Shadow of a Doubt [PG]

Charlie, more infamously known as the Merry Widow Murderer, is on the run from his latest crime. Deciding to drop by the sleepy suburban town of Santa Rosa and stay with his sister and her family, his arrival is highly anticipated by his favourite niece and namesake, “young Charlie”. But, not long after his arrival, young Charlie begins to suspect the worse of her uncle and a terrible game of cat-and-mouse begins as Charlie is forced to plot the death of his favourite niece. 

One of Alfred Hitchcock’s less flashy works, Shadow of a Doubt was nonetheless stimulating and thrilling, packed with wonderful conflict, both physical and emotional. 

Charlie, more infamously known as the Merry Widow Murderer, is on the run from his latest crime. Deciding to stop by the sleepy suburban town of Santa Rosa and stay with his sister and her family, his visit is highly anticipated by his favourite niece and namesake, “young Charlie”. But, shortly after his arrival, young Charlie begins to suspect the worse of her uncle and a terrible game of cat-and-mouse begins as Charlie is now forced to plot the death of his own favourite niece. 

Could this film possible be some sort of precursor or inspiration for American Beauty? Aside from the brilliant themes of conflict that encumber the central characters, Shadow of a Doubt does take that idea of the perfect suburban life and completely shatters it. Charlie and her family are seen as the typical, perfect suburban family, but none of them are really all that happy. It doesn’t shatter the idea of suburbia to the extent that American Beauty does, but there is definitely some sharp prods with a blunt instrument. 

As I mentioned before, this is one of Hitchcock’s less flashy and visually thrilling films. Having said that though the movie is still thrilling and engaging as we see all these different layers of conflict, both physical and emotional, attack the central characters. Young Charlie is conflicted by her head and her heart: although she knows that her uncle is a bad man and that she should turn him in, she doesn’t because she feels emotionally attached and obligated to give him the benefit of the doubt. Charlie the murderer is conflicted because he genuinely adores his niece, but now she knows too much about him. It is not until the very end of the film when we see which wins: the head vs. the heart, the uncle vs. his niece. 

Starring Teresa Wright, Joseph Cotton, Macdonald Carey, Henry Travers, Patricia Collinge, Hume Cronyn, Wallace Ford, Edna May Wonacott, Charles Bates, Irving Bacon, Clarence Muse, Janet Shaw, and Estelle Jewell, Shadow of a Doubt was a subtly thrilling black and white film that was filled with romance, drama, suspense, family, and plenty of conflict… all without a single murder being witnessed by an audience. Earning its place in The Book, it’s definitely worth watching.