Shadow of a Doubt
Charles: Are they? Are they, Charlie? Are they human or are they fat, wheezing animals, hm? And what happens to animals when they get too fat and too old?
Shadow of a Doubt was one of Alfred Hitchcock's favourite films. It was made in 1942 and released in 1943.
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Quote from Shadow of a Doubt
Charles: Women keep busy in towns like this. In the cities it's different. The cities are full of women, middle-
aged widows, husbands dead, husbands who've spent their lives making fortunes, working and working. And then they die and leave their money to their wives, their silly wives. And what do the wives do, these useless women? You see them in the hotels, the best hotels, every day by the thousands, drinking the money, eating the money, losing the money at bridge, playing all day and all night, smelling of money, proud of their jewelry but of nothing else, horrible, faded, fat, greedy women.
Charlie: But they're alive! They're human beings!
Charles: Are they? Are they, Charlie? Are they human or are they fat, wheezing animals, hm? And what happens to animals when they get too fat and too old?
Cast
Teresa Wright... Charlotte 'Young Charlie' Newton
Joseph Cotten... Uncle Charlie Oakley
Macdonald Carey... Jack Graham
Henry Travers... Joseph Newton
Patricia Collinge... Emma Spencer Oakley Newton
Hume Cronyn... Herbie Hawkins
Wallace Ford... Fred Saunders
Edna May Wonacott... Ann Newton
Charles Bates... Roger Newton
Irving Bacon... Station Master
Clarence Muse... Pullman Porter
Janet Shaw... Louise Finch - Waitress
Estelle Jewell... Catherine
Images of violence and aggression in Shadow of a Doubt
Beneath the surface of the small town idyll, lures a dark and evil world of violence and aggression. Uncle Charlie is the main representative og this world, although the film shows in several subtle ways that this is part of us all.
Two of the three scenes in which uncle Charlie is trying to kill little Charlie.
Shadow of a Doubt (1943) titles
Serial Killers in Hitchcock Movies
| The Lodger | The Avenger is serial killer who targets young blonde women. |
| Shadow of a Doubt | Uncle Charlie (Joseph Cotten) is a serial killer known as the "Merry Widow Murderer". He seduces, murders and robs wealthy widows. |
| Psycho | When his mother found a lover, Norman Bates murdered both of them. He then stole his mother's corpse and preserved the body. He takes her identity and acts, talks, and dresses as she would. In the final scene, the sheriff mentions the unsolved disappearances of two other young girls. |
| Frenzy | Bob Rusk (Barry Foster) is a fruit merchant who rapes and strangles women. |
Themes and Motifs in Alfred Hitchcock's Films
Newspapers • Alcohol • Birds motif • Blackmail • Film in the Film • Flashbacks • Kiss • High Angle Shots • Homosexuality • Murders • Serial Killers • Strangulation • Subjective Camera • Titles design (opening credit •
Alfred Hitchcock Cameos
Foreign Correspondent
After John Jones (Joel McCrea) leaves his hotel, Hitchcock is seen wearing a coat and hat and reading a newspaper. |
The Birds
As Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren) enters the pet shop, Hitch is leaving with two white Sealyham terriers. |
Family Plot
Hitchcock's silhouette is seen through the door of the Registrar of Births and Deaths. |
Marnie
Hitchcock is entering from the left of the hotel corridor after Tippi Hedren passes by. |
The Lodger
Hitchcock is sitting at a desk in the newsroom. |
Torn Curtain
Hitchcock is sitting in the lobby of Hotel d'Angleterre, Copenhagen, with a baby on his knee. He shifts the child from one knee to the other. |
Shadow of a Doubt
Shadow of a Doubt: Hitchock's cameo on the train taking uncle Charlie to Santa Rosa. |
The Paradine Case
Hitchcock is leaving the train at Cumberland Station, carrying a cello case. Gregory Peck is carrying the suitcase. |
Psycho
Hitchcock wearing a cowboy hat can be seen through the office window when Janet Leigh is entering. |
Vertigo
Alfred Hitchcock is seen in a grey suit walking in the street outside Gavin Elsters company buildings. |
Young and Innocent
Hitchcock is standing outside the courthouse, holding a camera. |
Stage Fright
Hichcock is turning to look back at Jane Wyman in her disguise as Marlene Dietrich's maid. |
The Wrong Man
Alfred Hitchcock introduces The Wrong Man in what is not a normal cameo appearence. |
North by Northwest
Hitchcock too late for the bus at the end of the titles sequence. |
Some High Angle Shots
Downhill |
When Roddy (Ivor Novello) leaves the school after having been expelled, he is seen from above and looks small and depressed. |
| The 39 Steps | When Professor Jordan (Godfrey Tearle) is trapped, we see the stage he is on in a high angle shot. |
Secret Agent |
When the organ player is found dead in the church, we see this from the bell towrer where Ashenden and the Mexican is hiding. |
Suspicion |
When Lisa has spoken with the detectives after Beaky's death |
Shadow of a Doubt |
The high shot from the roof in Philadelphia when uncle Charlie (Joseph Cotten) has tricked the detectives and escaped their surveillance. Here the high angle shot illustrates that uncle Charlie is in total control. |
| I Confess | Father Logan (Montgomery Clift) is seen from a high angle when he is on his way to turn himself in. |
Dial M for Murder |
When Tony is telling Lesgate hos the murder plan is to be set out. |
The Trouble With Harry |
When Sammy (John Forsythe) and Captain Albert Wiles (Edmund Gwenn) is digging to get Harry out of the ground. |
| The Birds | A high angle shot of Bodega Bay occurs when the gulls descend on the town to attack. |
Topaz |
When Kusenov is asked if he knows about the spy ring called Topaz, there are several high angle shots. |
Frenzy |
When Richard Blaney (Jon Finch) is put in his cell after the verdict has been read. |
Family Plot |
When Fran and Adamson comes up from the cellar, they are seen from above (which includes the crystals in the frame) |
Fantastic high angle shot from Shadow of a Doubt. Little Charlie has just discovered that her uncle is a serial killer.
Black people in Hitchcock's Films
Downhill |
In Marseille there is a black man among the sailors who says that Roddy (Ivor Novello) is "dotty – he’s seein’ things." |
The Ring |
At the fair people can throw balls on a black man to make him fall down. Two boys throw an egg at him, to the crowd's amusement. One of the members of "One-Round" Jack's team is black. |
Champagne |
The black servant brings a telegram to the father (Gordon Harker) who scorns him. He is extremely servile and walks around almost as a chimpanzee.
A black man works as a bartender in the restaurant. |
Young and Innocent |
The killer (drummer man) performs in a band performing in blackface.
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Shadow of a Doubt |
When Charlie goes to Santa Rosa by train, the railroad porter is black.
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Strangers on a Train |
The senator's servant is black. |
Topaz |
Philippe Dubois (Roscoe Lee Browne) takes the identity of a black journalist from Ebony, sneaks into the Cuban embassy, manages to take photos of some of the important documents and then runs away, chased by Cuban revolutionaries. |
Family Plot |
One of the FBI agents questioning Arthur Adamson in his jewel store. |
