Shadow of a Doubt,
based on story by Gordon McDonell
Alfred Hitchcock
has been venerated as the ultimate, accomplished author of films, with
supporters dismissing the role of other members of the film crew- actors,
cinematographers, writers.
Nevertheless,
the winner of two Academy Awards, the phenomenal writer William Goldman
explains in his quintessential book on Hollywood, Adventures in the Screen
Trade, that this is wrong.
Indeed,
after he was so much admired and raised to a pedestal, William Goldman argues
that Alfred Hitchcock has started making lesser films, and other members of the
production team are just as important as the director.
Examples range
from archetypal materials used for classic films, to the critical, paramount
importance of special effects for features like Jaws and the role played by
music, composed by Vangelis in this particular case, for motion pictures like
Chariots of Fire.
Alfred Hitchcock
was infamous for the disregard with which he looked at actors and his view
seemed to be shared by other great directors- Jean-Luc Godard expresses the
view that actors are stupid, in the recent, formidable Godard Mon Amour aka Le
Redoutable.
Teresa Wright
plays the role of the heroine, Charlie Newton, a young woman who has so many
Signature or Character Strengths:
Courage-
Integrity, Vitality, Perseverance, Bravery-Humanity- Love, Kindness, Social
Intelligence, Transcendence- Appreciation of beauty and excellence, Hope,
Gratitude, Humor, Spirituality, Temperance- Prudence, Pity/Forgiveness,
Modesty/Humility, Self-regulation, Justice- Fairness, Leadership, Citizenship,
Wisdom- Perspective, Curiosity, Open-mindedness, Creativity and Love of
Learning
She is young
and entertains dreams of an exciting, vibrant life, which alas not promised
under the present circumstances, given that she lives in a small town, with
little entertainment, predictable occurrences and not much out of the ordinary happening,
never mind something incendiary…
Until uncle
Charlie Oakley aka the very talented, protagonist in what is perhaps the best
motion picture of all time- Citizen Kane-Joseph Cotton, arrives in town, adored
by his older sister, who is Charlie’s mother.
Malcolm Gladwell
is the quintessential psychologist of our time, author of the classics Outliers
and Blink, The Power of Thinking Without Thinking- he explains in the latter
the importance that first impressions- which become stable opinions –have in
our lives, professional and private.
One of the
powerful arguments in favor of the “Theory of Thin Slicing” comes from the
world of business, where interviews have been conducted and a study reveals
extraordinary aspects at the top of the biggest companies in the world, listed
on the Fortune 500 List.
The majority
of the CEOs in the about two hundred companies researched are taller that the
ordinary individual, but about one third are so tall that they represent only
about three per cent in the population at large, at about 189 centimeters.
Which proves
the point, for even if they have outstanding CVs, this is the case for the
other competitors and it is clear that the separation if finally made by the
first impression made when the exceptionally tall candidates enter the
boardroom.
Charlie Oakley
however seems to be the exception to the rule, one of those cases where the man
gives the feeling that he is so nice, civilized, polite, educated, travelled,
erudite, charming and in reality, as we get to learn him better, he not only
shows a dark side, but he is actually a villain.
Investigators
arrive in town, disguised as journalist intent on covering a story that would
give them access in the Newton house, where they ask questions and move to the
rooms upstairs, keen on getting more information on the man they suspect and
eventually his photograph.
Uncle Charlie
is determined to avoid the visitors and he would not have his photograph taken
under any terms, he insists there is no picture of him, until his sister shows
one, with him at the age of eight.
As the newspapermen
take photographs, the weird Charlie Oakley comes in, a picture is taken and he
insists on getting the negative, which he thinks he has; only it is reality
sent to the station where witness that had seen the suspect of terrible murders
could identify him or testify of his innocence.
Young Charlie
Newton is worried at first, then she starts suspecting and she has a
conversation with one of the detectives, Jack Graham, who explains what they
think had happened and offers her the chance to make the relative leave town,
to avoid embarrassment and suffering.
The heroine
is torn between the knowledge that justice must be done, no matter who the
culprit is, and the pain that she knows her mother would feel upon finding out
about her cherished younger sibling, who starts trying to kill Charlie Newton,
once he sees that the young woman knows what he has done and even found proof,
in the form of jewelry from the killed woman.
In the
known manner of the reputed, phenomenal Alfred Hitchcock, the plot is increasingly
interesting, dramatic, with a dispute between murderer and those who try to get
him that may go either way- he could escape, killing other innocents in the
process, including his niece, or may be caught…
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