Shadow of a Doubt (1943)Doubt follows dishonesty; even the implication that someone else has been false invariably causes trust to disintegrate like ashes in a flame. Shadow of a Doubt (1943) is a "tale of two Charlies"; the older "Uncle" Charlie Oakley (Joseph Cotton) is a shady character who comes to visit his family--the Newtons--in Santa Rosa, California. The other "Charlie" is his niece--"young" Charlie (Teresa Wright); and after she begins to suspect her uncle is secretly the infamous "Merry Widow" strangler on the run from the police, their once vibrant relationship withers, and distrust blossoms instead.
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It should come as no surprise that director Alfred Hitchcock's reputation earned him the title of "master of suspense", which includes the psychological thriller that is Shadow of a Doubt. Uncle Charlie is both the antagonist of the film, but also the most psychologically complex character. Uncle Charlie is viewed not as a monster by his family--to be fair, they don't know about his unsavory secrets--but as a great savior to their tedium, particularly by his niece, with whom he seems to share a spiritual simpatico. On the eve of her uncle's visit, Young Charlie prepares to send him a telegram, letting him know she's thinking of him, only to discover he has already sent to the Newtons. Shadow of a Doubt underscores the parallels between them by introducing them in the same way: laying supine on a bed, deep in thought. There are details that emphasize how the Charlies are alike, especially in how different they are from the rest of the Newtons. Both young and Uncle Charlie are introverted but are also inquisitive. They are keen on observing details, and have a tendency to be moody or even secretive. Of course, the biggest difference between them is that young Charlie still conveys an air of innocent naivete, while it is evident from Uncle Charlie's dodging the detectives trailing him in Philadelphia that he is acclimated to deception. Young Charlie first suspects that something is amiss with her uncle after she he tries to conceal a newspaper clipping from her, and the barrier that obscures her perception of the real Charlie begins to crumble. Young Charlie is a bright girl--her graduation photo intimates this--so the inconsistencies and suspicious behavior of her visiting uncle haunts her, even if she shouldn't have any reason to suspect him of anything. After the same detectives reemerge in Santa Rosa--posing as government surveyors trying to photograph Uncle Charlie--a disclosure by the younger agent, Jack Graham (Macdonald Carey), send young Charlie on a quest to discover what it was her uncle was trying to conceal from her. This revelation of his deceit forever alters her perception of her beloved uncle and forces her to grow up quickly. Watching young Charlie's undying devotion for her uncle warp into disillusionment and despair is the most heartbreaking element of Shadow of a Doubt. It is also a metaphor for the feelings of betrayal and emotional angst which arises when the family unit is no longer a shelter from the evils of the world; worse, it becomes the haven for darkness and lies, with the threat of dishonesty (or retaliation) looming among the ones you love.
What makes Uncle Charlie so evil? Although the talented and young Teresa Wright gets top billing in Shadow of a Doubt, it is Joseph Cotton's nuanced performance of the deadly sociopath that is the depth of the film. Uncle Charlie publicly appears to be a likable, intelligent charmer; Joseph Cotton's pleasant, "everyman" quality is exploited to this end. There is a moment when young Charlie's mother, Emma (Patricia Collinge), tells the story of the only photograph she had of her baby brother, taken before a terrible accident that left him "changed" into a more "mischievous" child--as she tells it, this was the result of a blow to the head. Although the implication is that Uncle Charlie wasn't born evil--that his malice was due to brain damage associated with the injury--a more likely conclusion comes from other moments in the story which describe the younger Uncle Charlie as a boy who was "spoiled", since he was the youngest of the family. This conclusion is more convincing, since there are suggestions that Uncle Charlie became acclimated to a lifestyle of always getting what he wanted--this pampering may have started as early as right after the accident--and his personality developed around this feeling of entitlement. There are several moments that reinforce this interpretation of how he became a wanton sociopath; for instance, he is very comfortable propagating outrageous lies about his health and identity in order to foster pity or special treatment, like on the train to Santa Rosa. In fact, although many of the Newtons lie in some way or another--as well as the detectives--these lies are generally "little white lies", small infractions which are not generally designed to hurt anyone. Still, this speaks to a general acceptability of dishonesty (by degrees) in this society, setting a stage on which Uncle Charlie can easily work his illusions--lying is Uncle Charlie's specialty. Even when Charlie's more minor deceptions are discovered, they are forgiven as innocent errors or misunderstandings. But as young Charlie begins to understand what kind of person her uncle is, she is forced into an escalation of complicity, adopting some minor elements of her uncle's deceitful persona by necessity. They say that lies become a prison for the soul; this metaphor is expressed throughout Shadow of a Doubt via the frequent shots of the bar-like railing on the second floor where Uncle Charlie stays, their shadows giving the impression of a virtual prison. Arguably the most revealing disclosure about Uncle Charlie's masked malevolence comes from his comments at dinner about "widows". He is vindictive and criticizes them for--as he sees it--squandering the inheritance bequeathed to them by their late husbands on frivolities. The irony is that for all of Uncle Charlie's claims to be in "business", it is dubious that he ever did a hard day's work in his life. His misogynist venom is more likely the result of deeper issue in Uncle Charlie's upbringing, left to the the imagination of the audience to piece together. For all his charm and feigned joie de vivre, Uncle Charlie's displaced resentment of the world has poisoned his soul, and it is a tragic inevitability that his "favorite niece" would see past her beloved uncle's serpentine camouflage.
