Great film, great cast
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
Shadow of a doubt lacks the big scenes and stars of other Hitch films, but that's the point. This was the first of his US films to look at small town life & relationships in America, and in the way it's done it steals a march on many family dramas, both of film noir & later styles, including Blue Velvet. The use of perspective in the film helps you get inside the head of young Charlie as she begins to understand the motives of her uncle Charlie(Joseph Cotten). Cotten, as ever was excellent in the natural way that Uncle Charlie at first seems, hiding out with the family. But as the movie progresses & he too begins to see his niece discover the dark past he really shines.Watch the scene with the car in the garage to see the depth in the piece. This is not a horror film, but more shocking because the killer of the piece is for once someone's brother & uncle, not some deranged loner as in Thomas Harris. Yet the town & its inhabitants would not seem out of place in 'It's a Wonderful Life' with its apple pie concern for itself. Hitchcock was duly proud of this work as it was looking into the Hardy family and cleverly twisting the values presented. It seems difficult to imagine movies like Blue Velvet, or Badlands without this homage to small town America passed.Read full review
I am writing this review because I am into Alfred Hitchcock films big time and he is just totally irreplaceable and no other director will ever match him. This is in fact one of my favorite films because of the intense suspense and thriller.
A young girl begins to suspect that her beloved Uncle Charlie is not all that she thought he was and could be a serial killer. In one of Hitchcock's earliest American films, we see Joseph Cotten change dramatically from the adoring relative to a cold-blooded killer as soon as his air of comfort and security is threatened. You either love Hitchcock films or you watch them anyway - and i love them, they are simply peerless in their genre - in fact they are a genre all to themselves. This is reportedly Hitchcocks favourite ever film (that he made himself anyway) and while i cant quite say the same it is truly excellent with a cast against type Cotten in his best role after his turn in Citizen Kane.
Already seen the film before I got this DVD, but loved it so much that I decided to buy a hard copy of it. Like most Hitchcock films I've seen, they are fantastic, so suspenseful & gripping. The DVD itself is just as described, great condition & plays completely fine.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
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