Shadow of a Doubt

"Shadow Of A Doubt" is one of those personal, small-scale, sharply observed, psychologically focused Alfred Hitchcock films which tend to be among his best ("Sabotage", "Suspicion", "Rope", etc.). It is largely a coming-of-age (or rather, a rude awakening) story, and Teresa Wright gives an utterly captivating performance. Joseph Cotten is also excellent, and they are backed by a vivid supporting cast (that little girl Ann has some wondrous line readings) and equally vivid small-town atmosphere. The library sequence, and particularly the moment when Wright discovers the truth on a newspaper and the waltz music blasts through, is among the most brilliant, and most chilling, of his entire career. ***1/2 out of 4.

Handsome and uncomplicated uncle Charlie (Joseph Cotten)has come to visit his family in Santa Rosa, returning to home town after longer absence. Although he seems a good man, his young niece (Teresa Wright)slowly comes to aware he is a wanted merry widow killer and he comes to recognize her malignant suspicions. The suspicious uncle Charlie gradually becoming stronger and mysterious. Meantime two detectives (Mcdonald Carey and Wallace Ford) are investigating. Further developments ensure an exciting climax on train.

From the story by Gordon McConnell, the picture gets unlimited suspense in crescendo, tense, full of lingering frames and with the typical touches Hitchcock. Besides a literately and thoughtful dialog signed by Thornton Wilder and Alma Reville (Hitchcock's usual screenwriter and wife) though lacking humor . After his successful British films as ¨39 steps¨ and ¨Jamaica Inn¨ , Hitch was encouraged to go to America and promptly shot his first work in Hollywood hired by the great producer David O'Selznick ; later on he directed this excellent picture . Fine performance by Joseph Cotten as sunny and cynic uncle Charlie . Teresa Wright as shy and glad young is superb and enjoyable . Likable couple formed by Henry Travers and Hume Cronyn in his film debut , booth of whom speaking continuously about murders. And of course cameo role by Alfred Hitchcock , this time as a man on train playing cards. Atmospheric and perceptible music by the maestro Dimitri Tiomkin, including piano sounds . Sensational visual style in black and white cinematography by the cameraman by Joseph Valentine . This interesting movie is brilliantly directed by the Master Hitchcock, resulting to be his favorite personal. It's remade in 1958 in quite inferior remake titled ¨Step down to terror¨ by Harry Keller with Charles Drake, Rod Taylor,Jocelyn Brando and Josephine Hutchinson, furthermore a lousy Television movie. The motion picture is indispensable watching for Hithcock lovers achieving the maximum impact on his audience. Rating : Very good, engrossing and essential viewing.

Alfred Hitchcock's style as a director was a bit like a train – it ran perfectly well, but only along its own lines. He wasn't comfortable adapting his style to suit the material, but when the material suited his style he could do incredible things.

Three years and five pictures into his Hollywood career, Hitch had been having some trouble finding projects he was comfortable with. He had made a couple of adventure thrillers in the vein of his late 30s British films, but the old magic wasn't there. Finally, with Shadow of a Doubt he came upon a project that was right up his street. It represents a welcome return to the domestic murder dramas that had given him his earliest successes (The Lodger, Blackmail), with a storyline ideal for Hitchcock. It is the purest example of murder in a "normal" setting, bringing the audience uncomfortably close to the killer, helped along with plenty of the grisly gallows humour that the Master loved.

Hitch's British pictures had great charm and character, but they were often technically a little haphazard. By now though he knows exactly how to use the camera to manipulate the audience. He begins by carrying us into the story, sweeping in over the city through scenery both pretty and ugly, to home in on an average looking neighbourhood. From then on, every shot, move and edit is calculated to keep up the suspense and unfold the plot. Whereas those early films were swamped and sometimes spoiled by showy camera tricks, Hitch now uses those techniques sparingly, like playing a trump card. For example, he has Joseph Cotton look directly into the camera for a brief moment as he snatches the newspaper back from Theresa Wright. Another trick is to have the camera dolly back as a character advances, only at a faster speed than the actor is moving, which gives a very dizzying effect.

Special mention should also be made of Dimitri Tiomkin's score. Tiomkin was the best composer Hitch worked with before Bernard Hermann, and one of the few who really understood how a Hitchcock film needs to be scored. His sparse string arrangements really capture that sense of spiralling terror without overpowering the scene and turning it into melodrama. He interpolates Franz Lehar's Merry Widow waltz at just the right level, making it noticeable but never overstated– throwing in just a bar or two at an opportune moment, sometimes disguising it in a minor key.

We also have a great cast lined up here. This is among Joseph Cotton's finest performances, which is unusual because Hitch was not a brilliant director of actors. I believe the reason is that, although his soft, honest features meant he usually played clean-cut good guys (as well as making him the perfect choice for the friendly uncle no-one would suspect), he was actually at his best when playing villains. That air of affected friendliness, which gives way to a deadpan monotone, is ironically far more convincing than when he attempted to play genuine niceness. Theresa Wright also does a brilliant job of handling her character's transition from childlike innocence to knowing cynicism. The icing on the cake is a couple of spot-on comic relief supporting parts from Henry Travers and Hume Cronyn.

It's quite appropriate that in his cameo for Shadow of a Doubt, Hitchcock is shown holding all the cards, because here he really did have all the elements working in his favour. It marks the beginning of his golden age and lays down the blueprint for such classics as Rear Window, Vertigo and Psycho. This is about as close to perfect as Hitchcock's pictures get.

Often overlooked for his later masterpieces, "Shadow of a Doubt," penned in part by Alma Reville (Hitchcock), is a brilliant, character-driven thriller that stars one of the great, also under-heralded, actresses of the time, Teresa Wright, paired fantastically with Joseph Cotton. The characters are full-bodied. The performances are subtle and affected in all the right places. The exchanges between Henry Travers and Hume Cronyn are spectacular, black comedy gold. One of the few from Hitchcock that might rightfully fall under the category of film noir. Set in filming location Santa Rosa, in the northern part of California that Hitchcock so loved, "Shadow of a Doubt" deftly captures both the innocence and dark crimes and deceptions of mid-twentieth century America. True suspense. This gem is not to be missed.

In one of his most chilling and memorable intrigues Alfred Hitchcock lays bare the myth of small town virtue with a perverse piece of Americana about a wholesome family unaware of the gruesome skeleton lurking in its closet. The arrival of everyone's much loved Uncle Charlie (Joseph Cotton, in his favorite role) is the catalyst to disaster, with eldest daughter Charlie in particular welcoming the arrival of her affectionate namesake as a relief from the humdrum routine of suburban life. But evidence soon begins to suggest the elder Charles might actually be a cold-blooded serial killer, and a lethal game of charades begins between uncle and niece: she knows the truth, and he knows that she knows the truth. The tension builds to an alarming climax, in a trademark sequence (another one for the Hitchcock highlight reel) showing the Master of Suspense at the top of his form. The film was shot in sunny Santa Rosa, California, where the shadows are darker because the sunlight is so much brighter.