Review of Shadow of a Doubt (1943) by Robert H — 02 Aug 2015

By now, this is the fourth Hitchcock film that I've seen and it certainly is a better representation of what I understood his work to be than SABOTEUR was. SHADOW OF A DOUBT, which Hitchcock said was his favorite, is a rather simple tale that explores one of his favorite themes: mistaken identity.

Joseph Cotten (THE THIRD MAN) plays "Uncle Charlie" who visits his family for a visit in Santa Rosa, California. However, he's not quite what his young niece Charlie remembers. One thing I've noticed about Hitchcock's films is the various ways he's able to create tension and suspense in a way that keeps the viewer hooked.

Some of the elements he uses includes light and shadow, camera angles, the score, etc. All of them came together in a rather cohesive way that kept me interested in seeing where the story would go. This film also captures an America in transition.

The world created here isn't the paranoia-filled one of SABOTEUR, but still one where suspicion is very palpable and there's a sense that trust is becoming less of an innate quality in Everytown, USA.

Like in SABOTEUR, there are two characters who serve as thematic counterpoint to each other. Here, they are the two Charlies. Joseph Cotten's character is somewhat of an idealized figure for his young niece (Teresa Wright), but the reality of how cynical and pessimistic he really is gets revealed over the course of the film.

I thought it was a brilliant way of showing how expectations measure up when faced with reality. There's also the "is he/isn't he?" sense of if he's really even the person he purports to be, which plays into the themes of suspicion and trust.

One thing I wasn't entirely expecting was the awkward sexual tension (in a few scenes) between the two Charlies, which added an incest layer that helped to flesh out the tense relationship between them.

If there's anything weak about the film, the ending was a bit abrupt and a romance that develops between young Charlie and a detective seemed to be shoehorned in (and provided for an unnecessary coda.

Still, I liked this film very much and it bodes well for the successive Hitchcock films I'll be viewing later this month.