Hitchcock Retrospective – Shadow of a Doubt Review

I don't know what to say, the monkeys won't do!

And I also don't know what to say about those

crazy producers from the Geek Cop Radio Network!

They're driving me crazy! And welcome to episode

217 of the cinema geeks I am one of your cinema

geeks optimist solo and joining me as Always

is the comic concierge. Hello, Dan. Hey, how's

it going? It's going well. We're into I guess

the summer months in Florida and that means it's

hot so I Tried to mow the yard the other day

and got about halfway through mowing the yard

and like trimming and Weed whacking or whatever

you want to call it in Florida. I have found

is like a three day process you can do like half

of your yard one day half of your yard the other

day and then you can trim a completely separate

day but doing them on the same day is not ideal

the only benefit i have is when i'm done and

there's sweat pouring out of every pore in my

body i can just belly flop into our pool and

it's like the most satisfying thing you would

like on the planet so that's that's good i guess

and i look around at all the the people that

are much more well off than than we are that

have people that come and do all of that stuff.

And I'm like clinging to like the fact that I

still mow my own yard and hold out as long as

possible. Yeah. So anything new? The kids were

just about done with school, I would imagine.

Yeah. Yeah. You know, near the end of that. And

I'm in Maryland. So it's not as hot as Florida,

but it's It's stickier, you know, Maryland is,

you know, it's the, basically most of it used

to be a swamp. So it's, it's like walking, you

know, when it's midsummer, it's a, like walking

around microwave cobwebs. Cause it's just like,

you're always feeling gross. So yeah, I can imagine.

Baseball season is in full swing. I only bring

that up because I had predicted that your Baltimore

Orioles would be much better than they are. Currently,

oh there's baseball season this year So the Cubs

however, which is my team are actually doing

pretty fantastic So I guess we'll ride that wave

as long as we can See where that's going. I think

I think the NBA finals are happening So it's

a lot of sports stuff happening right now, but

we're not here to talk about sports We're here

to talk about movies and like we've done for

the last what 12 or 13 episodes. Let's see This

has got to be episode 13 in this series, I believe,

of our Alfred Hitchcock retrospective. We are

moving on. We did Rebecca and Suspicion were

the last two that we did in kind of our bonus

territory of the, as we decided to extend this

filmography look. And now we're into 1943's Shadow

of a Doubt. Before I go over Some of the information

about the movie just to reiterate what we talked

about at the end of last episode Dan Neither

one of us has seen this and you have no knowledge

of what the movie was going into it, right? Yeah,

I knew nothing about it going in I never watched

it before so completely fresh for me. All right

so this is a American psychological thriller

film noir if you want to believe the All the

descriptives that Wikipedia gives it I should

definitely find a different source that like

narrows that down because I feel like sometimes

they just like throw as many genres and subgenres

as possible but this is obviously directed by

Alfred Hitchcock starring Teresa Wright and Joseph

Cotton among some other folks this came out like

I said 1943 and this is about a small town I

guess you would call it a small town outside

of New No, they started in New Jersey. They end

up in Santa Rosa, California. And this movie

is kind of depicting that town of Santa Rosa

and definitely a more of a Andy Griffith style

town, you know, a small town situation where

they're going to look at that a little bit. And

we're going to follow the tale of two Charlie's.

We have a uncle Charlie, who's obviously an older,

not older, but like a middle aged gentleman.

And then we have a younger female. Charlie, who

is his niece, to try to make that as confusing

as possible as we talk through this and probably

use the word Charlie as many times as they did

in the movie, which I think was like 171 I saw

somewhere. So this was released in January of

1943. It had 108 minute runtime. The reason this

one made it into our bonus coverage was a couple

of different reasons. Number one, this is one

of those rare films that actually has a 100 percent

on Rotten Tomatoes. So that was interesting or

intriguing, I guess, as far as that goes. And

then it also had one Academy Award nomination

and it showed up on almost all the different

lists I looked at. It was ranked number nine

by independent, ranker Den of Geek, number eight

by IndieWire, number five by Taste of Cinema

and number 11 on the screen rant list. And also

this was said to be Alfred Hitchcock's favorite

film. So we thought If it's his favorite film,

if it's a hundred percent in Rotten Tomatoes,

if everything that is written about this film

seems like it's positive, we should probably

take a look at Shadow of a Doubt. So with all

of that lofty expectation and kind of rhetoric

around this film, Dan, what was your take? And

I cannot wait to get into this because I think

this is going to be the one. But what was your

take on Shadow of a Doubt? It's interesting watching

this after suspicion, because there's a lot of

similarities with These two films obviously suspicion

The big difference is with that. We don't know

the answer, you know, it's all about This fear

of guilt of the sphere of understanding like

what is this person doing? Are there sinister

actions and seeing of those? Be discovered cuz

like you know, that's where the suspense is coming

from here It's the opposite where we we know

more more than most of the characters. We know

this guy is guilty we know he is certainly running

from doing some awful things. And of course now

he is within this family that seems like it is

like the picture perfect type of household. Like

you mentioned, Andy Griffith, it's a good comparison.

