Wives Under Suspicion (1938)
A hard-driving district attorney, riding a long run of death-penalty convictions, takes the case of a professor who shot his unfaithful wife. As the trial goes on, the prosecutor grows convinced that his own neglected wife is betraying him, and feels the same murderous jealousy taking hold of him.
Wives Under Suspicion is James Whale’s own reworking of his 1933 melodrama The Kiss Before the Mirror, remade five years later at Universal with a tighter budget and a lesser cast. Long written off as an inferior retread, it has drawn fresh interest from critics tracing Whale’s work beyond the horror films he is remembered for.
Background
Wives Under Suspicion is a 1938 drama directed by James Whale and is a remake of his own 1933 melodrama The Kiss Before the Mirror. Warren William stars as a hard-driving district attorney who takes on the case of a professor who shot his unfaithful wife. The remake was made five years later with a smaller budget and a less prominent cast. Long written off as an inferior retread, the film has drawn renewed interest from critics tracing Whale’s work beyond the horror films he is best remembered for. It runs about sixty-nine minutes.
What to watch for
Look for the courtroom plot, in which a prosecutor on a long run of death-penalty convictions takes on a case that mirrors his own growing suspicion. As the trial proceeds, he becomes convinced that his neglected wife is betraying him, and the film traces how that jealousy takes hold of him. Warren William’s performance is central, and the film’s trial and domestic scenes alternate to build the tension. Whale’s direction is more restrained than his horror work, relying on character and dialogue rather than spectacle. Notice how the film parallels the prosecutor’s private doubts with the public case, so that the courtroom becomes a mirror for his own state of mind.
