Sunday, June 21, 2009

Review: Shadow of a Doubt


Santa Rosa, California had a population of roughly 13,000 people in 1942, a fraction of its current citizen count. But when Alfred Hitchcock began production of his classic 1943 thriller, Shadow of a Doubt, the small San Francisco Bay area community conveyed just the right atmosphere of Everytown, USA that he was looking for. As Hitchcock's camera pans across the downtown Santa Rosa street scape, we see a friendly cherub-like policeman, whistle between his lips, directing easy flowing traffic. We witness a bustling but laid back burg, while liltingly pleasant music plays in the background. In later scenes, a J.C. Penney department store and an ivy covered library are further evidence that the viewer could be in any average hamlet in the land. The famed director used this placid setting to illustrate that evil can penetrate anywhere, even the peaceful, civilized confines of small town America.

The evil found in Hitchcock's Santa Rosa shows up in the form of Joseph Cotten, playing one of the best roles of his career, "Uncle" Charlie Oakley, the deranged "Merry Widow Murderer," who on the lamb from the law, escapes to the homespun security of his sister's family in the pleasant California town. Waiting for him with open arms is his teen aged niece and namesake played by Teresa Wright who is top billed. Niece Charley relishes the visit from her charming and urbane uncle, hoping his presence will shake up her family's drab, humdrum existence. He doesn't disappoint. The detectives who have been chasing him across the country, find their suspect on the west coast. One of them (Macdonald Carey) befriends and confides in young Charley, the sins of her uncle. Devastated and confused, she comes to realize that what the detective has told her is true. When another man who is also strongly suspected to be the murderer is killed while being pursued on the east coast, the case is closed and Uncle Charlie is cleared, but his niece now knows that he is indeed the guilty party and she begins to experience a series of "accidents."

Joseph Cotten's Uncle Charlie is both charismatic and menacing. A particularly effective moment has him at the dinner table describing his vision of rich widows as "fat, lazy women" who squander all that their late husbands had worked for all their lives. As he thinks aloud his disturbing diatribe, the camera goes in for a slow, steady close up of his profiled face. By the time he is interrupted by a rebuttal from his niece, the camera is dead on his eyes and he turns his head to give a chilling stare directly into the lens.

Wright does her share of fine acting as well, with this role following on the heels of her successes in The Little Foxes (1941) and Mrs. Miniver (1942). She goes from adoring and doting teenager to troubled and anxious young woman without missing a beat. Like her characters uncle, she too can be menacing, when the occasion arises. Perfect example: When she and Uncle Charlie get the news from her detective boyfriend that the Merry Widow suspect in the east was killed while trying to escape, Cotten, ready to celebrate his freedom, strides up the staircase like a schoolboy on holiday. Suddenly, he stops dead in his tracks, just shy of the top of the stairs and slowly turns around to see his niece standing sullenly and accusingly in the doorway below, her shadow stretched out before her, as she gives him a cold stare of disgust.

As the senior Charlie's sister and female Charley's mother is Patricia Collinge, a stage actress who co-starred with Wright in The Little Foxes. As Emma Newton in this film, she shows the right amount of naivete and a fluttery quality as mama of her brood and even comes off as a somewhat surrogate mother to her visiting younger brother. Well into middle age, it seems odd that she and Henry Travers, as her murder mystery buff, bank clerk husband would be cast as the parents of such young children (besides Charley, their clan consists of Ann and Roger, both under 12). Hume Cronyn in his film debut, does quite a fine job as Travers cohort in crime novel critique, each devising plan after plan for the perfect fictional murder.

To help him capture the quality of small town values required for his setting, Hitchcock retained none other than playwrite Thorton Wilder to collaborate on the screenplay for Shadow of a Doubt. Wilder's play "Our Town" was the epitome of everyday life. The film was Oscar nominated for Best Writing and Best Original Story. Hitchcock claimed that Doubt was one of his personal favorites of his films, though he told Francois Truffaut in a famous interview, that it was not his very favorite. Regardless, it is a genuine Hitchcock gem that is often overlooked when traditional Hitchcock is discussed and revered, a true treasure that should be remembered and viewed often.

15 comments:

  1. So glad you chose to spotlight this one. It features so many quintessential Hitch touches like the charming villain, the macabre black humor, POV photography, symbolism, the two sides of good & evil in everyone, and the director's ability to give the audience a voice through other characters.
    I never fail to get chilled & lifted by this one.

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  2. Bill Bowen posting: I think your point about an idealized small town American community is spot on. This is the apotheosis of a post-Depression yearning for a tight, structured, impenetrable safety zone. One memorable example is when the policeman reprimands Charlie, addressing her by name, for crossing the street against traffic. Artists such as Hitchcock, and later, David Lynch, made it their business to expose the terrifying darkness lurking behind the white picket fence.

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  3. Great film. I really love this one. I enjoyed your review of it. It was great to see it featured on your blog.

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  4. My favorite Hitchcock film and a close second for Joe Cotten favorite too (love "The Third Man").

    Actually I think my favorite parts are Travers and Cronyn's murder plottings, great banter between the two!

    Beautifully written first paragraph and excellent all round coverage. Bet it got a little awkward referring to the two Charlies :) but another fine job!

    Great choice,
    Cliff

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  5. Rupert, some really nicely written descriptions of individual scenes. I particularly liked the passage about Uncle Charlie walking up the staircase. This has never been one of my very favorite Hitchcock movies, although I know that many worshipers of Hitch (of whom I am one) adore it. But after reading your post I might give it another chance. "Notorious" took about three watchings for me to fully appreciate, and maybe this movie needs that too.

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  6. This is my favourite Hitchcock film, bar none!

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  7. Great review, Rupert! I LOVE Hitchcock's films, but somehow I seemed to have missed this one. Looks like another MUST WATCH film to add to my list. Thanks for posting your review to bait the hook! I love your writing style, Rupert! have you ever considered screenwriting?

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  8. wonderful review and one of my favorite movies. One of my top Hitchcock movies. Not my fave but in the top three probably. Love Hitchcock and own almost every single one on dvd. One of my all time fave diretors. I love the scene where you talk about Uncle Charlie on the stair case and the niece with the cold stare. You description of the certain scenes and how Cotten plays his part is dead on. I also loved the fact I know a great deal about Hitchcock and I didn't know about the other interview where he says it isn't his favorite and you said it was a famous interview. wow I am loosing my touch big time my friend. You got me again!

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  9. I love this film. Acting is brilliant and the tension is raised so well.

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  10. Fantastic film and I always enjoyed Joseph Cotton and most of the actors from the Mercury Theatre including John Houseman....

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  11. This is one of the most frightening Hitchcock film....the feeling of impending tragedy underneath the surface of small town tranquility is so effective. And of course the dinner table scene is so jarring and effective...

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  12. I believe this was Hitchcocks favorite film to have worked on... WW2 was raging in Europe and Hitch was worried about his family & friend in England. Being involving in making this film was his way of escaping reality for a spell...

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  13. I can watch this movie again and again. It's funny, it's frightening. I love Teresa Wright in it, and the sparks of attraction between her character and MacDonald Carey. I absolutely love Edna May Wonacott as Ann Newton. I did a piece on her for Movie Morlocks and she wrote in to comment! It was thrilling! Check it out here:
    http://moviemorlocks.com/2008/08/03/my-favorite-bookworm-or-where-in-the-world-is-edna-may-wonacott/

    Great post, Rupert!

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  14. One of the things I love about this film is Teresa Wright's realization of what her Uncle is and then her realization she is like him. She could kill too...him and the evil in them both

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