Rating: 
Summary: "Charlie, think. How much do you know about your uncle?"
Review: Alfred Hitchcock's "Shadow of a Doubt" is one of the less satisfying productions from the famed director. There is nothing groundbreaking to the film and there are no classic moments in it. Janet Leigh is not stabbed to death while showering in this film. Cary Grant is not buzzed by an airplane in this film. Claude Rains does not walk up a staircase in terror in this film. All we get this time around is a serial killer story that is full of routine moments. Uncle Charlie (Joseph Cotton) visits his niece, Charlie (Teresa Wright). Charlie the niece adores the uncle she is named after and is overjoyed that he will be spending time at her home. Soon after, detectives show up at the doorstep believing that Uncle Charlie is the culprit behind a series of grisly murders. Charlie then becomes suspicious herself of her uncle and eventually does discover whether he is a guilty or innocent man. Fate then intervenes into the lives of the two Charlies when they board the same train and meet their respective destinies. Cotton and Wright are great in their roles but the story of "Shadow of the Doubt" is just too generic to be memorable. Its critique of the darker aspects of small-town life and the nature of gender identity is interesting on an analytical level, but adds little to the overall entertainment value of the film. In fact, precious little contributes to the entertainment value of "Shadow of a Doubt" - the pacing drags, the detectives in the film are too simple-minded to be credible, the romantic subplot with the female Charlie feels manufactured, and any suspense involving the identity of the serial killer is gutted immediately at the film's outset. Thankfully, Hitchcock is much better remembered for other films he previously and subsequently directed to this one. "Shadow of a Doubt" is simply not one of his better efforts.
Rating: 
Summary: Hitchcock at his best
Review: Alfred Hitchcock has made a load of fantastic films. The Birds, Psycho, Frenzy, and more. But this one took you in under your wing, and then kicked you out in the cold. I give it 5 stars because of it's great content and just because... I love ANY Hitchcock film!
Rating:
Summary: A true classic and ahead of its time.
Review: This is more than just a nailbitingly effective exercise in suspense, but is, more fundamentally, a supremely compelling parable about the insidious forms that evil can take, the inevitable loss of innocence that must occur when this evil is recognized, and the courage and integrity it takes to combat such evil. Moreover, Hitchcock displays an intuitive and sophisticated psychological perception about the mentality of the psychopath-sociopath, for what he suggests in this film is that Uncle Charley's murderous behavior is not the product of conscious, considered moral choice, but rather of a sickness of the soul that results in a basic alienation from the warp and woof of the social fabric. This perception is brilliantly conveyed by Joseph Cotten as Uncle Charley, in addition to his clever and effective manipulation of his suave persona to render his characterization all the more diabolical.
One of the great films of all time, and arguably, Hitchcock's greatest masterpiece.
Rating:
Summary: The serial killer in Uncle's clothing...
Review: This is simply fabulous; a completely unique story, set in a quiet, gentle small town, innocent in all its doings, until Uncle Charlie comes to call. Really the finest of Joseph Cotten's performances, this role is perfect, and he is truly frightening in his contrast of personalities, one for his sister and family, the surface one, and his hidden personality, that of the malevolent murderer. He despises rich women, particularly rich widows, and goes after them with a vengenace. Attractive and charismatic, he has no problem attracting them, to their eventual doom. He makes a slip and gives Charlie, his niece, a ring he stole from one of his victims, with the initials engraved on the inside of the band, and Charlie, her admiration and love for her uncle rapidly dwindling, does some late night research at the local library and discovers the identity of the intials on her ring. Theresa Wright is brilliant and believable, as are her entire family, her mother, whom I greatly admire, and father, perfect in his small town role, and her little brother and sister, the bookworm sister my favorite of all. Hume Cronyn, a friend and neighbor of the father's, engages in an ongoing game of how to create the perfect murder...always arriving during dinnertime and when asked how his mother is (he lives with her) he says "Middling, just middling." As the movie progresses and Charlie becomes more and more convinced that her uncle is the serial killer being sought by the two detectives who followed him to Santa Rosa, the tension increases and Charlie's life is threatened as well. My favorite scene is at the dinner table when Uncle Charlie tips his mitt a bit by expounding on rich widows: "Fat, greedy women, eating the money, drinking the money, proud of their jewelry but nothing else...and what do we do with animals when they grow too old and too fat?"
And the scene in the bar, foreign land for Charlie, and a great scene, with Joseph Cotten twisting a napkin in his hands, and Charlie watching him do it, and thinking about all the women done away with by these same hands...there is a bit part of a barmaid, a school acquaintance of Charlie's with a jaded, resigned air of her lot in life as that of a waitress with no hope for the future. Uncle Charlie tells his niece that she knows nothing of him or life in general, and she "lives her perfect, ordinary life in her ordinary little town, dreaming stupid, silly dreams...and "I brought you nightmares..." Indeed.
Hitchcock filmed this in the town of Santa Rosa, in a real house, and the attention to the small town aura is evident throughout; also the decade of the 1940s, lends an air of real innocence, a world complacent and happy and unaware of the Uncle Charlies of the outside world. Well worth adding to your Hitchcock collection...a true classic of the Master Director's skills.
Rating:
Summary: Danger from Within
Review: Santa Rosa is a typical American town and the Newtons are a typical 1940s American family. The father loves plotting elaborate imaginary murders with the quirky next door neighbor. The mother is a housewife obsessed with egg whites and slipcovers. The children are off-beat cherubs. At the beginning of the film, the oldest, a young woman named Charlie played by Theresa Wright, looks forward to a visit from her favorite relative, her mother's brother - Uncle Charlie.
