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Let's start by getting rid of those marginal but paradoxically necessary details to have a complete overview of the work in question. "Shadow of a Doubt" is a 1943 film written by an excellent team of screenwriters (including Lady Hitchcock, Alma Reville) led by Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Thornton Wilder. The thriller belongs to the so-called "American period," a reference point in the vast filmography of the English director which is not synonymous with cultural depersonalization, and Hitchcock particularly favored it to the point of defining it as his best film. In fact, it received widespread acclaim and in 1991 it was included in the National Film Registry of the U.S. Library of Congress for preservation purposes. The protagonist's figure is based on E. Nelson, one of the most famous stranglers who lived in the United States during the '20s. And now let's talk about the important things.
The young Charlotte Newton lives in Santa Rosa, a small town in California, with her parents, her know-it-all little sister, and her younger brother. Their mundane lifestyle is shaken by the arrival of Uncle Charlie, Mrs. Newton's brother. The relative presents himself as a wealthy businessman, and everyone is captivated by his charm. However, his susceptible and paranoid behavior alerts his niece, who discovers with disgust and suffering the truth about her uncle: Charlie has killed several widows to seize their vast fortunes and is hiding in his sister’s house to mislead the investigations. Charlotte informs her uncle of her discovery, but the case is quickly dismissed, and to avoid scandal upon her family, she decides to remain silent. Uncle Charlie, however, does not trust her and repeatedly tries to kill Charlotte, but during a struggle on the train that should take him back to the city, the roles reverse; he is thrown out by Charlotte and dies crushed by a locomotive.
The choice of Wilder for the screenplay is not accidental. The famous theatrical work (later also in cinema) "Our Town" dating back to 1938 portrayed the life and habits of a small New Hampshire community, recreating the setting Hitchcock wanted for "Shadow of a Doubt," which is indeed shot in a small provincial town. The choice is not an end in itself but has significant repercussions on the plot and the characters' psychology. After all, Charlie defends himself against his niece's accusations by claiming her inability to understand certain choices and ideas because she is conditioned by the mentality of a microcosm. It is no coincidence that the girl is depicted in the opening sequences in a state of deep apathy due to her stay in a place where, as is commonly said about small towns, "nothing ever happens." It is precisely to enliven her family's life that Charlotte goes to send a telegram to her uncle to invite him to their home, and as she is about to send it, she discovers that Charlie has already sent one announcing his imminent arrival.
An additional concept that recurs numerous times in the film is introduced: coincidence. The protagonist cannot get a little tune out of her head, which turns out to be, coincidentally, “The Merry Widow Waltz” by Franz Lehar; the policemen investigating the murderer pretend to be government delegates tasked with drafting a dossier on typical American families and, coincidentally, choose the Newtons; Mrs. Newton wonders why Charlotte has several times been the victim of two domestic incidents in a short time, etc. The weight of coincidence and the function attributed to it in determining certain twists in the story eludes the hypothesis (which is also ruled out a priori given the director's experience and mastery) that it is a simple random device to justify the emergence in Charlotte's soul of suspicion towards Charlie, that anguish felt due to the fear of no longer being able to look her uncle in the eyes and stain the excellent regard always held towards his noble conduct. The shadow of doubt (indeed) is presented to the viewer through the eyes of the protagonist; it arises from the distrust of Charlie's strange behavior, reaches its climax in the suggestive library scene, follows naturally in the inner struggle between denunciation and silence, liberation and yielding to blackmail, and dies in the rancor felt towards those who have undermined the family's serenity.
Hitchcock approaches the direction with the expertise of a seasoned crime scholar, an aspect evident not only in the amusing conversations between Mr. Newton and his friend Herbie Hawkins, both passionate about crime news and amusingly searching for the "perfect crime," but also in delineating the profile of the murderer. Charlie does not kill out of greed for money but due to a firm ideological conviction: widows are ignoble beings, rotten creatures who squander the inheritance of the deceased husband accumulated after a lifetime of sacrifices, and the world is nothing but hell. Through his sister's words, he reconstructs the essential stages of his growth as if to trace the reason for his mental deviation; a sort of naturalistic touch (artificial to suppose a critique of the Nazi-Fascist atrocities of the ongoing World War II?).
A perfect film in every respect. For a better view, it would be advisable to watch it in its original language, perhaps with subtitles, considering that the poor dubbing superficially affects the excellent performance of an outstanding cast.
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