- A shy young heiress marries a charming gentleman, and soon begins to suspect he is planning to murder her.
- While traveling to the countryside of England by train, the repressed, shy Lina McLaidlaw meets reckless playboy Johnnie Aysgarth when he crashes her first-class cabin with a third-class ticket. When they meet again, Johnnie overhears a conversation of her father about her heritage and courts her, and she immediately falls in love with him. They get married and when they return from their fancy honeymoon, Lina discovers that Johnnie is a broke gambler who borrows money from his friends to live in a high standard. Then she finds out that he is also a liar, and after receiving his old friend and partner in a real-estate business, Beaky, in their home, Lina believes that Johnnie intends to kill Beaky. However, they decide to travel to Paris to dissolve their partnership. When two detectives come to their house to investigate Beaky's mysterious death in Paris, Lina believes Johnnie is the murderer, and she will be his next victim.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- After a chance meeting on a train, Johnnie Aysgarth and Lina McLaidlaw have a whirlwind romance and are married. Johnnie was well known in society circles while Lina is a shy sort. They return from a lengthy European honeymoon to a beautiful house Johnnie's arranged for them. She's a bit shocked to learn, however, that her new husband has no means of support, and seems to live off money he borrows from friends. She soon learns he has a darker side and loves to gamble. Johnnie loves mystery novels, and Lina begins to suspect he would go to any lengths to keep his lifestyle secure. She's certain that a business deal he's dreamed up with his longtime friend Beaky is a scam on his part. When the police inform her that Beaky died in Paris, she's certain her husband is behind it all. Her main concern is whether she will be the next victim.—garykmcd
- If she had ever thought it herself, heiress Lina McLaidlaw receives confirmation that others close to her believe she is destined to become a spinster because of her mousy appearance and demeanor. That's why she falls so hard for Johnnie Aysgarth when he shows a romantic interest in her; he runs in her social class and seems to attract the eyes of many young women with his easy charm and good looks. That romantic interest is a change from their first meeting when he paid her no real attention despite her helping him out of a jam. So her answer is an immediate yes when he asks her to marry him soon after; they elope so nobody can try to talk her out of it. Only after they're officially married does Lina learn that he has no money and has been living off whatever schemes he came up with except actually working at an honest job, although he loves the high life that money can buy. Despite catching him in lies of omission and direct lies, Lina does not believe that he married her solely for what money she would eventually inherit; if money from his wife was his motivation, there were bigger fish in the ocean. Even admissions from Johnnie's friend Beaky of "Johnnie being Johnnie" in his ease of coming up with excuses for his irresponsible lifestyle does not seem to diminish her love for him. But she then suspects him of wanting to murder her for her money.—Huggo
- Debonair charmer Johnnie Aysgarth meets shy Lina McLaidlaw on a train to the country. They soon find themselves at the same event. Their relationship quickly develops and within no time they are married. After things have settled down Lina discovers some unpleasant truths about her husband, in particular that he's unemployed and a gambling addict. What else is he concealing from her and to what lengths would he go to get money to fuel his addiction?—grantss
- Lina McLaidlaw (Joan Fontaine) is a prim, proper English lady, and Johnnie Aysgarth (Cary Grant) is a suave, charming playboy. They're as surprised as anyone when they fall madly in love with each other, but since Lina's stuffy parents would never approve of her romance with a cad like Aysgarth, she must elope. Setting up a lovely home after a whirlwind honeymoon on the Continent, Lina begins to see another side of Johnnie; his charm and bonhomie hide the fact that he's not only broke, but a very accomplished liar.
Worried about their future, Lina presses Johnnie to find employment, and when he comes home one day showering expensive gifts on her, she believes his story of working for an obscure cousin, managing his estates. Dropping in one day at the office of this cousin, Lina is shocked to find that Johnnie was discharged weeks ago, and is told that she need not worry, as his former employee will not prosecute, at least not at this time.
Johnnie always manages to allay Lina's fears with his charm, but she trusts him less and less. One of his old school chums, 'Beaky' Thwaite (Nigel Bruce) has dropped in for a long visit, and Lina begins to suspect the the two of them are cooking up some scheme to cover Johnnie's gambling debts. Beaky has money but little business sense, while Johnnie is always thinking about making money without actually working for it. They have a plan to buy some rocky coastline property and develop a seaside resort, but Johnnie changes his mind at the last minute, so he and Beaky must go to London to dissolve their business arrangement.
Lina's suspicions get the better of her as she imagines Beaky meeting an untimely death on the dangerous road along the coast. Johnnie has been reading lots of murder mysteries, intrigued with the techniques of poisoning someone without leaving a trace. When the police come calling a day later, she learns that Beaky has indeed died mysteriously, and when Johnnie returns she finds she can no longer trust him. She cannot even stay in the same room at night with him, and when he brings a simple glass of milk to her before bed, Lina is filled with dread. She fears that Johnnie now plots to poison her, and collect the money from her life insurance.
Trying to get away while she still can, she tells Johnnie she must visit her Mother. Johnnie is angry with her, but insists on driving her down the same dangerous coastal road, lined with its jagged cliffs.They speed along, Johnnie drives faster and faster, skirting the edge of the cliff, and veering at the last second down a "shortcut". Lina can only ride along in terror of what Johnnie has planned.
As he swerves around a curve, Lina's door falls open and she nearly tumbles out over the edge of the cliff. Screaming, she clings to the car, as Johnnie's hand reaches over. Siezed with terror, she tries to avoid being pushed out, but he lunges at her, and at the last instant pulls her back into the car.
Skidding to a stop, he demands to know what's gotten into her. "How much can a man stand?" he asks. Gradually, understanding comes over her, and as Johnnie explains, she realizes that he had nothing to do with Beaky's death, and that his fascination with poison is centered on himself. He meant to commit suicide rather than face his insurmountable debts, and spare his beloved Lina the shame of seeing him in prison. Clinging to him, she vows that they will face the future together, and they turn the car around for home.
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