Shadow of a Doubt (film)

• Release Date: 1943
• Director(s): Alfred Hitchcock
• Writer(s): Sally Benson ; Alma Reville; Thornton Wilder
• Principal Actors and Roles: Joseph Cotten (Uncle Charlie); Teresa Wright (Charlotte "Charlie" Newton); Macdonald Carey (Jack Graham); Patricia Collinge (Emma Newton); Hume Cronyn (Herbie Hawkins); Wallace Ford (Fred Saunders); Henry Travers (Joseph Newton)

Shadow of a Doubt is a black-and-white American psychological thriller considered one of director Alfred Hitchcock’s best films and among his personal favorites.

The story line features a serial killer who is escaping the law by visiting his sister’s family out west in the small town of Santa Clara, California. Uncle Charlie (Charlie Oakley), played by Joseph Cotten,is the serial killer—of three elderly, wealthy widows. He stirs up the small town after leaving Philadelphia to escape from two detectives who are hot on his trail. His niece, Young Charlie (Charlotte), looks up to her uncle for whom she is named. Fed up with small-town life, she complains that there is nothing to do and is bored. She learns soon enough that her feelings about her uncle and her boredom are about to change drastically.

Plot

Uncle Charlie is welcomed into the Newton household, especially by his niece Charlie. Even though she adores him and think highly of him, her feelings begin to change. While Uncle Charlie is staying at her family’s house, young Charlie picks up on some oddities about him and wonders what secret he is holding. When she confronts him, he responds almost violently and then recoils and apologizes. Young Charlie is appeased and returns to her loving thoughts and admiration for her uncle.

Soon, the Newton family gets some exciting news that shakes up the town. They are preparing for a visit from two people who are taking a natural poll. In reality the two men are detectives posing as survey takers and are after Uncle Charlie. They hope to snap a photograph of him to show to witnesses at the last murder scene. Yet Uncle Charlie is suspicious and avoids them. Jack, one of the detectives, informs young Charlie that he and his partner Fred want to question her uncle with regard to several killings. He also shows an interest in her and takes her out for a date. While with her, he explains that her uncle is one of two suspects that have been called the "Merry Widow Murderer." He asks for her help if indeed Uncle Charlie is the murderer. Young Charlie agrees to help him but hopes to prove the detective wrong.

Young Charlie is upset by the news Jack tells her about Uncle Charlie. Yet she slowly puts clues together that raise her suspicions. She rushes to the town library to read the newspaper article that her uncle would not show her. She is horrified when she realizes that the ring her uncle gave her probably belonged to one of the murdered widows. She figures this out because the initials engraved on the inside of the emerald ring match the initials of the victim.

Young Charlie is fed up with Uncle Charlie and his opinions, especially about widows who spend their late husbands’ money. Uncle Charlie realizes that something has changed in his relationship with "his girl" but does not know for certain that his niece is on to him. He follows her when she runs off and forces her into a bar. After young Charlie gives him back the emerald ring, Uncle Charlie realizes that she knows what he has done and tells her firmly that she doesn’t know what the real world is like. She asks him to leave town but he asks for more time.

In the meantime, young Charlie makes a deal with the detective to let him know how and when Uncle Charlie will leave town. Then both Charlie and her uncle learn that the Merry Widow Murderer has been killed. Uncle Charlie is relieved but considers killing young Charlie because she knows he is the real murderer. Twice he tries to kill her at the Newton home.

Finally, Uncle Charlie says that he will leave for San Francisco the next day on a train. He plans to follow Mrs. Potter, a rich widow, there. Young Charlie is aboard the train to ensure that her uncle gets off in San Francisco. In a suspenseful struggle, Uncle Charlie tries to throw her off the train en route, but she pushes him first and he falls to his death.

Significance

Shadow of a Doubt was nominated for only one Academy Award (for best original story) but did not win. Like Hitchcock, many regard the film as one of his best. Hitchcock shot Shadow of a Doubt at the beginning of America’s involvement in World War II. With a restricted wartime budget imposed by the War Production Board, Hitchcock shot on location in Santa Clara, California, to save money.

Hitchcock deliberately used subtle clues to cue audiences and young Charlie about key events in the plot as it unfolds. At the beginning of the film, young Charlie hums a tune. Her mother begins to hum with her, but neither one can remember the name of the tune. Later on the name of the tune is revealed as a waltz called "The Merry Widow," which is symbolic: Uncle Charlie is accused of killing wealthy widows. Later, after she reads about the Merry Widow Murderer she no longer hums or wants to hear the tune. Uncle Charlie’s tearing out and confiscating the newspaper article about the murders shows that Uncle Charlie is trying to hide something. Hitchcock uses Uncle Charlie’s refusal to have his picture taken by the detectives as an opportunity for Emma to explain to young Charlie how he had a bicycle accident as a young boy, which changed him. Young Charlie holds the only photograph of her beloved uncle and it was taken on the day that the accident occurred.

Hitchcock used lighting and shadows that add to the tension of the thriller. Evening shadows from the stairway bannister mimic jail bars on the wall. As young Charlie walks away from the library after reading the newspaper article about the Merry Widow Murderer she is surrounded by dark shadows. Flashes of dark and light in various sequences throughout the film create mood and tension, as do the lighting and angle shots that Hitchcock used on the staircases. These and other visual effects contribute to the darkness of the plot.

Awards and nominations

Nominated

• Academy Award (1943) Best Story

Bibliography

Boyd, David, and R. Barton Palmer, eds. After Hitchcock: Influence, Imitation, and Intertextuality. Austin: UP of Texas, 2006. Print.

Cohen, Paula Marantz. Alfred Hitchcock: The Legacy of Victorianism. Lexington: UP of Kentucky, 2015. Electronic.

Deutelbaum, Marshall and Leland Poague. A Hitchcock Reader. Ames: Iowa State UP, 2009. Print.

Freedman, Jonathan, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Alfred Hitchcock. New York: Cambridge UP, 2015. Print.

Leitch, Thomas and Leland Poage, eds. A Companion to Alfred Hitchcock. Malden: Blackwell, 2011. Print.

Mayer, Geoff and Brian McDonnell. Encyclopedia of Film Noir. Westport: Greenwood, 2007. Print.

Osteen, Mark, ed. Hitchcock and Adaptation: On the Page and Screen. Plymouth: Rowman, 2014. Print.