Shadow of a Doubt

Shadow of a Doubt (1943)

IMDB #209 [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036342/]

The Gist:

This film had a lot going for it. Joseph Cotton working with Hitchcock, the director coming off of huge hits in America like Rebecca and Saboteur, and a plot that breeds a paranoia that Hitchcock films are known for (perhaps best exemplified in Rear Window). However, I must say that for me this is the most overrated, disappointing Hitchcock film I have seen, and I've seen a decent number of them. First off, we don't get really get into any carefully plotted suspicion because Cotton's character is so obvious and overwrought that it is impossible for his niece not to acknowledge his dark past. His character is just poorly written, poorly directed (sorry Hitchock, generally you're a god so you'll live), and he really weighs the film down. Then you have the saccharine way that Cotton's family dotes on him, which was plainly just annoying, and the watered down third act where the uncle starts to try to kill the niece who now knows his secret. This was the first Hitchcock film that I really had to struggle to finish. It's also one of the better rated Hitchcock films. Ah, subjectivity.