You know, this is in the forties. It seems like

it's kind of representing the ideal of what the

American family could look like. But underneath

you have this ugly underbelly that is potentially

Going to rise up and destroy it from within which

is interesting comparing considering this is

coming out in 1943 and during you know, the I

don't say height of war war two, but certainly

that's in the background. We see it a little

bit Uh throughout and I didn't know all the praise

of this going into it Like I knew I know like

some of it like I knew like obviously it's his

cock film. It's obviously praise, but I wasn't

sure where it felt on the pantheon of movies

and I think there's a lot I really like about

this but I don't like you mentioned it being

his favorite film uh you know some people rank

it near the top I felt like I wasn't I didn't

have as much suspense with this compared to that

of what we just went through with suspicion and

I was trying to figure out like why that is exactly

like there's I see so much praise for this film

as I after I watched it to see like, you know,

there's there's a lot of admiration here and

especially for the actors and like how well it's

put together and I think certainly I do like

the disposition of like this idyllic household

and Seeing that kind of crumble because you know,

it's it's kind of a facade and see that going

through but I think it also has similar issues

to like The what we had with grope where you

have like just a lot of like the parade characters

that were hard to invest in This at least we

had the the girl Charlie who obviously was like

the innocent the the person trying to figure

it out but I I don't know like it I struggled

at times like I wasn't as You know, like this

is a movie that is a thriller at heart and really

until There are some moments that worked for

me. There are some I think some brilliant moments

from Joseph Cotton Like there's a moment where

he talks about kind of his hatred of women which

I thought was like rather chilling and like it's

like wow He must go for Chan message boards because

it seems very similar to that but as an overall

like Clearly a well -made film, but if I'm comparing

it to what we say before I don't like it's not

my favorite Hitchcock film I don't I didn't walk

away from it as With this admiration I had for

some of the other films we've done so far so

I guess I'm a little bit more in the middle with

it compared to You know some of the other films

we've reviewed Dan how long do you think do you

have any clue of like the first year that we

reviewed a movie together? Oh Man I want to say

20 2011 2010 so it's I mean we're we have to

be getting close to 15 years like Yes, there's

been breaks and there's been years whether we've

covered more films than not and maybe some years

that we didn't cover any films. But I feel like

we've been reviewing films or talking about films

for a long time. And you have a I feel like you

definitely have a good sense of the types of

films I go for and things of that nature. And

I have a little bit of, you know, obviously a

sense of what you like and stuff like that. And

when you're going through an older filmography

like Alfred Hitchcock filmography, that's, you

know, we're going from the 1930s into the mostly

the 40s 50s and 60s it's a little bit different

because it's not something modern and it's not

something that relates to like some of the stuff

that you're covering when you're trying to cover

all new films like we did for many years so it's

a little bit harder to predict and every time

I feel like we're we finally approached one where

we're gonna have like completely different opinions

on it I let you go first and you shock me because

we're almost always in lockstep like there's

some films that you've clearly liked a little

like a different maybe a little bit better or

Some films that you've not liked quite as much,

but I don't I feel like it's just like Degrees

at that point. It's not like you loved a film

and I hated a film type thing And I just find

that kind of interesting I thought for sure that

this one might be the one that we we differ on

but it's not sounding like it's gonna be that

way I have a lot of problems with this film.

I do, like you said, let's start with the positives.

I do think that the idyllic American town slash

American family is definitely well depicted.