Recommended for: Fans of a complex character study and psychological thriller, as well as a solid representation of Alfred Hitchcock's signature style. It is a film that addresses challenging themes, from Uncle Charlie's barely perceptible thought disorder to the spread of disquiet which comes when familial trust is violated.
What makes Uncle Charlie so evil? Although the talented and young Teresa Wright gets top billing in Shadow of a Doubt, it is Joseph Cotton's nuanced performance of the deadly sociopath that is the depth of the film. Uncle Charlie publicly appears to be a likable, intelligent charmer; Joseph Cotton's pleasant, "everyman" quality is exploited to this end. There is a moment when young Charlie's mother, Emma (Patricia Collinge), tells the story of the only photograph she had of her baby brother, taken before a terrible accident that left him "changed" into a more "mischievous" child--as she tells it, this was the result of a blow to the head. Although the implication is that Uncle Charlie wasn't born evil--that his malice was due to brain damage associated with the injury--a more likely conclusion comes from other moments in the story which describe the younger Uncle Charlie as a boy who was "spoiled", since he was the youngest of the family. This conclusion is more convincing, since there are suggestions that Uncle Charlie became acclimated to a lifestyle of always getting what he wanted--this pampering may have started as early as right after the accident--and his personality developed around this feeling of entitlement. There are several moments that reinforce this interpretation of how he became a wanton sociopath; for instance, he is very comfortable propagating outrageous lies about his health and identity in order to foster pity or special treatment, like on the train to Santa Rosa. In fact, although many of the Newtons lie in some way or another--as well as the detectives--these lies are generally "little white lies", small infractions which are not generally designed to hurt anyone. Still, this speaks to a general acceptability of dishonesty (by degrees) in this society, setting a stage on which Uncle Charlie can easily work his illusions--lying is Uncle Charlie's specialty. Even when Charlie's more minor deceptions are discovered, they are forgiven as innocent errors or misunderstandings. But as young Charlie begins to understand what kind of person her uncle is, she is forced into an escalation of complicity, adopting some minor elements of her uncle's deceitful persona by necessity. They say that lies become a prison for the soul; this metaphor is expressed throughout Shadow of a Doubt via the frequent shots of the bar-like railing on the second floor where Uncle Charlie stays, their shadows giving the impression of a virtual prison. Arguably the most revealing disclosure about Uncle Charlie's masked malevolence comes from his comments at dinner about "widows". He is vindictive and criticizes them for--as he sees it--squandering the inheritance bequeathed to them by their late husbands on frivolities. The irony is that for all of Uncle Charlie's claims to be in "business", it is dubious that he ever did a hard day's work in his life. His misogynist venom is more likely the result of deeper issue in Uncle Charlie's upbringing, left to the the imagination of the audience to piece together. For all his charm and feigned joie de vivre, Uncle Charlie's displaced resentment of the world has poisoned his soul, and it is a tragic inevitability that his "favorite niece" would see past her beloved uncle's serpentine camouflage.
Recommended for: Fans of a complex character study and psychological thriller, as well as a solid representation of Alfred Hitchcock's signature style. It is a film that addresses challenging themes, from Uncle Charlie's barely perceptible thought disorder to the spread of disquiet which comes when familial trust is violated.