Joan Fontaine, who starred in Alfred Hitchcock's first American film, Rebecca, and subsequently won an Oscar for her performance in Hitchcock's Suspicion, is here cast as Alice Pemberton, a well-meaning busybody. Unable to keep her nose out of other people's business, Alice has become a pariah in her neighborhood. The only person willing to put up with Alice's meddling is her husband, John (Gary Merrill), but even he has a breaking point -- and it is John who comes up with a rather blunt method to bring his wife's buttinsky behavior to a permanent end. "The Paragon" is based on a story by prolific novelist Rebecca West.