And I think it's a good job by whether it be

the screenwriter or Hitchcock in the direction

and whatever, setting that up and really showing

us how that looked. in a way that seemed sincere

and authentic and still was kind of like a time

capsule of a certain time and place. And so I

really enjoyed that. I also come from a very

small town. Like we didn't have stoplights in

my town. My graduating class was like 60. I was

like in the most Caucasian part of a state that

you could possibly be in and just didn't have

a lot of diversity of raised cultures or anything

so like I can relate to some of what we're seeing

in this film and I think they do a very good

job of depicting that. I think we do get some

good performances from the cast and I do really

love a couple of the supporting characters and

before I get into overall thoughts I do want

to correct myself because last episode I looked

at the cast list and I basically said like there's

nobody I know in this cast and there's nobody

that I recognize there's no names that are recognized

so I'm not only going into it blind from a plot

standpoint but I'm also going into it blind from

any expectations from the actors and actresses

and I just didn't realize that I just didn't

recognize some of their names but I definitely

recognize some of their faces as far as what

they've been in like Teresa Wright who plays

the the younger Charlie I mean she's coming off

of three Academy Award nomination films in a

row right before this so if you've seen stuff

like I've seen her in like the Pride of the Yankees

was the one that I most remember I haven't I

don't think I've seen Mrs. Miniver or the Little

Foxes but she was obviously very well received

coming into this film Joseph Cotton who was a

little bit more known by the time this film came

it came out was clearly in Citizen Kane so I

feel bad that I didn't recognize that from the

get -go. And I believe Hume Cronin was a name

that I just didn't see the first time going through

the cast. This is his first film, and that's

a name that I recognize. He did a lot of stuff

in TV and films afterwards. So there's definitely...

Oh, and the angel from... What's the Christmas

movie that has the guardian angel? Wonderful

Life? Yes, it's A Wonderful Life. The dad is

the guardian angel from A Wonderful Life, I'm

pretty sure. Um, so there was some people that

have definitely done some stuff. This isn't like

a, I didn't want to come across as I was saying,

like it's a bunch of nobodies or people that

nobody knows. Like I was just ignorant to the

names on the list. So I did want to point that

out. But overall, I think you, you nailed it

on the head when, and I don't know if it was

just like unfortunate that we, in a way that

we watched this right after suspicion. Because

I definitely do just like, you see a lot of the

parallels between these two films and it's tough.

coming off of that one to see this one where

I feel like a lot of the things were done better

in suspicion. And I know some of that is just

how it's set up. Like you said, in suspicion,

we're not sure, right? Like we're playing the

we're walking the line of not knowing if Cary

Grant's just coming across as somewhat despicable

or if he actually is despicable. And if he is

like, what level is it? Is it just kind of like

some juvenile or like meathead frat boy type?

Despicable or is he an actual murderer, right?

Like so we're balancing that line a lot with

suspicion and I feel like this one I feel like

it wanted to do that, but it didn't because I

don't know if it was intentional or not Like

rope is different rope. We see the murderer right

or we see the The act right at the beginning

like there's no doubt we know and I'm not sure

if this one was trying to do the same thing where

we know Like you said more than the characters

and we know for sure whether he's guilty or innocent

right from the beginning or if it was trying

to do what suspicion did and then just did a

poor job of it. I'm kind of wrestling with myself

a little bit about that because part of me was

kind of coming out of this one and saying, you

know, Joseph Cotton, as well as he performed

in this and whatnot is not Cary Grant. And what

I mean by that is like Cary Grant because of

his charisma and presence and whatnot, I feel

like was able to pull off the fact that you're

in one seat, like in one second, you're despising

him. But in the next second, you're believing

that somebody could fall for him. And you're

kind of going back and forth because of who he

is as that actor. And through his performance,

I think he's balancing that line in a different

way. And in this one, and it's written that way,

I'm sure, and directed it that way. But Joseph

Cotton is There's no doubt when he's bad and

to what level that he's bad. Like you said the

speech that he gives about women There's a few

physical moments where he's like actually hurting

Hurting the younger Charlie by the way, he grabs

her and things of that nature There's a different

look in his eye that is definitely evil if you

look at the movie poster of this film like it

clearly is showing him as evil in the The shadow

depiction of like what he looks like in the background

So I don't know I so part of me was just thrown

off by that because I was I couldn't determine

if they were Intentionally telling us that he

was bad or if they were trying to balance that

line and just doing a bad job of it You think

they were intentionally letting us know it was

bad Yeah, I think because in the beginning we

see him running away from the police like he

has that little internal monologue where you

know, he's like Saying that like they they don't

have anything on him I think like we know he's

running away from something and when he cuts

out the the article from the newspaper Clearly

they like try to hide what's happening. I think

it's pretty clear like I think you know, we're

supposed to know There's he's like he's he's

this killer. He's who they're looking for you

know his refusal to get pictures taken he would

hate today man cuz like gonna go anyway then

it does like you say kind of go back to that

rope situation then where we're supposed to be

in a suspense that we're the only ones that aren't

in a suspenseful position and to me i don't know

if that works for film like i maybe if it's done

in a certain way but it really takes me out of

the suspense if i know that he's bad from go

and to me there was no doubt in my mind as i'm

watching it that he's bad like i was never questioning

like well maybe it's just something that's being

looked made to look a certain way. And then at

the end of the movie, they're going to like pull

the tablecloth out from, or whatever this phrase

is, pull the rug out from underneath us. And

we're also going to be like, oh, they, they tricked

me and he's not bad. So I just thought it was

very obvious that he was bad. And I don't know

if that helped me. And then the other thing that

was, I feel like was a mistake maybe in the screenplay,

but I don't know how you'd have to completely

rewrite the movie and it'd be a completely different

movie. So I don't know if that would work, but

he is introduced as Uncle Charlie to this family,

right? And we have the young Charlie, who is

his niece. And then she has an additional younger

brother and younger sister, and then her mom

and her dad. So we have a family of five here.

