Jospeph Cotton is absolutely perfect in this role as a man who is hiding his evil nature.
She finds out more and more about her Uncle Charlie and comes to realize that this man who she loves in such a pure and naive way is actually a sociopathic murderer. It makes the darkness in the film that much more powerful.īasically, throughout the film young Charlie learns that the world is not such a perfect place and that there is evil even within her own family. Hitchcock does an excellent job of setting up her small town life with her caring parents, cute little brother and sister, and people in town who all know her name. When Uncle Charlie comes to town, she feels that her family is perfect. She has a strong and perhaps even sexual connection with her uncle Charlie who she completely idolizes. Young Charlie lives in a perfect little town and is very jaded (and naive) in the beginning, wishing there was more excitement in her life and family. There are hundreds of films about this topic but none do it as well except for David Lynch (who was definitely very influenced by this film). I think the main theme of Shadow of a Doubt is the loss of innocence. So much has been written about Vertigo's themes of obsession, loss, regret, illusions, power, and delusions but I don't see Shadow of a Doubt analyzed on the level it deserves. His other masterpieces Psycho and Rear Window go a little further in developing meaning and complex characters (and Marnie but I think that was a bit of a failure) but Vertigo and Shadow of a Doubt are on another level. I also think these 2 films have a much deeper meaning and subtext than the rest of his work. His characters are usually cool and have fun dialogue but only in Vertigo and Shadow of a Doubt does he put the importance of the characters above the plot itself. Hitchcock is one of the greatest directors ever but my main problem with him is that he usually puts suspense and an intricate plot above characters.
Personally, I would only put Vertigo above it. In my opinion, Shadow of a Doubt is one of Hitchcock's greatest films.
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