![]() ![]() Certainly he is hero worshipped by his niece, and yet she alone learns his true nature and ultimately (accidentally) causes his death. It’s unusual in having a central villain who is almost the hero. Hitchcock often said this was his favourite film – and certainly the one he found easiest to defend from his critics, in that it had the most plausible senario. He might look alright and have a voice that charms, but he is the devil in disguise. And as the imitative but inferior Stoker shows, it’s the kind of film that casts a long shadow.In the first scene a train enters the station, filling it with black smoke – and from the first it is clear that all is not right with Uncle Charlie. It’s subversive, nail-biting, eerie, and gorgeously shot - no wonder Hitch often cited it as his finest achievement. ![]() Hitchcock picks at the placid surface of small-town America like a scab, imbuing each scene with deep-running undercurrents of menace. ![]() On the surface, Cotten is the local boy made good, but he’s actually rotten to the core. Written by Thornton Wilder, Shadow of a Doubt is essentially what would happen if you let loose a monster in Our Town. ( EXTRAS include a recycled but informative making-of documentary.) Joseph Cotten plays the original Uncle Charlie, a suave, beloved relative living with his sister’s family until his niece (Teresa Wright) uncovers the murderous secret behind his meticulously crafted facade, which propels the movie toward its iconic final sequence aboard a train. Hitchcock’s brilliant film (also newly available on Blu-ray) is still just as unnerving and masterful 70 years later. ![]()
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