Book Review of Hitchcock's Partner in Suspense by Charles Bennett, Edited by John Charles Bennett (2014)

Hitchcock’s Partner in Suspense: The Life of Screenwriter Charles Bennett. Charles Bennett. Edited by John Charles Bennett. Lexington, Kentucky: The University of Kentucky Press, 2014. 279 pages.


By Patrick Charsky


Charles Bennett outlived so many of his peers. There are countless stories of Screenwriters fading out in Patrick McGilligan’s Backstory 1: Screenwriters from Hollywood’s Golden Age. So many fell into poverty and obscurity only to be rediscovered in McGilligan’s fine book. Charles Bennett lived to be ninety-five years old. He was one of the last relics of a bygone era: The Golden Age of Hollywood. The result of his many years of experience and reflection is his autobiography which spans decades of active life writing for stage and screen.

Charles Bennett was a screenwriter who rose to international fame by writing many of Alfred Hitchcock’s early British “talkies.” Included in these films is the first European sound film, Blackmail. Charles then made the move to Hollywood and worked there until the late 1960’s when his career took a turn for the worse. Not to be denied Charles kept writing for twenty-five years after his supposed retirement at sixty-five. Towards the end of his life he wrote an interesting memoir of his life which documents the highs and lows of the difficult career of a screenwriter. It was published posthumously by his son, John Charles Bennett, who also served as editor of Partner in Suspense.

Mr. Bennett’s story is not just about his life in screenwriting, it is also a reflection on the most important events of 20th Century History; WWI, WWII, and the invention of the most important art form of that century: Film. Through an analysis of Charles’ career and films, this review will show what drove him to great success and obscurity in later years. Perhaps not as romantic as F. Scott Fitzgerald or as successful as Charlie Chaplin, Charles still managed to live and work in Hollywood longer than Fitzgerald or Chaplin. His memoir stands as a testament to his devotion to the craft of Screenwriting and the movie business.

The most successful time for Charles, like F. Scott Fitzgerald, came when Charles was a young man. Mr. Bennett decided to write when he was in his early 20’s. One of his first stage plays was Blackmail. It was soon noticed by a young and up and coming Film Director who had made Silent films, Alfred Hitchcock. Hitchcock turned Blackmail into a film and it was a smashing success. More films came out of Mr. Bennett’s partnership with Hitchcock; The Man Who Knew Too Much, Sabotage, and Foreign Correspondent are all films that stand up against time and still remain classics.

These were the good times for Charles. Charles and Hitchcock worked together during the days and shared ideas over cocktails at night. Charles was heralded as the most successful film writer in all of Britain. The present was excellent and the future seemed very bright for Charles. In Chapter five, Charles writes of his contribution to Hitch’s reputation as the “Master of Suspense,” “Alfred Hitchcock, quite rightly, is known as the Master of Suspense, but as suspense has been my middle name, and, being a somewhat conceited individual, I like to believe that I contributed in no small way to Hitch’s reputation.” Charles would remain resentful about Hitch never giving him the credit he felt he deserved. Charles is candid throughout the book about being snubbed by Hitchcock, Film Critics, and fans alike for always citing Hitch, but never giving Charles any credit for the work he did on those early films. Charles’ attributes the repeated snubbing to Hitch’s unwillingness to given writers or anyone else any of the credit. Charles says Hitch was overly ambitious and greedy and devious with taking credit, a reflection of his sadistic character.

With his reputation soaring and offers from Hollywood coming in, Charles decided to make the move to Hollywood. A move that would cause him much anguish in his later years. This was the end of Charles and Hitch’s work together.

Chapters six and seven are the best in the book. They brim with interesting stories about a film that almost didn’t get made because of a British Film executive, the lasting popularity of Charles’ screenplay The 39 Steps, as well as advice about how to write a suspense screenplay; “..the last ten pages are the most important.” While the rest of the World was mired in the Great Depression, Charles was living a glamorous life with friends like Errol Flynn and C. Aubrey Smith, the head of the British Colony in Hollywood.

This begs the question, why did Charles move to Hollywood? Why didn’t he stay in London, even if it was for less money? He had plenty of opportunities to return, before he married for a second time to a wife who couldn’t stand London. It seems that money was the most important factor in any decision Charles made. Perhaps this was Charles’ demon; he always wanted more money, more fame, more recognition. Charles, like Charlie Chaplin, grew up desperately poor and without a father, perhaps that’s why he wanted wealth and fame so badly. When his career fizzled out, he became very bitter at having to stare poverty and obscurity in the face again, like his childhood.

All was not lost, for a time, in his move to Hollywood. Charles rebounded from his contract not being renewed to find work as a screenwriter in the Studio System. Charles recounts his film Joan of Paris as being the best film he ever made. It is a very good film. And it’s much better than propaganda. He also scripted the very enjoyable Balalaika which has hints of Doctor Zhivago and Nicholas and Alexandra. Both films deal with issues related to World War II, the Nazi tyranny in Paris, and the lives of exiled Russians after the collapse of the Czar.

Charles also worked with Hitch again on Foreign Correspondent. Charles’s career was hitting all cylinders and accelerating year by year. In his chapter Cause for Alarm, Charles writes, “I was enjoying myself, living high on the hog, never having to count the coins. Looking back, the greater part of my early Hollywood existence seems to have consisted of writing at the studios by day, and living things up by night.”

Unlike other writers, Charles made the transition from Films to TV rather well. By his account he wrote over two-hundred teleplays through the 1950’s and 60’s. He even made a cult classic, Curse of the Demon, which holds up well. It is only after a film for Irwin Allen, The Lost World, that Charles went into terminal decline. By that time Charles was in his 60’s, times were changing, the Studio System was falling apart, audiences were changing, what was Charles to do?

Charles kept writing for another twenty-five years without having any sales. Charles blamed age discrimination for his failures. His home life became a mess at around this time. Charles and his second wife Betty fought about his talent as a writer, money, and substance abuse. It is at this time that Charles became very bitter and negative about his life and work in Hollywood. The writing of the autobiography also becomes less good. Exclamation points are used too frequently and the reader senses that there are many things Charles is not being honest about. His drinking, his obsession with money, and refusing to admit that his creative powers had declined are all ignored by Charles. In Charles’ words, “The worst thing in the world for a writer is to come to Hollywood. It destroys you.”

What is left out of chapter sixteen, is filled in by his son in the final two chapters of the book. In those chapters Charles’ son relays information about Charles’ failing health and marital problems. On a positive note Charles did experience a renaissance in the 1980’s. Someone wanted to remake Blackmail and Charles owned the rights to the film. The film was not re-made, but Charles felt like he finally received some recognition for all his efforts. In a final triumph, Charles received the Writers Guild of America- Laurel Award for Achievement in Screenwriting.

In his memoir, Charles takes us on a journey that began in the 1920’s and ended in the 1990’s. Charles shows the reader the highs and lows of a screenwriting career; many lessons about the movie business are imparted to readers. Charles struggled with wanting fame and fortune his whole life. In his book he has written lucidly about his time on the battlefields of WWI to his time working in the Studio system, and to his later years.

Charles’ rise from poverty in England to international fame in Hollywood shows what an extraordinary life he had. Hitchcock’s Partner in Suspense documents that life. And is accessible for all those who wish to understand not only the life of Charles Bennett, but also the life of a screenwriter enduring the hardships and, at times, immense rewards of writing for the movies.