Perhaps a sentimental gesture, or maybe a publicity ploy exploiting the famous writer’s name.
Wilder worked on the film for a short time, yet Hitchcock acknowledged him not just as a co-writer, he also thanked him in the credits for his special contribution. Together they concocted most of Shadow of a Doubt’s incredible story, with Wilder contributing many of the details that make the film so unusually authentic and character-based. But Wilder was a sophisticated writer looking to branch out he happily took five weeks of work with Hitchcock before he went into the Army. Wilder was best known for Our Town, which effectively made him the poet laureate of small-town-America. Joseph Cotten, brilliant as Uncle CharlieĪfter hearing a pitch from novelist Gordon McDonell, Alma Reville and Hitchcock developed the bones of the story together and turned to an unlikely co-writer: Thornton Wilder. It’s a dark, corrupted vision of America. It’s a town where everyone knows each other’s names, yet the streets are full of loud cars and neon signs. It’s one of Hitchcock’s best scripts, filled with small town details that are both charming and disturbing. Ironically she’s the one who starts to suspect that things are not what they seem.
He comes to the town of Santa Rosa to hide in plain sight with his adoring family and the niece who was named for him. Uncle Charlie isn’t just everyone’s favorite uncle in a small town he’s also “The Merry Widow Killer,” a psychopath who kills rich widows and takes their money as a sacred duty. It’s Blue Velvet forty-three years before the fact, a movie obsessed with nihilism long before the bleak post-World-War-II period, and it’s one of Hitchcock’s best films. Shadow of a Doubt is a film obsessed with morality and our concept of it, of evil things lurking beneath our cheery exteriors. “What’s the use of looking backward? What’s the use of looking ahead? Today’s the thing. If you want to avoid spoilers, watch the movie first! Disclaimer: These essays presume you’ve seen the film in question.
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