Shadow of a Doubt (1943)

Apparently, Hitchcock once said that "Shadow of a Doubt" 1943 was his favorite of his films, and I have to say that it's definitely now one of mine (right after "North By Northwest" 1959 because, hey, Cary Grant!). It also happens to be the most "domesticated" of his oeuvre, as it heavily features a very "average American family" in a lovely "anywhere USA" kind of small town in California. In fact, it feels an awful lot like watching a darker version of "Meet Me in St. Louis," (which I LOVE and it makes me CRY every Christmas when I watch it) which came out only a year later in 1944.

The pleasant, humble setting is a perfect pairing for the second half of the suspense recipe, which consists of two very strong performances from Joseph Cotten and Teresa Wright. Cotten (who all to much resembles Tim Robbins in "The Hudsucker Proxy" 1994) is Uncle Charlie and Wright (who is way cute and clever) plays little Charlie, his favorite niece. Because they have the same name, they have this "special connection," and of course, it's little Charlie who first begins to suspect her Uncle of his strange past after he comes to visit her family after years of estrangement. 

All we know as an audience is that before Uncle Charlie runs into the bosom of his loving family, the police are spying on him and he's got a rather ludicrous amount of money on his person. When little Charlie realizes that her beloved Uncle is a prime suspect regarding the multiple murders of several rich women, she is burdened with the tension that inevitably comes with wondering if your own realtive is capable of "silencing" you for their own survival.

What I love about this family-based situation is that the Charlies are surrounded by offbeat characters, which also reminds me a LOT of "Meet Me in St. Louis":

1) Charlie's father has a buddy with whom they love to go on constitutionals while discussing "the perfect way to kill each other." In one scene, when Charlie is loosing her grip on her calm, she loudly asks her father why can't he quit talking about killing people at the dinner table. He cooly responds with, "We're not talking about killing people. Herb's talking about killing me and I'm talking about killing him." WEIRDO.

2) One of the young detectives investigating Uncle Charlie develops more than a crush on little Charlie even as they secretly plot to expose her Uncle's criminal activity. GRIM.

3) Charlie's little sister is a shameless bookworm who borders on Asberger's with her literal interpretations and random facts. I loved when Charlie asked her when the library closed and she responded that she would know already if she read as much as she ought to. SASSTASTIC!

PS: The town library closes at 9:00 PM. NINE O'CLOCK AT NIGHT. And the sign on the door said it was open on SUNDAYS. Gee whiz, I'd like to live in a "sleepy little town" like that!

What's most interesting to me about "Shadow of a Doubt" is that the overarching theme of questioning what you think you know is buttressed by the underlying theme that you may not even know what you think you know. This disconcerting idea is pretty well summed up in a little speech Uncle Charlie gives his niece in a cafe right after he understands that she suspects him (and subsequently chases her down, which is s bit creepy in itself). This is the true horror Hitch is presenting to us:

"You think you know something, don't you? You think you're the clever little girl who knows something. There's so much you don't know, so much. What do you know, really? You're just an ordinary little girl, living in an ordinary little town. You wake up every morning of your life and you know perfectly well that there's nothing in the world to trouble you. You go through your ordinary little day, and at night you sleep your untroubled ordinary little sleep, filled with peaceful stupid dreams. And I brought you nightmares. Or did I? Or was it a silly, inexpert little lie? You live in a dream. You're a sleepwalker, blind. How do you know what the world is like? Do you know the world is a foul sty? Do you know, if you rip off the fronts of houses, you'd find swine? The world's a hell. What does it matter what happens in it? Wake up, Charlie. Use your wits. Learn something."

Yeah, he brings the nightmares alright.
*SPOILER ALERT*
A very R-rated moment is a Shakespearean "non-scene" that (mercifully) occurs "offstage": Charlie's father's buddy describes what he heard about what happened to one of the two prime suspects in the "Merry Widow Murder," which involves him escaping across the tarmac at an airport and accidentally running into a propeller, where he gets chopped to bits. Also, Uncle Charlie tries to oh-so-casually kill off little Charlie by locking her into the garage with the car running. And the climactic tussle on the train is some intense shit.

WTF. Seriously. WTF.

WATCH THIS IF YOU GET THE CHANCE. It is perfect.