Considering the actor and director involved, it's surprising that The Suspect isn't better known. In its day, Robert Siodmak's 1944 adaptation of James Ronald's novel scored with audiences and critics alike, but its reputation pales in comparison with later classics, like The Killing and Criss Cross, possibly because it takes place in fin de siècle London. Charles Laughton, known for his outsized performances, defies expectations by playing a mild-mannered tobacconist who does more emoting with his eyes than his body or voice, tools that made his work in The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Witness for the Prosecution so memorable. His Philip Marshall lives a life of quiet desperation with his thoroughly unpleasant wife, Cora (Scarlet Street's Rosalind Ivan in an admirably vanity-free performance), but he has one saving grace: his son, John (Dean Harens), who has inherited his pleasant disposition. When John flies the coop to escape his nagging mother, Cora escalates her campaign of verbal abuse. Philip responds by moving into John's old room. One day, Mary (Ella Raines, Phantom Lady), a desperate young stenographer, asks him about a job, but he doesn't have any openings. Later that day, he catches her weeping while on his way home from work.
She confesses that she's starving, so he takes her out to dinner and offers to introduce her to shopkeepers who might need assistance. Through his efforts, she lands a job at a dress shop. Philip and Mary continue to dine and to take in shows until guilt gets the best of him, and he breaks it off. By that point, Cora has gotten wind of the relationship, threatening to expose Mary as a harlot in order to get her fired. Philip asks for a divorce, Cora refuses. Then he takes a look at the sharp-edged walking stick in his umbrella stand. Through the cinematic equivalent of ellipses, Siodmak skips to the next day by which time gossipy Laburnum Terrace is abuzz with the news that Cora Marshall had a fatal fall. At first, nothing changes, but then Inspector Huxley (Stanley Ridges) starts sniffing around, putting Philip on edge.
After a period of mourning, he and Mary rekindle their romance, but another obstacle presents itself in the form of nasty neighbor Gilbert Simmons (Henry Daniell), an alcoholic abuser who threatens to frame him for Cora's death, not because he suspects him, but because he can't resist the lure of easy money. Soon, he too disappears from the scene. Like a bad penny, Huxley keeps finding ways to reenter Philip's life, even as he and Mary make plans to relocate to Canada. Remarkably, this murderous antihero remains sympathetic, not least because his extreme measures serve to protect Mary and Simmons's abused wife, Edith (Molly Lamont), from harm. Throughout, cinematographer Paul Ivano makes effective use of fog, shadows, rain-slicked cobblestones, and curious kittens, while film historian Troy Howarth offers a highly informative commentary track about this surprisingly tender tale that only grows in stature with every new detail he provides. Highly recommended.