Review of Shadow of a Doubt (1943) by Veronique K — 24 Jun 2010

Hitchcock's grand-daughter claims that "shadow of a doubt" is hitch's favorite piece of work. as for its authentiy, it's another business, but "shadow of a doubt" is phenomenal considering its double parallel of its smitten moral dualism.

The story is about the characters of two "charlies" in an average household. the uncle charlie is a closet sociopath with penchant to strangle rich widows to serve his twisted idealism. young charlie is a naive small-town girl with whimsical ruminations all the time. to escape from investigator, uncle charlie takes refugee in his elder sister's home under the expectation of young charlie's mental telegracy that injects some dreamy hope into young charlie's dried life of boredom. but she would never know her dream degenerates into a horrisome nightmare as she discovers her uncle's deadly secret.

The appliance of two charlies with the introduction of them laying on bed in seperate scenes is the resonation of their connected twin personality. uncle charlie is the dark evil side while young charlie stands for the bright gentility. as uncle charlie dies, part of young charlie's perspect of innocence also withers just like she would never be completed ever again, consuming the rest of her life mourning over the uncle she's infatuated with, as hitch once remarks "sometimes you would slaughters the one you love"....her self-guilt is severe becuz her uncle's vice is partially indulged by her connived silence, then she has to run the risk of his murderous elimination for the sake of his own safety.

Joseph cotten as the merry window strangler is sinisterly dynamic, and he delivers some cynically spiteful lines upon women by demeaning old rich widows as "faded, fat. freezing animals" who squader their diligent husbands' hard-earned fortunes by being wastefully leisure all the time, he detests them but takes belief that their annihilations would improve the world as a better place that is the most harsh misogynisitc comment ever in hitch's movies. or lines like "women are fools! they could be in love with anything!!" his idealism detorted with his pervert killing is the so called "moral ambiguity"... there're some stylish shots of cotten's smoking poises full of contempts and complacency as he gazes outside the window as well as his disregard to the conventional superstition by tossing his hat toward the bed purposedly.

There're some engrossing symbolic metaphors, such as the train cotten takes as he arrives the town emits black fume that means devil is approaching here; then the train he takes to depart exuberates white smoke that crytalizes the town as the devil's going away. ironically the ending shows the whole town santa rosa is all lamenting over uncle charlie by dubbing him "son of santa rosa" that is literarily consecrating a murderer with righteous holliness.

The tasteful part is that hitchcock never demonstrates one scene of the actual widow-strangling crime, and it's simply hinted with the killer's fierce strength to string over a napkin with a ferocious gaze. joseph cotten shall be one of the best hitchcockian villains among claude rains, robert walker and ray millard, recognition approved by hitch himself.