Hitchcock told director Francois Truffaut that Shadow of a Doubt was about menace invading a small town, and with America deeply entrenched in WWII it’s impossible not to take the film as a commentary on the situation. Hmm, not the neighborhood where a bad guy would reside, right? Hitchcock, like a cat playing with a mouse, toys with the audience, acknowledging his role as master of suspense and snidely telling the audience they’ll have to wait for the true fun! With Hitchcock’s formula established, the audience becomes tuned in to what they presume will happen so when Uncle Charlie goes to the door in the first scene, pendulous piano music swells…as he reveals a tree-lined street and children at play. A harmony of paranoia and coincidence, prevalent in most of Hitchcock’s work, is the foundation by which the film sits on. Louis) and Hitchcock’s wife Alma Reville. Often cited as Hitchcock’s and star Teresa Wright’s favorite film, Shadow of a Doubt proves the necessity of a good script, in this case credited to heavy-hitters Thornton Wilder, Sally Benson (writer of the Meet Me in St.

But Charlie can’t shake the feeling that Uncle Charlie is hiding something. As fate, or something worse, would have it, Uncle Charlie soon arrives in town.

Young Charlie (Teresa Wright) wants a miracle to get her family out of poverty, and believes her savior is her namesake, Uncle Charlie (Joseph Cotten). “When I try to think of how I feel, I always come back to Uncle Charlie.” Shadow of a Doubt, Hitchcock’s 1943 thriller, is one of the more esoteric mysteries in his oeuvre often overshadowed (pun quasi-intended) by its surface story of a young girl and her uncle. Though the temperature on the thermometer may be high that’s no reason we can’t be a a little dark, so this week we’re honoring director Alfred Hitchcock! For the next four weeks I’ll cover four performers and honor four of their films. Happy 4th of July and welcome to week one of the July Four (formerly five).

Shadow of a doubt 1943 script