When he arrives, the happy reunion chills when Charlie suspects that her Uncle Charlie might be a serial killer known as "The Merry Widow Strangler". Uncle Charlie is all the more menacing given his physical beauty and his trusted position in the family. We prefer our monsters to be ugly, recognizable and locked outside our homes. As Charlie becomes more convinced of his guilt, her uncle plays on her love of her mother and fear of scandal to convince her to keep his secret. The audience realizes that Uncle Charlie must kill his niece long before she does. Hitchcock's picture of goofy familial normalcy and the audience's growing awareness of danger from within builds the tension to the very last scene. This movie is one of Hitchcock's best psychological dramas. The story is tight and fast paced. The black and white cinematography enhances both the sense of post World War II ordinariness with bright, sunny scenes of family life and suspense heightened with bright lights and dark shadows. Point of view is crucial to the telling of this piece. For example, Hitchcock allows us inside Charlie's head the moment she realizes the truth. The camera pulls back and up abruptly like a swift intake of breath. The casting is superb with Theresa Wright, Joseph Cotton and Hume Cronyn.
Rating: 
Summary: Not my favorite...
Review: but it is a good movie. I was quite surprised by the ending.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Hitchcock suspicion film
Review: SHADOW OF A DOUBT was an interesting movie where Uncle Charlie (Joseph Cotten) is being assumably chased by two men who believe either he or a man on the East Coast is a "Merry Widow" murderer, and he goes to the rest of his family to hide, yet he still is in terrible suspicion and possible danger. As the story winds on, he tries to have a nice time with Teresa Wright, but they don't seem to keep together. Still, the story has a creepy hint to it, and when the ending approaches, the film is even more scary, so you shouldn't miss this exciting film.
Rating:
Summary: A thousand little things adding up to a wonderful picture
Review: In Francois Truffaut's book length interview with Hitchcock, Hitch said that while 1943's "Shadow of a Doubt" probably wasn't his best picture, it was his favorite because a thousand little things came together to make it near-effortless and near-perfect. As an example, he refers to one of the first scenes shot: the scene where Uncle Charley's train arrives. On a bright clear day, the camera gets set up for a simple shot of a steam train pulling into the station. As soon as the train arrives, though, a gust of wind comes up from behind the train. All the black smoke that was seeming to float into the sky sweeps down and envelops the platform: Uncle Charley is here! What else adds up to a great picture? A screenplay written by one of America's greatest playwrights, Thornton Wilder ("Our Town"), a wonderful cast (Theresa Wright, Joseph Cotten, Henry Travers--Clarence from "It's a Wonderful Life", Hume Cronyn are all fantastic) a tight plot, and a good score. Others have touched on the plot and the theme of innocence lost. All I can add is that this film really stands up and that I enjoy it every time I watch it. Considering the movie is almost 60 years old, the DVD transfer is great and from a good print. The extras are neat. Pick it up!
Rating:
Summary: "Charlie, think. How much do you know about your uncle?"
Review: Being directed by Hitchcock, people tend to overlook that the story was writing credits Thornton Niven Wilder who wrote "Our Town" three years earlier.
Teresa Wright one year earlier was in "Mrs. Minver" This film is creepy from the beginning as Charlie (Joseph Cotton) goes to his hometown to avoid two mysterious men following him. Who are they and what do they want of him?
Mean while back home things are just down right monotonous. Little Charlie (Teresa Wright) plans to send a telegram to Uncle Charlie to come and brighten up the place. She realizes she possesses telepathy when Uncle Charlie's telegram reaches her first. When Uncle Charlie arrives he brings secrets and the two mysterious men show up as magazine men doing a survey. Little Charlie must find the secrets and why the men are there. Each scene and secret reveals a more sinister environment. It just gets creeper. The film and the camera angles are exceptional. Even the dialog helps build up the tension. Yet on this VHS copy I can not help but thing that some scenes were cut or something to that affect. One minute Little Charlie is walking happily with her quasi date. The next moment she is being apologized to for being deceived as he reveals his purpose. I wonder how many more scenes were cut or condensed?
Rating:
Summary: Another Hitch masterpiece
Review: This is one of my favorite 'Hitch' films, though it certainly never received the name recognition of 'North by Northwest', 'The Birds', or 'Psycho'. Perhaps the reason it is so endearing is that the movie's plot orbits around a 'typical' American family in a 'typical' American town, complete with a mother, father and siblings (unlike, say, 'The Birds' or 'The Man Who Knew Too Much'). Needless to say, Hitchcock once again intends to expose the dark side of human nature, but goes a step further here by showing it could be, well, in YOUR family (and at some level probably is). I have always been impressed with Hitchcock's cast selection not just of the main actors but the entire crew, and this film is no exception. Joseph Cotton (one of my favorites, I must admit) does his usual spectacular job as Uncle Charlie and Teresa Wright is fine as 'niece' Charlie, but accolades go to Henry Travers and Patricia Collinge as the parents, and to Hume Cronyn as the nosy, slightly ghoulish (and very funny) neighbor. Even little Ann Newton's 'bookwormy' character (Edna May Wonacott) seems to have been carefully selected and she is perfect in her part. Hitch's direction is flawless and he once again employs his standard 'techniques' (which he so refined over the years) to get our attention, reveal a 'double meaning' or impart symbolism. There are also plentiful doses of humor and light-heartedness, which serve to help the movie flow at one level while contrasting with the ever-building darkness the viewer is being exposed to in the form of Uncle Charlie. I will not write a synopsis of the plot, there are plenty of those here to read. The DVD quality (both sound and picture) is very good - not "fantastic", but easily worthy of the purchase. People who need high action, noisy soundtracks, and blood (or who are simply put off by black and white movies) will be hopelessly disappointed and should not bother with 'Shadow of a Doubt'. To everyone else, this film is a winner.
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