"Shadow of a Doubt" is a Dark, Suspenseful Masterpiece

Alfred Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt draws so much of its tension and power from dualities. The domestic, familiar and comfortable versus the sinister, destructive and unknown. Young Charlie versus Uncle Charlie. This comparison is drawn immediately from the first two scenes where we see the contrast of the two lives of the vastly different Charlies. When Charlotte (sharply played by Teresa Wright) comments that she thinks that she and her uncle are very similar, the the film is drawing out the sad irony of the line's inaccuracy. Charlotte is certainly different from her other family members, quickly realizing that something isn't quite right with her uncle, but she's also rather similar to them in that she's so used to a quiet and uncomplicated life. The film's initial tension comes from everyone missing the danger that Charlie's (a serial killer on the run) entrance into their lives entails -- something made all the more pressing when two detectives appear posing as census takers. But as the film moves past this tension towards something more open, and in turn frightening, the film gets darker and more cynical. Of course, Charlie (played with cool, compelling menace by Joseph Cotton) has got to get his just deserts (in the wonderfully intense and gorgeously shot train scene climax) -- this was made in 1943 after all. However, everything prior to that point is laced with such seethingly suspenseful scenes where what the two Charlies know and don't know becomes crucial.

Grade: A