Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
Hitch number four then. Is it the best one yet? No, but it's not bad for all that.
Teresa Wright returns for the third time in this HoF, and I do believe I like her in this more than the other two. Seeing as she's the main character along with Cotten, she deffineatly gets more to do here than in either
Foxes or
Pursued. She also get a wider range to act out of, though stil being confined to the role of loving, innocent daughter who trust everyone and only thinks kindly of them (at first).
The intro had me a bit worried, with everyone speaking over each other (can't stand that in movies). Had that continued for longer than the five minutes that the movie alowed it, I'd probably turned it off. As is, I got trough it with less patience than the parents showed.
Regarding the family, it's nice to see them doing something other than than just the normal family unit. The younger daughter being obssesed with reading, the father discussing the best way to kill his co-worker, it's as Wright comments: "We're hardly average." The co- worker especially, I liked their discussions about the different aproaches to killing, the father being more the pragmatist while Hawkins goes more for the flair and technical angle. Basically, the father discusses how he'd actually kill someone, while Hawkins focuses on a senario fit for a novel, including clues and such.
And then Cotten enters the story (at least more so than when he did in the opening). At first he seemed the nice uncle, but very soon thing are set into motion. The very night he arrives he's forced to take action to keep the family in the dark, something Wright quickly picks up on. To be honest, he's kinda clumsy and careless about things, acting too rash when Wright picks up on how oddly he acts. They're alone, so I guess he doesn't need to be smooth, but come on! Some form of standard should be striven for. He walks around pretending to be civil all day, can't he muster something for the one person most likely to discover him?
The mystery isn't much of one, but as in
Laura it's not the point, I feel. It's again more about Wright's character keeping her family sheltered from the truth and the interactions she has with Cotten that works as the central narrative. The detectives, too, seems not to be a main focus, Cotten never even tries to do something about them, not surprising as he ever only attacks women incapable of fending him off. It's only ever Wright who's in danger (aside from a widow who might be a future victim that accompanies Cotten as he leaves), but as she can't tell anyone about him, lacking proof, she tries to manage as best she can.
The ending was a fitting one I think. Again, due to sheer ineptitude or rotten luck, Cotten brings his end upon himself, spareing Wright's character the choice of letting him go or telling the rest of the family the truth.
Overall, I'd say it's the least of the Hitches I've seen so far, but a good acting effort from both Wright and Cotten, with some quirky roles from both Travers and Cronyn, made it a fun watch and I'm glad to have seen it. The mother too, when not being simply a wet rag/ serving staff, gets some good lines in. She shines when her daugther gets caught in the garage and I believed the worry she showed (even though I'm hard pressed to believe that any mother would actually leave her child 30 seconds after bringing it back from the brink of death). Good nom, Sean!
P.S.
I did spot the Hitch cameo on my own this time, but then it was very obvious, I think.
D.S.