Charlotte initially serves as Charlie’s mirror but eventually usurps her uncle, becoming his foil.Ĭharles is the classic “Other” that brings excitement to Charlotte’s life. She is like a younger version of him- his reflection. During the course of the film, Uncle Charlie is revealed to be psychopathic and appears incapable of sympathy: he loves Charlotte because he loves himself. Like Hades, he is the figure of death that abducts his niece into the film noir underworld.

The love they share seems less filial and more sexual. Throughout the film, they exhibit a close, nearly explicit relationship. The monotony of her existence can only be broken by the uncle for whom she is named, played by Joseph Cotten. Hitchcock especially liked it: “It was one of those rare occasions where you could combine character with suspense.” Teresa Wright stars as Charlotte Newton, who imagines she lives a half-life in the suburbs, trapped in an average family. Directed in 1943, the movie is set in idyllic Santa Rosa and fraught with tension classic of the director. Shadow of a Doubt is the tale of a young woman and her beloved “Uncle Charlie,” whom she discovers is not as he seems. My favorite film by Hitchcock, however, is lesser known than his more famous works, but I would argue the best of all. Hitchcock through his vast body of work pulls nerves as taut as the strings on a fiddle, bowing us into fear and exhilaration in classics like Psycho and The Birds.

Though I’d never claim to be a film buff, I’ve watched quite a few film noir movies in my time, and no one quite does noir like Alfred Hitchcock, Sam Spade and the Maltese Falcon be damned.

I believe without a shadow of a doubt