And they definitely depict her as the one that

is very much in favor of her uncle. Like she

is in his camp at the beginning. She, it's like

the uncle that you wish visited more. And when

they finally do like you're jumping up and down

and you're excited or that family member, whatever

that case may be. Like she's definitely. I don't

want to say, I don't want to make it more incestual

than the movie did, but she's, she's like head

over heels about this guy coming to her family.

She feels like her family, like she's bored of,

of Mayberry and she wants something to shake

it up. And I think she sees that as a way. And

then obviously she must have some type of previous

positive experience with him. Yeah. And not saying

that anybody else in the family is not excited.

Obviously the, the mom, uncle Charlie's sister

is excited, but they really play it up with her.

And then I feel like because of that, it's almost

a mistake that she's the one that knows he's

bad first and throughout. majority of at least

the second half of the film because I feel like

it would be much more effective if the family

is the one that is seeing the little seeds of

something or her younger siblings or or the detectives

or somebody and that's trying to convince her

and she can't see it because she's you know so

enamored with this with this relative and that

it takes like some type of dramatic event towards

the end that finally gets her to see the light

or something of that nature and instead they

do the flip and she's the one that knows that

he's bad so it kind of deflates all of that excitement

and it's more about whether she she's going to

tell the family and things of that nature so

that that like part of it for me felt like it

was a miss i don't know like what did you feel

about her being the one that knows Then her relationship

with the rest of her family and her not wanting

to like let anybody know besides herself and

the the powers that be I thought it worked because

to me like the reason why it works is because

she she There's a cure. She has the innocence

to her right where it's like she has this admiration

and also there's also the fear becomes She she

if she does discover that What happens next?

Yes, like you mentioned, there's no suspense

because he's bad. But I guess to me, the question

was, well, what is his level of the privity?

How far will he go to protect himself? Will he

hurt her? And that was a question that was looming.

And then we start to see that, yeah, he will

go that far, when he cuts the step. And that,

to me, became kind of captivating because you

see here go through this System of like, you

know now he's fine and that development Me worked

because it was the other way around too, especially

with like the mom character and the dad I think

I don't know. I don't know how that would lay

out in the sense of them trying to convince her

especially because the mom seemed more Yeah,

I don't think it works with the parents I was

thinking more like the siblings or the detective

or one of her friends or or something like that

I think I just mom's gonna gonna believe him

no matter what I'm almost They had the strongest

connection so Attacking that you know making

making her have to reconcile with that feeling

because it made the most sense that she would

Try to find every way out that it's not true

and then having to deal with it being true like

I thought that was one of the more compelling

parts of the movie and then that's really where

it's it started to pick up with me because it's

you saw that you know once once he realized that

she was no longer trusting him, like he started

to, you know, go out and basically, you know,

kill her too. Cause you saw that, like that it

was almost, almost, it was completely like gone.

Where it lost me a little bit, that was where

we suddenly get this random love story with the

police officer. Like that like felt very tacked

on that kind of goes up and then never really

comes back again. Uh, but I thought like their

dynamic to me was. that was the strongest part

of the film. And that worked for me. Yeah, I

do think their dynamic worked. I just was wondering

if there was a way to get more tension out of

it, because I think the only tension for me comes

towards the end when you're trying to figure

out if is he going to be successful in his attempts

to kill her? First, if he's going to go that

far, and then once he does, like, is she going

to be able to escape these attempts? Is she going

to survive? you know, you're going to get caught.

Like that's where the tension comes in. Like

maybe that last quarter or last third, which

I do think is somewhat effective in the way they

do that. It does beg the question though, because

from like a plot standpoint, like going into

a third act, you typically have like your main

character that has to make a decision on something

like they have to make some sort of decision.

