He escapes and goes to his sister’s family in Santa Rosa. Charlie is on the run but we don’t know why. Two men are after him, though we’re not sure who they are (I think we assume it’s the police though we’re not told this right away). The film can broadly be seen as a loss of innocence.Īs the film opens, we meet Uncle Charlie and immediately become aware that he has a dark secret. Cotton’s character represents corruption Wright’s represents innocence. Uncle Charlie’s secret view of the world is important as it’s in direct contrast with the Newton view, especially Young Charlie’s. Unfortunately, no one is aware that Uncle Charlie, pleasant as he seems, is a psychopathic killer, a man who behind his charm hates the world and everyone in it. He’s welcomed with cheerful enthusiasm by his sister Emma (Patricia Collinge), and by his namesake niece Young Charlie (Teresa Wright). Into the charmed and innocent life of California’s little Santa Rosa, into the home of the all-American family of the Newtons, comes Mom’s little brother, Uncle Charlie, for a visit of no determined length. His name is Uncle Charlie and he’s played by Joseph Cotten with delicious charm that alternates with brooding self-obsession. In a way, Shadow of a Doubt is George Bailey’s Bedford Falls from It’s a Wonderful Life except where Capra brings an angel to it, Hitchcock brings the devil. Shadow of a Doubt presents us with an almost quintessential American town of the 1940’s. You can understand how the story would delight him. The claim rings true if you’re even modestly familiar with his films, his preoccupations and his humour. It’s claimed by many that Shadow of a Doubt was Alfred Hitchcock’s favourite of all the films he had made some say he considered it his best.
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