Shadow of a Doubt
Shadow of a Doubt is an Alfred Hitchcock film that was shot on location in the 1940's town of Santa Rosa, California. The town itself is representative of the ideal of American society. However, hidden within this picturesque community dark corruption threatens to engulf a family. The tale revolves around Uncle Charlie, a psychotic killer whose namesake niece, a teenager girl named Charlie, is emotionally thrilled by her Uncles arrival. However her opinion slowly changes as she probes into her mysterious uncle. In the film, director/producer Alfred Hitchcock blends conventions of film noir with those of a small town domestic comedy as a means of commenting on the contradictions in American values. In the beginning the film is immediately set up in the film noir style. Under the opening credits a shadowy backround image is shown kaleidoscopically. Couples dressed in elegant ballroom gowns and suits waltz together dizzyingly as the "Merry Widow Waltz" plays. The scene has nothing to do with the drama to follow (until Charlie's crimes are revealed.) The titles dissolve in to a panoramic view of a bridge, further dissolves take us first to junkyard and then to a scene of children playing in the street. The city i
We can see the good side has won the battle for her. A smiling traffic policeman directs downtown traffic in an orderly fashion. Again the comic relief, Anne criticises her mother's mis-use of the telephone (and doubting of advanced technology) when she calls for the telegram's message: "You'd think Mama had never seen a phone. In the bar we are introduced to Louise a high school friend of Charlie's. I sure was surprised to see you come in. Young Charlie however, discovers her Uncle deception and is thus given her second major clue into her Uncle's perverse activities. " (Both of these occurrences further the similarities to situational comedy, using scenes from imagined small town nuclear family everyday life. The ringing of the downstairs telephone introduces Charlie's younger, bookwormish, precocious, and bespectacled sister Ann (Edna May Wonacott) with her nose buried in Ivanhoe. As per his instructions to not disturb him, she didn't let them in, however, they have not left, instead they retreated to the street corner to stake out the boarding house. You aren't sick, are you? Why, Uncle Charlie, you're not sick. Robin Wood states that:"there is the business with the ring, which not only, as a symbolic token of engagement, links Charlie sexually with her uncle, but also links her, through its previous ownership, to his succession of merry widows. " Charles leaves the room, and intentionally walks toward and past the two men as a challenge. Listen, if I wanted to murder you tomorrow, do you think I'd waste my time on fancy hypodermics? Or on Inni?.
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Acceptance Essays