And obviously her decision is whether she tells

her family or tells the police or tells, you

know, everybody else what she has already figured

out. And I feel like it approaches that question

like three or four times and every single time

she's pretty adamant that she's not going to

tell anybody. And she tells him that at least

on three different occasions. And it becomes

questionable why he doesn't just leave. Like,

I feel like at one point she's. You know, he's

tried it multiple times. She's very sincere that

she doesn't want her mom to be, you know, broken

by this. She's not going to tell anybody. And

he has an opportunity to leave and just get away

with it and continue his run. And he decides,

I guess that's kind of going into the psych,

say, psychoticness of his character, because

we're definitely supposed to think he's a, a

psycho, a, you know, a madman that's been afflicted

from a young age, et cetera. So I guess that

goes into like, he has to have some type of power

reason to continue on. and stay there versus

leaving. But just to go back to your detective

situation, I thought that was a problematic scene

as well, because we have like this this montage

of her and the detective going out and. Enjoying

a night or an evening together, even though we're

set up to believe that he's mainly trying to

get information out, but it clearly becomes more

than that. And then like without any sequence

to set it up whatsoever, it just cuts to her.

accusing him of being a detective with like no

reason for that like there's it doesn't show

any like breadcrumb to that it doesn't like set

that up at all like to where she would think

that but she completely comes to that conclusion

out of nowhere out of this montage and then it's

like oh well you're a detective and and now I'm

angry at you and things of that like there was

some weird dynamics between her and the detective

which I forget the character's name but I'm definitely

with you on that what did you think about The

uncle charlie not leaving It's interesting I

felt I did wonder about that. I think part of

it like you said was that element where I think

he liked that conflict like it does seem like

it's something he this was a challenge for him

and that's something he He saw plus. I think

he likes this opportunity that he was in because

he knew that there were some some widows nearby

that he can take advantage of and I think he

felt kind of safe and protected because he can

have this uh you know this idea of a family man

or being a part of this family so i think he

that might be why like i don't know i think it's

a valid point saying like it seems like when

he gets to the point where she knows she's talking

to detectives logically you'd want to step away

but perhaps he also thought if he did go away

then it would become He'd become a bigger suspect

and then we get that little bit where they supposedly

catch somebody. So it's like, okay, no longer.

He's maybe that's, you know, at least some, they

at least did some recognition of it saying, okay,

we, we need something here. And when he's no

longer supposedly, you know, when they catch

the guy they're looking for and he's no longer

having to worry about it. Okay. Maybe that makes

more sense, but yeah, I could understand that

flaw, like where that comes from, but. it's also

definitely a little bit of a time capsule because

you have this situation where there there's one

person that went that ran to the east and one

person that ran to the west and they're trying

to track down both of these individuals and they're

trying to get a picture of him so that they can

then wire the picture to a witness in another

area of the country get confirmation that it's

like it's so like of that time like it's kind

of fun to think about like the logistics of how

things happen prior to the time we live in, where

obviously none of that would have been necessary.

So it's definitely interesting. It's also interesting

that the detectives like their whole game is

to follow him all the way to Santa Rosa, California.

And then instead of just going in like questioning

him or arresting him or anything like they pose

as what was it, a newspaper or magazine? Yeah,

they were doing an article about like the like,

you know, the average American. Yeah. Yeah. So

they're going to like get in the house and take

pictures and then like mysteriously or slickly

take a picture of him. And like, I have never

seen detectives detectives act like the two detectives

in this story, but I guess that's what the plot

needs. Yeah. I mean, they were creative, I guess.

They got the job done. They got the picture.

And then he had the little Slate of hand with

the film, you know, I guess yeah, I do have a

couple other things I know this is like it's

completely nitpicky, but There's a sequence when

he gets to this house I don't know if it's the

first night that they're the first dinner or

the first night that they're together I can't

quite remember but one of the first times that

the he's with his you know reacquainted with

his family and we have like what you mentioned

the newspaper which is on the on the table dad's

newspaper, right and there's an article about

this killer and Uncle Charlie loses his mind

right and he has to do whatever he can to get

this newspaper hidden so he like Tears at it

creates a what did he create a house or a farm

or a barn or something out of it for the kids

which was interesting I was I was there for that.

I was trying to see what he was gonna create

but To me that whole thing Makes zero sense because

there is no picture of him in this newspaper

because nobody has taken a picture That's why

the detectives are here to try to get a picture

of him So there's nothing in this news article

that's gonna implicate him to anybody Like nobody

in that family is gonna read that article and

then look at uncle Charlie and be like Hey, there's

a killer Like he was freaking out for absolutely

no reason which was somewhat problematic to me

because it's a big part of this plot Like they

follow this newspaper for scenes like there's

two or three scenes that include this newspaper.

