Shadow of a Doubt (1943)

The absolute BEST!!!

Best Hitchcock film, best American movie, best satire, best thriller, best snapshot of small town Americana, best insight into the underside of everyday life, best existential American film.

Breathtakingly written, breathtakingly photographed, breathtakingly acted, breathtakingly directed, breathtakingly brilliant. It never palls.

A true Classic. March 2, 2008

Liebermeister!

One of the greatest movies of all time!

Featured are two excellent, albeit, greatly underrated actors -- Joseph Cotton and Theresa Wright.

The casting of the movie is spot-on, with every single role, even the very small parts, *perfectly* cast.

Hitchcock is famous for having once said that actors are just so much cattle. I find that hard to believe -- not hard to beleive that he said but, rather, hard to believe he meant it. There are any number of actors who have done their best work in Hitchcock films: Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart, Martin Balsam, Anthony Perkins; and of course Joseph Cotton and Theresa Wright.

From what I gather, quality actors longed to be in a Hitchcok movie because they had great confidence in him. He knew what he wanted and knew how to get it. Such confidence in a director must give the entire acting ensemble a tremendous amount of confidence as well; actors, famous or otherwise, being notoriously insecure.

Notice in "Shadow of a Doubt," as is true in all of Hitchcock's movies,
how Hitchcok shocks and frightens and intrigues and mesmerized, but with a minimum of so-called "action." Meaning: no car chases, no shoot 'em ups, no bombastic violence.

Even the famous shower scene in "Psycho" is shot-for-shot all referential. We see the knife, we see Janet Leigh's face, we see the blood, the shower curtain falling -- but we don't see these things in a graphic, haphazard, unstylized way. Violence in a movie, if it's stylized as well as "visually indirect," becomes something other than violence. Put another way: everything flows form the director and the actors, the FX crew is marginalized.

Here's the bottom line for "Shadow of a Doubt." ... If you don't like this movie, pilgrim, then turn in your popcorn coupon. This is a good as it gets. December 6, 2007

Watch your Step

Here is another black and white classic of suspense from the master of the genre Alfred Hitchcock. Take the multi-talented actor, Joseph Cotton, who plays the role here of a homicidal man who cannot control his impulses. And in fact has made something of a philosophy of life out of it. Take a naïve, if bright, niece played by Theresa Wright who finally stumbles on to his mysterious and fatal doings. Place them in middle class Santa Rosa California in the 1940's and surround them with a very conventional family and you can take it from there. The real suspense here centers on family pride and maybe just the slightest bit of doubt that Cotton is a real killer. Well you can figure the rest for yourselves.



November 7, 2007

Lesser Known, Must See

Shadow of a Doubt is one of the best, most suspenseful releases in the Hitchcock canon. It's not as celebrated as other masterpieces such as Rear Window (Collector's Edition), Vertigo (Collector's Edition), and Psycho (Collector's Edition) but it is just as incredible.

The movie features Joseph Cotten (Citizen Kane) and Teresa Wright (The Best Years of Our Lives) as Charlie, an uncle and daughter sharing the same name.

After Charlie comes to visit, the family finds out there's a serial killer on the loose, and Young Charlie starts to wonder if her Uncle could be the killer.

The DVD features a making of featurette and a few other things. But the big draw will be the film itself. One you can watch over and over and over again.

Must Have. October 24, 2007

Do You Believe a Stranger About Your Relative?

Things have gotten boring and routine in the Newton family, and Young Charlie (Teresa Wright) especially is feeling the boredom. So she decides to wire her favorite uncle to come for a visit. As it happens, Uncle Charlie (Joseph Cotten) is already planning a visit.

While Young Charlie is excited to see her namesake again, she can't help but notice that he is acting strangely. He's especially skittish around two men who arrive at the Newton house claiming to be conducting a survey. These men tell Young Charlie a strange tale about her uncle. Could it be true? Is so, what should she do?

I really have a hard time watching old movies because I often find them dull and slow. This one started out that way with the set up taking more time then I would have liked. This is especially true since I already knew where the story was going. Once it got there, however, things really heated up. I was watching the time, but only to figure out how much longer before I'd know how it all turned out. This isn't to say the second half was perfect. It includes a romantic sub-plot that, while important to the plot, feels forced on the story. This isn't the fault of the actors, all of whom do a great job bringing the story to life.

This movie is one of Hitchcock's lesser known efforts, and it's a shame. If you are looking for a good suspenseful movie, this one will certainly fit the bill. October 16, 2007

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