Sometimes an artist is so obviously magnificent at one thing, we hardly notice how good he is at others. I don’t know if people still say it, but all those comic scenes you find in Shakespeare’s tragedies are not just there for “comic relief.” Listen closely to what the drunken Porter says in Macbeth, and you’ll get in miniature and in devastatingly ironic form examples of the presumptuousness and folly that will bring down the butcher-king and his fiendlike wife. I’d say the same thing about Alfred Hitchcock. We think of him, rightly, as the master of suspense, without always noticing that it is often moral suspense, with all kinds of crossing motives in play, some good, some evil, and some teetering dubiously between the two. And that is the case with our Film of the Week, a flawless film of its important kind, Shadow of a Doubt.
Everyone in the film is someone you’d call a good person — and you would be right about that most of the time. I don’t want to reveal the secret of the film, which is gradually unveiled for us with increasing and not always quiet horror. Charlie (Teresa Wright, one of the favorites at our house; her character’s name is short for Charlotte) is a bit of a rebellious teenager who thinks she knows better than her parents and everybody else. That is not a new thing in the world. Her father (Henry Travers; he’s Clarence in It’s a Wonderful Life) is a crime buff, and there’s a splendidly comic scene in which the family’s having dinner with a neighbor (Hume Cronyn) who has the same hobby, and they chat at some length about subtle ways to kill people and get away with it. Charlie’s mother is a dotty lady who idolizes her younger brother Charles (Joseph Cotten), for whom she has named her daughter. Uncle Charlie has always been a figure of dash and flair and fun, in Charlie’s imagination, and when he arrives in their small town for a long visit, she is overjoyed. And then she starts to notice odd things, like the initials inside a ring that her uncle gives her as a present.
If evil always presented itself in its own colors, nobody would fall for it. Fear and disgust would protect us. If confidence men always had grins with too many teeth in them, and if they were always pawing their marks, squeezing them confidentially on the shoulder and not letting go, we would shiver and get away, fast. So that is not what they do. Hitchcock knew this as well as anybody. He has villains that are silky and well-spoken (James Mason, in North by Northwest), or perfectly normal and dumpy Britishers on vacation in Marrakesh (The Man Who Knew Too Much), or an awkwardly pleasant young fellow at the counter in a run-down motel (Psycho), or an apparently ordinary gardener at a rectory in Quebec (I Confess), or a man famous in the west for his pacifism (Foreign Correspondent). We have always to focus not on how people present themselves, which can deceive, but on what they actually do. That requires some discipline, because — as Hitchcock knew very well — we ourselves are so often preoccupied with how we appear to others, and not at all so focused upon what our own deeds really are.
One more point (you see here that I’m restraining myself from giving away any spoilers). Hitchcock’s films often feature an ordinary person, often someone outside of whatever intrigues are going on, unwittingly embroiled in a network of crime, and by intelligence, pluck, and a little help from unexpected places, he or she not only survives but discovers the truth. That isn’t sentimentality. “He has pulled down the mighty from their thrones, and has lifted up the lowly” — keep that verse in mind.
Word & Song by Anthony Esolen is an online magazine devoted to reclaiming the good, the beautiful, and the true. We publish six essays each week, on words, classic hymn, poems, films, and popular songs, as well a weekly podcast for paid subscribers, alternately Poetry Aloud or Anthony Esolen Speaks. Paid subscribers also receive audio-enhanced posts and on-demand access to our full archive, and may add comments to our posts and discussions.
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We are fortunate today to have the full film available on Youtube.
I’ve been introduced and re-introduced to so many great movies through Word& Song. In fact, I’ve been reminded how much I used to love watching these actors and movies. It’s been such a pleasure to be reminded that it’s worth the time to get back to it again! Thanks!
Finally watched this movie I had never seen. I really squirmed at the end. I really thought Charlie was a goner on that train.