She goes in to try to find it She has to go to

the library to see what was on it. Like, it's

a big deal, and it made no sense for him to draw

attention to that newspaper whatsoever. He was

not a very slick, psychotic killer. I will say

that much. I think that is part of the guilt

or the fear, though, right? It's where he's worried

what it could lead to, because there is... indication

of a deaf person's on the run he suddenly shows

up and he starts putting all these things in

his head and and even like the opening scene

you could see like he clearly was Paranoid and

you know in the sense of people were after him

because they were actually after him because

he murdered people But I think that I agree like

logically doesn't make sense, but I think for

that character it's mine Yeah, because it as

we in it's a one accuses into Where he is as

a person he he he is super protective of everything

like he is overprotective Yeah, um the point

of where it makes it kind of to his detriment

So I think it was consistent with the character

even if it wasn't logical Yeah, he definitely

wasn't like the he wasn't the slick killer. We'll

say that no He does a number of things that the

slick killer would not do like he gives her a

ring that has the murder victim's initials on

it And I love how they set it up. They're like

What did he say? Oh, there's like a faint inscription

or engraving or something. And then they show

the ring and there's nothing faint about this

inscription. I know they have to do that because

it's the camera and we need to see what it says.

But I was like, my dude, I think you should have

taken a second look at this ring before you gave

it. So he freaks out about the paper. He gives

someone a ring with the initials of the murder

victim. He's not a slick killer. We'll say that

much. He's a downright narcissist in the sense

of like, He does all these things and he wants

to in a way kind of brag about it, but you know

Like he's he wants to show but in the way he

like when he goes into the bank and he's open

with like how much money he's putting in like

he in a way like he certainly Like you said,

he's not slick, but he he he had to me he is

he's he's a stereotypical narcissist where he's

wants wants everyone to see him in a certain

light which I think kind of gets into like why

he hates these widows because Again, it's his

eyes They are where they are because of just

because of who they married and they don't deserve

it and he feels that he does and that's kind

of his I think there was there was a bit of like

In a sense of I think there was some subtlety

there compared to something like rope like bashing

on a movie, but But where there wasn't that that

was kind of lacking for those characters here.

I thought I don't know I did like his character

more as it went through because I agree as some

of those decisions early on seemed a little bit

questionable but as we learned more about him

I thought it all kind of made sense and understanding

of like where he is and just kind of the uh the

odd fellow he turned out to be and I think they

do do a good job I appreciate that they do give

the backstory of him Having the injury as a child

on his I think it was a bike injury or something

like that and obviously this story if you do

the research and look at the trivia like this

is based on a real -life murder and That person

similarly had you know an injury in his youth

and I guess the only thing that is somewhat questionable

about that back So I do like it because it shows

him more as a psychotic individual or a narcissist

or different things like that He's he's clearly

got something wrong from a mental standpoint.

This isn't just someone who's trying to get away

with murder because whatever, like the guy in

rope, for example. But it's not a leisure activity

for him. Right. But I do think like, I guess

you have to then also accept the premise that

he has been removed from this family for quite

some time, because it would be rare for someone

to have that injury as a child, go through the

steps of becoming a psychotic individual and

never have anybody close to him. See anything

that's a little questionable. Yeah, like the

way that this family is just head over heels

about him and inviting him It's not like hey

Uncle Charlie's come in You know if he says anything

funny just ignore it or something like there's

nothing like that It's like this guy is like

the the best family member in the history of

family members And yeah, I don't know He must

have hit it really well for the the rest of his

life prior to this But it's not fair to critique

the movie on that because we don't get to see

what happens, you know prior to the Plus, the

family is a bit weird themselves. You have the

father and the other character that love discussing

murdering each other openly all the time. Which,

by the way, are my two favorite characters in

the film. Yeah, I really thought that was coming

to play more. I was waiting for those mushrooms

to show up someplace. Or them to solve something

or see something. I guess he does help a little

bit, the neighbor does, but I just thought the

dialogue they give those two is hilarious and

what they're kind of going back and forth and

trying to one up each other. The only thing that

was really disturbing to me was how the neighbor

would just show up. like there was just not a

knock there was no doorbell dude was just in

the house with you yeah turn the corner and be

like oh there's there's dude i don't know what

his name was uh neighbor did he have a name what

was his name uh herbie herbie herbie yeah yeah

he was like showing up he was like the uh a bad

sitcom neighbor, but not in the movie, you know,

like that trope, like the Urkel or the, you know,

what was the character's name at Full House that

was just, it was always there. Oh, I know who

you're talking about, Kimmy? Kimmy, yeah. It

was, you know, he was that character, but I guess,

I don't know if you'd say he's annoying, but

he certainly was an odd duck. To me, he was more

like the guy from Home Improved that was on the

other side of the fence, but instead of being

on the other side of the fence, he's in your

house with you without any knowledge of how he

got there. He's just there. Trying to come up

with ways to murder you. I wanted to get your

take on a couple other characters because we

do obviously have the family, which we just talked

about. We have the neighbor, Herbie, which we

just talked about, obviously the detective, which

we've mentioned. We haven't spent a lot of time

on the two siblings and then her classmates slash

friends. And I kept waiting for something to

tie in. those characters more into the story.

