NFR Project: 'Shadow of a Doubt' (1943)

 

NFR Project: “Shadow of a Doubt”

Dir: Alfred Hitchcock

Scr: Thornton Wilder, Sally Benson, Alma Reville; Story by Gordon McDonell

Pho: Joseph A. Valentine

Ed: Milton Carruth

Premiere: Jan. 12, 1943

108 min.

“Love and good order is no defense against evil.”

This is director Alfred Hitchcock describing the theme of this, his favorite film. The story of a murderous man and his young niece is subtly, deeply disturbing, a straight-up rejection of the normal veneer of everyday life. As such, it is one of Hitchcock’s most subversive films.

Hitchcock, renowned for his mystery and thriller films, chose to set his film in one of the most normal of small towns. The Newton family is shown as the most normal of families, consisting of mother (Patricia Collinge), father (Henry Travers), and three children, the oldest of which is the young lady “Charlie” (Teresa Wright). Into their lives steps the charming and moneyed mother’s younger brother, Uncle Charlie (Joseph Cotten).

He is on the run from the police, we know not why. He has gifts for the entire family, including a ring for Charlie that bears someone else’s initials on the band. Two men arrive in town, calling themselves journalists. They are determined to get a picture of Uncle Charlie, which they do by subterfuge. Eventually one of the men confides in young Charlie – they are on the track of the “Merry Widow Murderer,” a man who has made a career out of strangling and robbing wealthy widows. They suspect Uncle Charlie is their man.

Young Charlie, shocked, begins to discern clues that point to Uncle Charlie. One night at family dinner, Uncle Charlie goes on a tirade about the unworthiness of rich women to live. Young Charlie, upset, runs out of the house. Uncle Charlie follows her, drags her into a bar, and convinces her to say nothing. He admits that he is one of two suspects in the murders, but denies that he is the man the police are looking for. Young Charlie agrees to say nothing.

The other suspect is killed, and police scrutiny of Uncle Charlie relaxes. However, he begins to make attempts on young Charlie’s life – as she knows too much. Young Charlie threatens to kill him if he doesn’t leave town, and he agrees. He lures her into his train compartment as the train is leaving. He then grabs her and hauls her out onto the platform between cars, intending to throw her off the train to her death. At the last moment, she pivots and thrusts him off into the path of another train, killing him. Uncle Charlie is mourned by the community, and young Charlie determines to keep her knowledge of his crimes a secret.

Hitchcock utilized a brilliant script, written in part by the great American playwright Thornton Wilder. Uncle Charlie’s guilt is slowly revealed, and largely circumstantial . . . but young Charlie’s trepidation grows and grows, until she is forced to destroy him to save her own life. There is a theme of twinning here – the two Charlies share the same name, and it’s implied that there is a special connection between them, a connection almost incestuous. Uncle Charlie is the dark doppelganger of young Charlie – a beloved relative who also happens to be a depraved monster.

Meanwhile, the rest of the family, and the entire town, are completely oblivious to Uncle Charlie’s guilt, fooled by his charm and seduced by the big bankroll he brings to the local bank. He is a model of respectability, but actor Cotten gives Uncle Charlie an ever-so-faint air of menace, a sense that he is not quite right in the head – which only young Charlie can discern.

Throughout the film, even we in the audience are unsure whether Uncle Charlie is really a murderer, until literally the last minute of the film. The idea that evil can stalk the daylight peacefulness of a typical American town leaves the viewer with a feeling of helplessness and dread. If good old Uncle Charlie can be a murderer, who else is there around us who can conceal themselves under a veil of normalcy?

The NFR is one writer’s attempt to review all the films listed in the National Film Registry in chronological order. Next time: Stormy Weather.