Well I don't think Shadow of a Doubt is a bad film at all, I just think it's a good hitchcock film as oppose to a great one. I mean I thought he would have picked a movie of his that has a story that pushes the suspense and drama more, where as Shadow of a Doubt is a really odd good, but not great choice.
It would be like Scorsese saying that his favorite movie he did was Cape Fear or The Color of Money, or Steven Spielberg saying that his favorite movie he did was Always or War Horse. As oppose to a bigger, more epic movie that they did, if that makes sense.
No, I think it'd be more like Scorsese saying The King of Comedy or Spielberg saying A.I. were their favorites. In other words a lesser known film that nonetheless has a lot of personal meaning to the director.
I see what you're saying, though, but I still say there's a lot more to Shadow of a Doubt than you're appreciating. A couple things about Shadow that should be noted: It was one of Hitchcock's few films that really makes great use of location, as opposed to the studio. It's the type of film where the audience gets to hang out with these characters and really get to know them, and isn't just concerned with plotting. It makes great use of dark humor. And of course, the writing is great, the cast is great, the pacing is great...it's just great. I also love a lot of the really wicked dialogue in it:
You think you know something, don't you? You think you're the clever little girl who knows something. There's so much you don't know, so much. What do you know, really? You're just an ordinary little girl, living in an ordinary little town. You wake up every morning of your life and you know perfectly well that there's nothing in the world to trouble you. You go through your ordinary little day, and at night you sleep your untroubled ordinary little sleep, filled with peaceful stupid dreams. And I brought you nightmares. Or did I? Or was it a silly, inexpert little lie? You live in a dream. You're a sleepwalker, blind. How do you know what the world is like? Do you know the world is a foul sty? Do you know, if you rip off the fronts of houses, you'd find swine? The world's a hell. What does it matter what happens in it?
Uncle Charlie: The cities are full of women, middle-aged widows, husbands, dead, husbands who've spent their lives making fortunes, working and working. And then they die and leave their money to their wives, their silly wives. And what do the wives do, these useless women? You see them in the hotels, the best hotels, every day by the thousands, drinking the money, eating the money, losing the money at bridge, playing all day and all night, smelling of money, proud of their jewelry but of nothing else, horrible, faded, fat, greedy women...
Charlie: They're alive! They're human beings!
Uncle Charlie: Are they? Are they, Charlie? Are they human or are they fat wheezing animals, hmm? And what happens to animals when they get too fat and too old?
Man, I could quote the dialogue all day. It's so perfect.
Reply to Topic
