Shadow of a Doubt Therese Shechter

Shadow of a Doubt is a disturbing movie full of disturbing ideas, none more so than the relationship between Uncle Charlie and Young Charlie. Young Charlie adores her uncle, gushes about their psychic connection, gazes at him dreamily, and even parades him through town as if he was her beau – and he totally encourages it. Despite this questionable behavior, I watched the first act of the film unsure of my own feelings about their relationship. Was it as inappropriate as it seemed or was it some 1940s idea of innocent girlishness? Or was it partly due to the mannered style of the dialogue and characters, especially Mr. and Mrs Newton who looked old enough to be their children's grandparents? It eventually became clear to me that Hitchcock, the master of creeping his audiences out, knew exactly what he was doing. By the end of the film, I would have rather watched Uncle Charlie strangle a dozen middle-aged widows than spend another moment with Charlie and his niece.

Acknowledging the sexual vibe that pervades the relationship between the two Charlies, and my own reactions to it, I'd like to talk about the film in terms of Uncle Charlie's use of the seduction of the innocent or naive to achieve his own ends. Although Young Charlie by necessity becomes his main target, the power of his seduction skills, which range from sexual to monetary to emotional, plays a key role in his journey through the entire film.

The film opens with Uncle Charlie on his bed being fussed over by his landlady. Despite his rather rude treatment of her, she has developed a protective attitude towards him, keeping away unexpected visitors, fussing over his health, and worrying about his unprotected cash. In the back-story in my head, he deployed the middle-aged-lady seduction skills–skills he perfected while murdering and stealing from widows–to make an ally of her. Shadow of a Doubt | Therese Shechter | Page 2 of 6

Although it's clear that his sister's adoration has been life-long, Charlie works to maintain her emotional seduction. He repeatedly takes her back to a time when they were young and possibly happier, a time he knows she aches for. He greets her with her maiden name and the recitation of their childhood address, conjuring up a time when they were together, before he left her and she went off to get married and somehow lose herself.

He seduces the whole family over dinner by bringing them high-status gifts that are clearly far too expensive for them to ever purchase for themselves. Mrs. Newton receives an expensive fur and Mr. Newton a fancy wristwatch–his first. Although Young Charlie tells her uncle she doesn't want anything, he gives her what looks like an engagement ring. Needless to say, it is a totally inappropriate gift for a niece, but quite appropriate for a campaign of seduction. It even has a romantic inscription, and when Uncle Charlie puts it on her finger as if proposing marriage (an intimate partnership that requires trust), I could hear a musical cue reminiscent of the wedding march. Hitchcock creates a most unsuitable and disturbing relationship between uncle and niece, one that will undo each of them in different ways. Further enhancing the motif, all these gifts were obtained through the seduction of previous victims, operating like a kind of Ponzi scheme where the spoils of one relationship are then distributed to draw in others.

His seduction of the town begins when he arrives at the bank to deposit what must have been a staggeringly large sum of money for that time. Instead of raising suspicion with the bank manager, his giant bag of cash seems to mark him as a successful businessman, raising Mr.

Newton's profile by association. The scene of the bank manager calmly taking his loot strained credulity to breaking point for me. Did relative strangers routinely blow into town and deposit tens of thousands of dollars in cash? I guess when the good people of Santa Rosa see a tall, Shadow of a Doubt | Therese Shechter | Page 3 of 6 polite, well-dressed white man associated with a Fine Local Family, they don't ask too many questions.

In 2011, Roger Ebert wrote that Hitchcock actually shot the film in Santa Rosa and "later credited the friendliness of the town for making this the most pleasant of all his film locations." I get the sense that the affection for the real town extended to the fictional town as well, and he wanted to portray them as good people. From my perspective, it seems the values and naiveté of the townsfolk led them to be all too easily seduced by a charming smile, a wad of cash, and the right clothes for every occasion. Tall blonde Uncle Charlie looks like what establishment

America thinks is a Golden Boy should look like. This is the kind of man the townsfolk would want to marry their daughters to, invite to speak at their clubs, and embrace as one of their own.

