Shadow of a Doubt

Shadow of a Doubt
This film has been preserved in the National Film Registry in 1991.

Shadow of a Doubt is a 1943 American psychological thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and starring Teresa Wright and Joseph Cotten. Written by Thornton Wilder, Sally Benson, and Alma Reville, the film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Story for Gordon McDonell.

Why It Rocks

1. The concept of "murder at the dinner table" -- taking the horrors of murder and placing them in suburban environments -- has been one of Hitchcock's favorite theme's to explore even making them popular topics among locals. And Hitchcock puts this concept to great use in this film, in the form of the lead character's uncle.
2. This film subverts the traits of a lot of Hitchcock's usual tropes, such as the "falsely accused innocent man" trope, the "cold beautiful blonde" and even the murder scenes. That's probably why Hitchcock always considered this one his favorite even among is unforgettable catalog.
3. Joseph Cotten pulls off what may be his greatest performance yet as the chilling and fearsome antagonist of the film, Charles Oakley who manages to be one of Hitchcock's most disturbing villains since people like him can exist in real life.
   • The rest of the cast does an impressive job as well, especially Teresa Wright as Charlotte Newton.
4. Dimitri Tiomkin does an amazing score which is very chilling and suspenseful, is adds to the horror factor of the film very well.
5. Hitchcock gives the movie and its setting a nice homey feel, a quiet little slice of Americana, a huge contrast from his last film Saboteur, which makes the main storyline even more disturbing. It's an intense film, with undertones that are incredibly dark, even for Hitchcock.
6. One of the film's most arresting features is its emphasis on doubles. Its two opening sequences begin with a series of virtually mirror-image shots showing first Uncle Charlie, then his niece and namesake, lying on their beds obliquely facing opposite sides of the screen—and, inferentially, each other, across a distance of three thousand miles—with frozen, disillusioned expressions that thaw very little when they are interrupted by visitors who try to rouse them to a greater interest in life.
   • And then the visual doubles are only a prologue to the film’s litany of thematic doubles. Uncle Charlie is stalked by two policemen in New Jersey; his niece’s family plays host to two visitors, themselves secretly policemen, in California. Charlie has two parents, two siblings, and two friends. Uncle Charlie, suspected of being the Merry Widow Murderer, is temporarily cleared when one of two other suspects runs away from the police and into an airplane propeller. The film includes two scenes in the Newtons’ garage, two focusing on a ring Uncle Charlie gives his niece, two showing Charlie’s interactions with a crossing guard at a busy intersection, and two depicting attempts on her life.
7. Amazing visuals for the film's time that still hold up very well.

The Only Bad Quality

1. The romance subplot between Young Charlie and Jack Graham feels pretty forced and ends up being not very compelling or easy to root for. Graham being a Satellite Love Interest (a love interest with no personality of his own) doesn't help matters in the slightest. Heck, the relationship between Young Charlie and her uncle felt like a more compelling relationship.