Last month, I rewatched Alfred Hitchcock’s Shadow of a Doubt on Criterion, I hadn’t seen it in many years. I still found it creepy and effective, I love how chilling and menacing Joseph Cotten is as the serial killer, and his ugly misogynistic rant at the dinner table about wealthy widows (who he targets for murder) was unsettling.
Teresa Wright, at nearly 25, was convincing in playing an innocent teen girl who slowly realizes that her uncle is a monster, and she embodies the fright and helplessness really well. A podcast noted the scene where her father and his friend (the always great Hume Cronyn) have this ongoing game talking about how to get away with the perfect murder, as these light jokes between them, and she’s practically clawing the table in panic, and just blows up at them for joking about murder.
It’s a gorgeous-looking b/w movie, with big panning overhead shots that swell with the music in this one stunning sequence after the girl (both she and her uncle are named Charlie) reads a news article in the library about the “Merry Widow killer,” and it tracks with what two detectives trailing her uncle have been telling her, as well as her own suspicions, and the music and overhead shot is like a big lightbulb moment for her, it’s incredible.
I’m happy I watched it again, it’s still my favorite of Hitchcock’s movies.
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