie, a former girl friend, waiting in his room. Despite Joe's rejection, Ronnie is determined to get him back. Joe, however, is obsessed with Roberta and believes that she returns his feelings.
When Frank returns, he becomes jealous of Joe and takes Roberta away to their hunting lodge in the mountains for a vacation. Joe invents an excuse to join them, and Frank reluctantly invites him to spend the night. The next morning, while Joe watches Roberta practice skating on the lake, Frank sneaks up behind them and attempts to shoot Joe. The noise of the gun sets off an avalanche and Frank disappears.
Roberta and Joe return to town, where Roberta secretly tells Harry Wheeler, one of Frank's trusted employees, that she has heard Frank in their apartment and believes he is not dead. Some time later, during a party in Roberta's apartment, Joe finds Frank's ring in his champagne glass. One night, Roberta hears noises coming from Joe's office, and when she investigates, she sees Joe locking a desk that is usually left unlocked. She also finds Frank's distinctive pipe there.
The next morning, Roberta learns that the desk has been replaced with a new one, and the old one has been burned. Suspicious, Roberta accuses Joe of killing Frank and hiding his body in the desk. When Joe admits the crime, Roberta insists that he go to the police.
In the meantime, Ronnie has learned why Joe left New York and threatens to expose him if he does not come back to her, but he attacks her, leaving no doubt that he will never take her back. In order to prevent Roberta from going to the police, Joe loosens the fastening on one of the knives in her hoop. At the last minute, however, Joe cannot kill Roberta and stops the show until the loose knife is fixed. As he leaves the auditorium, Ronnie, who is waiting outside, shoots and kills him.
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