The town's glamorous widow is sold the minute she lays eyes on him. Hitchcock doesn't even bother to tell us what Uncle Charlie speaks about, just that it was the best talk the townsfolk had ever heard. Is Hitchcock celebrating small-town America, or is it a warning to look past the veneer and see what is beneath?

While Young Charlie isn't interested in monetary seduction, she does pine for something more romantic in nature: a handsome prince to swoop in and fix all her somewhat vague problems.

Our first look at Young Charlie is almost identical to the introduction of Uncle Charlie. Both are in the foreground propped up in their respective beds, with another character entering and speaking to them in the background. The scene visually links her to her uncle, and reinforces their connection, and she soon realizes it is indeed her uncle who will be their savior. The coincidence of Young Charlie sending her uncle a telegram just as his arrives was another plot point that made me incredulous, although it does implant the idea of a psychic connection between them, a connection that will be Uncle Charlie's eventual undoing. Shadow of a Doubt | Therese Shechter | Page 4 of 6

When Uncle Charlie arrives, Young Charlie is fully primed for rescue. She talks about their special connection while gazing at him adoringly. With the gift of that inappropriate ring, he reinforces their intimate relationship like the longed-for Prince Charming he needs to be. He escorts her through the streets of the town, dressed in his best clothes, allowing her to introduce him to her friends as more of a suitor than an uncle.

His emotional and quasi-romantic seduction of Young Charlie and his manipulation of her loyalty eventually leads to her metaphoric loss of innocence. It's interesting to contrast their first stroll down the street in broad daylight with their walk later in the film, this time through the dark streets at night and into a seedy bar. It is in here that she will learn the truth about her Uncle, that her fantasy will be shattered, and her innocence will be lost. It's unlikely that Young Charlie has even been to a bar, so her uncle plunging her into this wholly un-innocent space is important.

In addition, meeting her former classmate, now a dropout waitress due to some fall from grace, also hints at Young Charlie's own fall. Uncle Charlie spews an ugly monologue about darkness and evil, basically demanding she grow up and see the world as it is. Young Charlie realizes she is now an accomplice to her Uncle's evil, but be that as it may, she is no longer wishes to be his partner. She will keep his secret to protect her fragile mother, but she and Charlie are over, and she returns the ring and exits the bar.

The seduction story reaches its ugly climax after Young Charlie steals the ring back from his room and makes sure he sees she is no longer an adoring and loyal niece. It may be pushing this metaphor too far to liken his murder attempts to a sexual violation like rape, however his violent betrayals are the ultimate violation. And like the clean-cut men who get away with crimes like rape because they are rich and handsome, Uncle Charlie is equally beyond suspicion. Shadow of a Doubt | Therese Shechter | Page 5 of 6

In the original 1943 New York Times review, Bosley Crowther writes that the film "becomes a bit too specious in making a moralistic show of the warmth of an American community toward an unsuspected rascal in its midst. We won't violate tradition to tell you how the story ends, but we will say that the moral is either anti-social or, at best, obscure." I too have a hard time finding warmth in the town. It seems rather a dark vision of America, a place that so values surface respectability and conformity that it is oblivious to psychopathic evil in its midst.

Thanks to his donation of a hospital wing, Uncle Charlie will live on in the memory of his family and his town as a pillar of the community. Only Young Charlie will know and have to live with the truth. We don't know what happens to Young Charlie after the credits roll, but now that her innocence has been violently taken from her, I wonder if she will ever be able to trust anyone again. Shadow of a Doubt | Therese Shechter | Page 6 of 6

SOURCES CITED

Ebert, Roger. “Shadow of a Doubt Movie Review.” Great Movie Shadow of a Doubt,

RogerEbert.com, 9 Nov. 2011, www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-shadow-of-a-

doubt-1943.

Crowther, Bosley. “ 'Shadow of a Doubt' a Thriller, With Teresa Wright, Joseph Cotten, at

Rivoli.” The New York Times, The New York Times, www.nytimes.com/movie/review?

res=9902E5DF173CEE3BBC4B52DFB7668388659EDE. (Originally published in print on

January 13, 1943)