Shadow of a Doubt: 1943 Suspense, starring Joseph Cotten, directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
The Marc Horton plot synopsis: We learn in the opening scene that Joseph Cotten's on the lam. He ditches Capital City for his sister's family in The Sticks. Shows up at the bank with $40K cash and the banker barely bats an eye. Niece reads the local rag and our Nancy Drew wannabe figures out Uncle Charlie's a murderer. Homeland Security-style gumshoes show up, poking around, asking a lot of questions. And the family just gives them the run of the place. This is a world where the bad guy practically has blood on his hands, strangers wearing fancy suits pop up in town, and yet nobody ever puts 2 and 2 together.
The hype: The Video Hound's Golden Movie Retriever suggests it was Hitchcock's personal favorite. According to an entry in IMDb, Patrick McGilligan's book "Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light" (2003) notes: "...(Hitchcock) liked to call Shadow of a Doubt a 'most satifying picture'; more than once, he called it his favorite. But 'favorite' wasn't quite the same as best; and speaking for posterity, he pointedly told Francois Truffaunt it wasn't his favorite, and told Peter Bogdanovich it was merely "one of his favorites".
The Politically Incorrect Review: I think I understand. In the same way a mother refers to her ugliest kid as "her favorite." It's called over-compensating.
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2 comments:
I don't understand all the hype about Hitchcock. They say everyone else is ripping off Hitchcock when they make a suspense or horror film. I say they're just improving on a flawed model.
And another thing — the strings played as the trailer's music are far too overwrought for my liking.
Perfect. Over to you on the Hitch movies.
I believe the more over-the-top the trailer, the worse the movie's gonna be, generally. Just check out Teresa Wright emoting her ass off in that one.
After The Third Man aired on TCM, they filled time with the trailer for The Bishop's Wife, which starred Cary Grant, David Niven and Loretta Young. Instead of the usual gunk of the era, they had a "reporter" standing on the backlot informally chatting up the three stars like he had just caught them heading back from lunch. As Grant starts to talk about who plays what and talk about the plot, he changes his mind and says, "ah, you'll have to go see it," and they walk away.
The anti-trailer trailer, as Her Indoors dubbed it.
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