So we have her sister and her brother, her brother

likes numbers and counting and doing all that

kind of stuff. And her sister likes reading and

comes across as, you know, fairly intelligent,

that type of thing. But to me, I thought they

were going to like do something so that those

characters became more important to some aspect

of the plot. And the more I like digested after

the fact, I don't know if those characters served

a purpose in this film. Like I feel like outside

of adding to the family dynamic and like the

ideal life that we're portraying here, you could

take the brother and the sister out of this film

and it has no consequence on the film. Unless

I'm just missing something and even more so with

her friends. So they come across like three of

her friends, two of them we find walking together.

a couple different times. And then one of them

is maybe not a friend, but a, a classmate that

serves them in the cafe bar, restaurant, whatever

you want to call it. And they make a point that,

you know, all of these people have relationships

with her and things of that nature. But then

the same situation, like, what was the point

of drawing that connection that they know each

other and that their friends or classmates outside

of just, I guess. Painting a picture of a small

town where everybody knows each other But none

of those four or five characters did anything

for the actual story to me unless I'm missing

something Did you pick up more on something on

on those side characters? I I think one I think

it is part of just showcasing this town understanding

like the community they're seeing because Where

people are at because you obviously have Charlie

that the parsing that you mentioned and then

the person that's working there that you clearly

The different path in life and also to get some

insight and Charlie in like what people view

her as because He says like I never thought I

would see you here. So it's clearly like she's

someone that people view a certain way The younger

daughter like I think she provides some key like

pieces of information about the library and like

just like, you know Where the newspapers are

and I think partially to I think she's there

a little bit for comedic relief But I don't I

don't think their purpose is necessarily more

so for the overall narrative just as you say

more representation of as it was trying to kind

of capture what life like what an average life

was like and in this time in order to set the

stage and what happens then when you take that

average life and you bring in someone who suspected

for murder and giving like What would be the

average family something to relate to maybe putting

in that headspace? But when they're seeing this

they're you know, they're able to maybe try to

partake, you know Have more of a connection to

it because they can see their town their life

and suddenly now there's their their their brother

-in -law, whoever it is Yeah, but like the the

friends and stuff like that. I don't think they're

necessarily You know, like you said, you could

remove them narrative wise. It doesn't change

much I think it's more of a representation of

Like the world building that they're doing. Yeah.

I guess world buildings, they're wrong. But the

picture they're painting, I guess, of the town.

So I think overall, from a positive standpoint,

I like the time capsule of it. I like the way

that they're painting the picture of this town

and then they're bringing something like Uncle

Charlie in to disrupt it. I kind of like that

all as a setting and a setup for it. I did like

the father and the neighbor and kind of their

banter back and forth. I enjoyed that. I do think

the performances are fine between, you know,

especially like you said, the two Charlies, I

think work well off of each other from an acting

standpoint. And he definitely is able to give

like some some psychotic eyes and some things

that definitely worked. The other thing that

I think worked for me was kind of that last little

bit where we get like a series of murder attempts

from him. So we have the stairs. That he's going

to sabotage we have the car in the garage That

he's trying to trap her in and then we have obviously

the the last sequence with the train How did

those three sequences work for the those three

attempts work for you? And was it enough to kind

of give you some suspense at the end and was

there anything else that you were positive on

on this film? I like those scenes. I think like

I said, that's where it started to come together

where it's like, oh, he's willing, he's willing

to go all the way with this. Like he's willing

to take out his knees to protect himself. And

I think it, I really liked that bar scene too,

where you see him kind of confront her. And I

wondered like, is it, are you going to have this

mystery where she's that her finding out is the

climax. But I did like the fact that she, she

learns it and she discovers it. And suddenly

the conflict becomes, does she say anything because

she knows Saying something would destroy your

family like would completely wreck her mom and

it would kind of break Them from the reality

that they know like what it would like so now

she has this skills on top of everything So I

thought that was an intriguing dynamic uh, and

so those scenes did work for me because I think

it It it that's when I really started getting

invested in the film for the most part And I

think the performances overall like like you

mentioned, um, which Joseph Cotton specifically

if that was really good and Trisha Wright of

Claire like who I didn't honestly like the films

that she's known for I have not seen so I have

not a lot of exposure to her but I thought she

played that role really well and I especially

when she starts kind of to take charge and she

you know, she where she tries to turn it a little

bit where she doesn't want to be the victim anymore

and I thought that's something you did not see

all the time and films like during this era,

so That was something a little bit different

that that worked. Yeah, I agree. I think there

was pieces of this film that worked that make

it overall not like something that I would keep

away from. You know, I wouldn't dissuade someone

from watching it. I don't think there's anything

that's terrible about the film necessarily. I

don't think the suspense worked as well for me

for the first. two -thirds probably as I would

have hoped did just because of how it's set up

and I thought there was a little some problematic

things throughout but like overall I think there's

enough to like pick up or something I don't know

how it has a hundred percent like that's a little

bit baffling to me And I don't know how it's

Hitchcock's favorite film. Obviously he knows

more because he's behind the scenes and doing

everything. So maybe it was just about the process

and the different things that kind of played

into that. So I don't know if I'm as high as

everybody else in the world is on this film.

