a small, sinister delight

----------------------------------

The Guardian
"My favourite Hitchcock:  Shadow of a Doubt"
written by Dallas King
Wed 15 Aug 2012

reader comments

goldbug30
--------------- This film was a revelation to me when I first saw it.  It's not generally held up amongst the 'top tier' of Hitchcock films, but it is as elegant and creepy a film as he ever directed.  Joseph Cotten, who most people probably know as Jed Leland [Citizen Kane] or Holly Martins [The Third Man] is very scary in this role.

MikeMorris2
--------------- Agreed, it's got a special creepiness to it and Cotten is superb.

zerocinemablog
-------------------- Probably Hitchcock's best film.  Certainly a contender, although there are 4 or 5 that are vying for supremacy.  The uneasy, evolving... chemistry between Wright and Cotten elevates it to that kind of level.


buntyman
---------------- Cotten is indeed superb.

...The dinner table scene in Shadow... has much in common with the word game in Suspicion, with different modes of murder being lightly discussed in front of Cary Grant's Johnnie who may possibly have a thing for killing old rich people.

colddebtmountain
------------- Hitchcock was a maestro of character portrayal and the darker side of life was very well demonstrated in "Shadow of A Doubt".  

He lets us know who not to trust very early on and then castigates us for feeling that way by polishing the edges off of the Joseph Cotten character.  

The film admirably demonstrates his masterful way of twisting us around his directorial finger.  

He even encourages us to find "good" in nasty characters just to highlight our gullible, trusting or misguided natures.  

A film not so much about doubt as the shadows we do not go too near for fear of what we might find.  
     The comfort zone perhaps.

I think Hitchcock enjoyed black and white for its dramatic effect when his films were composed of several layers of grey and in that genre "Shadow of A Doubt" was one of his best, and beautifully acted too.

OldHazlittean
------------------------- Hitchcock's most underrated picture, in my opinion.  

Not as obviously technically virtuosic as some others (e.g. Vertigo, The Birds, Rear Window) but the general plainness of the presentation -- the pale, even lighting, the masterfully small-town pacing etc - are a brilliant counterpoint to the submerged chiaroscuro character of affable ole Joe Cotten.  

A small, sinister delight of a movie.

holzy
------------------- I watched this movie recently and finally realised its theme:  perfection.

...The...angst that comes with discovering the perfect American small town family life is nothing more than a series of fragile burdens - the precocious child who talks across the demure mother's telephone conversation; the fidgeting child; the father's hobby nothing but misdirected inarticulate hunger for just one thrill in a dull, dull life; the endless constraints of public life...

A stunning film.


swanstep
-------------------- Very nice film. ...

While never as influential as Strangers On A Train or Psycho, Shadow of a Doubt continues to impact upon some of the best modern film-makers.  

For example, Lynch's transitional jitterbuggers in Mulholland Drive seem to me to owe a lot to Shadow of a doubt's spooky, transitional ballroom dancers, and Lumberton in Blue Velvet owes more than a little to Shadow's Santa Rosa.  


For another example, the Coens explicitly modeled The Man Who Wasn't There on Shadow Of A Doubt (setting it in Santa Rosa), but more importantly, the note that the Coens often reach for 

(e.g., in Fargo and in No Country) 

of having good characters express how they can't understand the genuinely evil ones (and that it seems to be almost dream-like in the daylight of their own lives) ....

PierreGn
------------------------ Probably the most powerful Hitchcock film, Cotten is truly creepy; but the film has lost a lot of its power through the sets,
costumes, cars, that give it a feel of a period film.  I'm looking forward to a remake by Wim Wenders with Leonardo de Caprio as Uncle Charlie.

fabrisse
-------------- I adore this movie.  Teresa Wright's performance is an anchor to reality, and she does a superb job.


Bracebridge
-------------------- Having grown up in small town Canada, this film isn't too far from the truth....This and Notorious 

are my two favourite Hitchcock films


AntiFylfot
------------------- Teresa Wright's first films were Mrs. Miniver, Pride of The Yankees, The Little Foxes, Shadow of A Doubt and Best Years of Our Lives.  Sensational actress.

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