Directed by:
Alfred HitchcockCinematography:
Joseph A. ValentineCast:
Teresa Wright, Joseph Cotten, Macdonald Carey, Henry Travers, Patricia Collinge, Hume Cronyn, Wallace Ford, Edna May Wonacott, Charles Bates, Clarence Muse (more)VOD (2)
Plots(1)
When Uncle Charles comes to visit, Charlie Newton is elated. It is favorite uncle and the person for whom she was named. But is he really who he says he is? Jack, a guest to the house who is investigating the Merry Widow Murderer tells Charlie that her uncle is the famed murderer. As Charlie watches her uncle she comes to realize that Jack is correct. When Charles announces he is on his way to San Francisco, it is up to Charlie to stop him before he kills again. (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Reviews (5)
This is a much better film than Saboteur. The tension is constantly mounting, the doubts thicken and Hitchcock plays with the viewer like Uncle Charlie with the Newton family. In short, an impeccably written, acted and shot noir with an utterly nerve-wracking ending.
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Hitchcock’s Shadow of a Doubt is a great, timeless thriller whose formula is still used in the genre today. Brilliant, psychologically precise filmmaking craft.
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I know that I should be respectful toward this film because it is old grandpa at this point and I should respect his gray hair, but the thing is that it's a thriller and I should - at least if I want to fulfill the genre - feel tense, but Uncle Charlie is as transparent as a windowpane and it's simply and obvious that it's a product of its time. From today's perspective, it's very predictable, naive, and burdened with elements that were popular at the time, like the overly wise daughter - I would give it three stars only if Uncle Charlie were murdering such children. It's funny how contemporary thrillers that are way better sometimes have a lower percentage of support than this aging classic. I won't be servile towards Hitchcock and I will only give him an overall impression of 40%.
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Another Hitchcock war film, which is perhaps interesting given the fact that the main heroine is a teenage girl. Otherwise, it is a very weak variation of Franz Lehár's The Merry Widow, which Americans confuse with Victor Herbert's Naughty Marietta. In these details it is sophisticated and of course fun (the tween reads Walter Scott, while her father solves detective cases, and the almost adult teen sneaks into the library). But whenever I see the American Hitchcock again, I have to refresh my taste with some of his European films.
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An idyllic setting in a sleepy town, one very classic American family, one typically noir villain shrouded in mystery and charisma, all with the Alfred Hitchcock-branded suffocation machine that was just becoming internationally famous. Unfortunately, even that machine isn't always flawless, the narrative takes an all-too naive path despite the psychological precision, and when it's about to shift into third gear and the needle on the speedometer should jump from creeping pursuit to deadly turbulence, it just hiccups mutely and arrives at an unchanged speed. As a fan of film-noir, I did enjoy all the funny characters and the tried and tested story equation, but the illogical and unoriginal ending brought the whole film to its knees. Not even Hitch in his prime could have saved this. 70%
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