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The Appropriate Tune: "Shadow of a Doubt", by Sonic Youth
It’s been a long time coming. On almost every review since I started down this road to a century of film there has been one name that has been a constant presence, a shadow looming large over this humble blog: Alfred Hitchcock. Year after year would pass by and with it a Hitchcock movie to review, and yet I always managed to find an alternative, something else that struck my fancy. Generally speaking I think taking those chances was for the best and the Tour has managed to highlight some very good and very interesting films, but I’ve been teasing him for so long now that if I put him off now it would’ve been weird. Not to mention that there aren’t that many years left to cover, so if I don’t do a Hitchcock film now I might now end up doing any at all, as the movies I’ve got lined up are by and large too good to replace. So what better place than here, what better time than now and all that.
In 1943 the world still had a bit to go before it ended it’s second global military conflict, and so to pass the time it put out some movies. Notable potential inductions for this year included Carl Theodor Dreyer’s period drama Day of Wrath, William A Wellman’s western classic The Ox-Bow Incident, Billy Wilder’s war thriller Five Graves to Cairo, and George Stevens’ housing crisis based romcom The More the Merrier. As I said however this was to be Hitchcock’s year, and of all the films I could have covered for this tour I decided to go with the one that I’ve heard was the favorite of his films, Shadow of a Doubt. I mean this is the same guy who made Vertigo and Rear Window, so I thought it would be interesting to try and figure out what makes this film, out of the dozen or so other great films that he made during his lifetime, so unique. Or maybe he was so overwhelmed by the flood of Abbott & Costello movies during the 40’s that it warped his perspective, there’ one way to find out.
Released in 1943 through Skirball Productions, written by Sally Benson, Alma Reville (Hitchcock’s wife), author/playwright Thornton Wilder and based on a short story by Gordon McDonell, Shadow of a Doubt was Alfred Hitchcock’s 32nd film and the second to be released by Universal Pictures, the first being Saboteur the year before. A wealthy man who goes by the name of Charles Spencer (Joseph Cotten) is being watched by two men in a quiet boarding house in Philadelphia. After giving them the slip, he decides to ditch the East Coast altogether and instead take a train ride to the idyllic town of Santa Rosa California to reunite with his sister and her family, the Newtons. This is great news, especially to eldest daughter Charlie (Teresa Wright), who is her Uncle Charlie’s number one fan. Indeed, when Charles Oakley arrives at Santa Rosa there’s no one who sings his praises than his niece Charlie. Yet it’s not too long before Charlie feels that something isn’t quite with her beloved uncle. The way he acts sometimes, the way he hides things, the way he likes to keep secrets. What is going on with Uncle Charlie? More importantly, what’s going to happen to Charlie when she finds out?
So what makes this Hitchcock’s favorite film, if indeed that’s the case? Perhaps it’s because of the structure. The audience are given a crumb at the beginning of the movie, something is up but what that could be is not clear. Then that sense of unease builds, and it builds, and some things that don’t add up start to appear, and it builds until finally we hit that crescendo where we learn the truth. Then when the film finally reaches that ‘Oh Shit!’ emotional peak, a very well done scene by the way, then comes the build towards the reaction to that discovery. There’s a great feeling of momentum to Shadow of a Doubt, and I don’t just say that because of the recurring element of trains. Though I’ve described the film as a slow burn it never feels slow, each tension beat comes in quick enough succession that you don’t have much time to stew in your own thoughts. Momentum, I think in my notes I also described it as a feeling of inevitability, which I think describes Shadow of a Doubt well. The audience knows that something bad is at the end of the tunnel but Hitchcock grabs them by the scruff of the neck and drags them towards the light, and they’re helpless to stop it. Hitchcock is no stranger to suspense of course, but I think because he takes so long to fully lift the veil that your mind is allowed to speculate more and more gruesome scenarios, and that tension is that much more palpable because of it.
Then again, perhaps it’s his favorite because of the tone. As an artist Alfred Hitchcock was as much a fan of gallows humor as he was of the gallows if you know what I mean, but Shadow of a Doubt hits differently than the other films that I’ve covered on this blog. The contrast between this wholesome, almost parodically good family and the undercurrent of dark violence is feels incredibly unique, more Lynchian than Hitchcockian. The first instinct is to give the credit to Thornton Wilder, as Santa Rosa and its people bear a resemblance to Wilder’s famous play Our Town, but to be honest I don’t know how much involvement he actually had in the screenplay. Not only is this the only film that Wilder is ever credited as working on, but there was also two other writers working on the picture, one of which was Hitchcock’s wife and frequent collaborator, which implies that his contribution to the film was far less than what would be implied. Things like the running gag of Charlie’s dad and his friends eagerly discussing the best way to murder each other lends creedence to that theory, as it seems like the kind of thing that would fit right at home on an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Whoever is responsible, a thriller that’s also funny is a pretty cool trick.
Perhaps it’s because of the casting? Shadow of a Doubt doesn’t have the marquee names of Vertigo or North by Northwest, but it also proves the strength of the material and Hitchcock’s ability as a filmmaker that he can succeed with the ‘crutch’ of big name actors. Joseph Cotten is the highlight here as Charles Oakley, like James Cagney he has this quality about him where he can go from the nicest guy you’ve ever met to the scariest fucker in the room in the same scene but without Cagney’s aggressive energy, which makes his performance more intimidating. Teresa Wright honestly might be too old for the role, she looks like she’s in her mid 20s playing a character that’s written more like 17 or 18, but I think she has an innocent strength about her that fits the material. I was also very impressed with Patricia Collinge, who played Charlie’s mother. She doesn’t do all that in the story, but whenever she gets her own time in the spotlight I think she absolutely nails it.
There’s also those interesting experiments in cinematography. The chase scene near the beginning of the film done from a top down perspective was great, if a bit short. There’s also a great shot after the discovery scene that I mentioned earlier, and the recurring waltz, not unlike the recurring trains. Shadow of a Doubt isn’t trying to reinvent the wheel or anything, but flourishes like that are always a fun reminder that Hitchcock was first and foremost a visual storyteller, and he was always looking for new ways to tell his stories.
That all being said the film isn’t perfect. Right before the discovery scene Hitchcock engages in a rather obvious bit of cinematic shorthand to get the story where he wants. This wouldn’t be so bad if the cut wasn’t so jarring and if it wasn’t a lead-in to the romance subplot, which is a significant part of the film. The whole thing ends up on shaky ground, pushing a romance without devoting the time necessary to make it work, and honestly this is one of those films that doesn’t really need a romantic angle to make it work. Especially when those romantic leads don’t have a strong chemistry together.
Is Shadow of a Doubt Alfred Hitchcock’s best movie? That answer is of course subjective; Vertigo tends to trade places every year or so with Citizen Kane on lists of the best movie of all time, and personally I’ve always had a fondness for Rope. Can I see why it might be Alfred Hitchcock’s personal favorite of his films? I think so, yes. Shadow of a Doubt is a very simple kind of movie, good versus evil, hope versus base nihilism, and it tells that story without ever being that violent or macabre. As the man said in It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, the implication of a thing is often more than enough to get the desired result, and I think to the master of suspense a film built on implications was far more appealing than one built on action. Less work, certainly. Shadow of a Doubt gets a strong recommendation.
Next stop on the tour we’ll be continuing our stay in the 1940’s. Another thriller is on the card I think, the decade was chock full of them after all, but perhaps not the one you’re expecting. See you all then.
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