When Alfred Hitchcock, the legendary filmmaker, enjoys a long and illustrious career, it is inevitable that various anecdotes and opinions about his work will arise. One such story is the claim that Shadow of a Doubt, a 1943 thriller, is Hitchcock's personal favourite film. Despite being very good, it does not rank among Hitchcock's best or come to mind immediately for most fans of his work.
The plot begins with Charles Oakley (played by Joseph Cotten), a sinister-looking man who is seemingly being pursued, leaving his East Coast apartment and going to visit his sister Emma (played by Patricia Collinge) in the small Californian town of Santa Rosa. Emma, who hasn't seen Charlie in years, lives with her husband, Joseph Newton (played by Henry Travers), a mild-mannered bank clerk, and their three children. The oldest child is teenage Charlotte Newton (played by Teresa Wright), who is thrilled to see her uncle, whom she idolises and shares nickname “Charlie”. Uncle Charlie quickly charms his way into the town's society, but Young Charlie can't help but notice some odd details about his behaviour. Suspicion grows when the Newtons' home becomes the focus of interest for two men conducting a survey. Young Charlie discovers that these men are actually undercover police detectives trying to determine whether Uncle Charlie is the infamous "Merry Widow Murderer," a notorious killer who preys on elderly rich widows.
Shadow of a Doubt is one of the more personal films for Hitchcock, made during a time when his mother, Emma, was dying, and he was unable to visit her in England due to World War II travel restrictions. The film is filled with personal references, including the naming of the protagonist's mother, Emma. Moreover, Shadow of a Doubt can also be seen as a love letter to Hitchcock's new home in America. Santa Rosa is depicted as an idyllic small town, with its citizens being helpful and, at times, incredibly naive. The evil is portrayed as coming from outside, embodied by the sinister newcomer. The town is beautifully captured through the suggestive black-and-white cinematography of Joseph A. Valentine. The citizens of Santa Rosa responded enthusiastically to the film's favourable portrayal of their town, with many serving as extras, and two local children, Edna May Wonacott and Charles Bates, playing the younger siblings of the protagonist.
The connection with small-town Americana is further provided by Thornton Wilder, author famous for covering these themes in his work, and who co-wrote the script with Sally Benson and Hitchcock's wife Alma Reville. However, the ultimate source of inspiration was the real-life case of Earl Nelson a.k.a. "Gorilla Man," whose series of murders in the late 1920s, well-covered by the media, served as a model for the "Merry Widow Murderer."
Hitchcock directs the film with superb skill, showing his knack for creating suspense in numerous scenes at the beginning, middle, and near the end. He is helped by veteran composer Dimitri Tiomkin, who uses a leitmotif borrowed from Franz Lehar's operetta Merry Widow to create an atmosphere of dread and unease in the otherwise picture-perfect American small town and the perfect family of the Newtons.
The cast is also very good, especially Teresa Wright in the best role of her career, and Joseph Cotten, who is quite convincing in one of the most villainous roles of his career. Among the supporting cast, Hume Cronyn, known for many grand character roles in the future, shines as Joseph's friend whose obsession with crime fiction and perfect murders brings just the right dose of comic relief to the otherwise dark and disturbing story.
Shadow of a Doubt is very good, however, far from perfect. Much of the weakness comes from the uninspired dialogue and some not entirely convincing twists or subplot, like Charlie developing a romance with the police detective, played capably but not impressively, by MacDonald Carey. Another issue is the weak ending, but the impression is saved with an ironic twist at the end.
Shadow of a Doubt has been remade twice: as the 1958 film Step Down to Terror starring Rod Taylor and the 1991 television film Shadow of a Doubt starring Mark Harmon.
Despite its flaws, Shadow of a Doubt remains a must-see for any fan of Hitchcock's work and a testament to his enduring legacy in the world of cinema.
RATING: 7/10 (+++)
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