Eddie Muller, in his Noir Alley wraparounds, mentions from time to time that some of the movies he picks are things that some people will only consider noir-adjacent, if that. I think a good example of a movie he selected but that I would not call noir myself was Suspense.
Barry Sullivan stars as Joe Morgan, a drifter who has moved west from Chicago, leaving behind a girlfriend named Ronnie (Bonita Granville) who is going to show up later to cause trobule. He's got an acquaintance out west who might be able to offer him a job, but that acquaintance says sorry. Perhaps Joe should try the theater across the street; such a big going concern probably always needs a new staff member.
That theater is an ice palace putting on a show with star Roberta Elva (Belita; a former Olympic figure skater in real life). Harry Wheeler (Eugene Pallette) is the assistant manager to theater owner Frank Leonard (Albert Dekker). Unfortunately, the only job available for Joe is in concessions. It doesn't exactly pay well but gives Joe the chance to watch Roberta skate, and she's good-looking enough to turn any man's head. So of course Joe starts lusting after her. The only thing is, she's already married -- and to Frank Leonard of all people. Oops.
So Joe has to come up with some other way to get closer to Roberta. He comes up with an idea when he sees that the box office isn't all that hot because, frankly, the show is getting boring as there's only so much that can be done in such an act. Joe is smart enough to know that there's is more that one can put into an act, and has the idea of coming up not with a ring of fire for Roberta to jump through, but a ring of knives. These will be allegedly sharp knives that are secured to the ring in such a way that Roberta has a small area to jump through. The new act is such a hit that Frank promotes Joe to another assistant position.
Joe continues, rather stupidly, to pursue Roberta, leading Frank to take Roberta off to the mountains while the show is on hiatus. Joe follows along with some papers only Frank can sign, which really ticks Frank off. Frank decides he's going to shoot Joe, but the plan doesn't go to plan. Frank misses, and the loud echo of the gun disturbs the large amount of snow, causing an avalance that kills Frank. But at least with Frank dead Joe and Roberta can marry and live happily ever after.
Yeah right, since the movie isn't anywhere near its running time. In fact, Frank's body is never found, and soon enough, back in Los Angeles, Joe gets the distinct feeling that Frank did not die in the avalanche but is happy enough for everybody to think he's still dead so that he can do whatever to Joe and get away with it, at least until the snow melts and there's no body where there should be one. And wouldn't the authorities have noticed where Frank dug his way out of the snow if it's really him?
Suspense is certainly a good idea for a movie, but the execution here is slightly subpar, I think in part because this was made at Monogram who didn't normally have the highest budgets. Suspense did get a bigger budget than normal, but it still comes across as a movie on a tight budget, with skating scenes feeling like they're padding things out and a surprisingly slow pace. It's not that Suspense is a bad movie so much as it feels like there's something that would make it a much better movie missing.
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