But I don't think it's a terrible film. I did

find a couple of things interesting. Films back

in this day, obviously we don't have TV yet and

we don't have Internet and things of that nature.

So the way that they would. give you another

chance to experience this was they would put

on radio plays and things of that nature. And

I did find it interesting that in one of the

radio plays, they actually had Cary Grant play

the role of Uncle Charlie. So yeah, so and it

was Cary Grant and Betsy Drake apparently played

the other ones. And then most of the other ones,

Joseph Cotton came back to play the the other

character. But Appeared in a bunch of different

radio plays so that people could see it It didn't

get a good reception at first like from a box

office standpoint and a review. I think people

were Somewhat down on it at first, but what it's

gotten from like the modern Day critics and you

know since Rotten Tomatoes and those types of

websites exist has obviously been overall very

positive Was anything else about this film that

you didn't get to touch on yet or something else

that you want to bring up that you either like

to dislike? We didn't mention the the Hitchcock

cameo he is and then he's on the train holding

at first I like he was holding there's you know,

the the Basically holding the entire deck and

and the idea was that he's holding the entire

deck because he's the director I'll be honest

I didn't I thought it was supposed to be like

a joke that he was cheating because he has all

the cards, but it was supposed to be a reference

to it So but yeah, you know that was Uh the one

big cameo and the other hitchcockian pieces.

I don't know like, you know, this one doesn't

have someone's wrongly accused Not necessarily

like I guess it has a little bit of the Is he

guilty? Is he not? I mean they they establish

it right away that he is but at first it is going

to be like From the characters that are in the

film not from our standpoint. They don't know

that he's guilty So I guess that still exists

in some way shape or form in this one Yeah, that's

true And then I guess you have a mom. It's not

the, it's not the main character, like the main

male's mom, but there is a mom involved in like

what her reaction is going to be to all of this.

It's, uh, I don't think it's at all what we've

seen from other depictions of moms throughout

Hitchcock's film. This is a much different, uh,

there's not anything abnormal about the relationship

in this one. I don't think with the mom and any

of the characters just playing a pretty straightforward

standard. You know what I mean, like a small

town mom, so I don't get anything from that.

Did you pick up any other Hitchcockian aspects?

No, that was pretty much it, which is interesting

because you mentioned it being your favorite

film, but a lot of his key, now, trademarks aren't

here. Maybe that's why. I don't know. But yeah,

that's all I found. It is interesting as we're

kind of going through that there seems to be

a lot of pairings that you can do with Hitchcock

films. whether it be, you know what I mean? Like

there's just like certain ones. Like we talked

about the 39 steps and North by Northwest or,

you know, different things that we've kind of

been able to. And it seems like there's a lot

of times there's something that he does earlier

on in his filmography that then he like revisits

in a slightly different way later with maybe

more success. So it's kind of interesting how

he kind of goes back and revisits certain. uh

tropes or certain things that he's tried and

then just kind of does it a little different

or whether he's trying to improve on it or something

but I think it would be interesting once you've

seen them all like how many you can kind of pair

up or match up as it's like well these this is

the early version of this movie later on so yeah

I find that somewhat interesting all right so

that is 1943's Shadow of a Doubt um middling

review I guess but not Not terrible, not probably

going to end up on either one of our top film

of the Hitchcock filmography. I think that's

safe to say for the most part. So next up is

going to be 1944's Lifeboat, which is a limited

setting film that, Dan, you I believe this one

you have seen before. I have seen it was about.

10 years ago, so I don't remember much of it.

But yeah, I have seen this one before. So you're

going to come out come in with at least a little

bit of knowledge or maybe some things will refresh

your memory as you start watching. I have not

seen Lifeboat or know anything about it outside

of. what you've talked about throughout our filmography

episode. So it'll be interesting to get into

Lifeboat from 1944 and see how that kind of compares

to what else we have talked about. Dan, if people

want to get in contact with you or figure out

other stuff that you're doing on social media,

how would they do that? Just search Comic Concierge

and all the different social media platforms

you'll be able to find me there. All right. You

can search me out at Optimus Solo or you can

search the show out at the Cinema Geeks. podcast

or we have a X page and that's about it for the

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