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Reviews
Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
Hitch's Best...Without A Doubt
SHADOW OF A DOUBT (1943) (UNIVERSAL) This film is my favorite Alfred Hitchcock picture. From most accounts it's Hitch's favorite, as well. It is very tough to pick a favorite from his fantastic body of work, but this one has always affected me personally. Growing up in a small town, whether it be Santa Rosa, CA., where this film is set or any other small town in North America is an experience that stays with you no matter how far you go away from home, how successful you may become or long you have been away from home. It is a very nostalgic film & a very frightening film, at the same time. Only Hitchcock could have pulled this film off. In lesser hands this would have been just another studio potboiler of the era.
This is the story of a serial killer & prodigal son who comes home to sleepy Santa Rosa, to lie low. Uncle Charlie (Joseph Cotten) is adored by his family, especially his niece Charlotte "Charlie" (Teresa Wright). The close bond between these two leads to a delicious cat & mouse game, that eventually pits niece against uncle, good against evil.
Hitch's shows that even in small town America, this evil can reside. When Cotten is dressing down his niece, as he realizes that she is on to him, he delivers a cynical monologue ending with "Do you know if you rip off the fronts of house you'd find swine? The world's a hell. What does it matter what happens in it?" To this very day that scene makes my skin crawl.
The cast is top rate. Joseph Cotten is as good here as he was in "Citzen Kane" or "The 3rd Man". Beautiful Teresa Wright gives her finest performance, in only her 4th film. She is a very underrated & under-appreciated actress. Hume Cronyn, in his film debut (Herbie Hawkins) & Henry Travers (Charlie's father) give the film the right touch of "black" comedy relief, as mystery novel buffs who are constantly trying to come up with the perfect way to kill someone. Macdonald Carey (Detective Jack Graham) & Patricia Collinge (Charlie's mother) are also well cast. Also look for Hitch's cameo, which has him playing cards, on the train to Santa Rosa.
Hitchcock's direction keeps the film moving at the right pace & brings you into story, as if you were living in Santa Rosa & watching all of this unravel from your front porch. Thorton Wilder, Sally Benson & Hitch's wife Alma Reville paint the picture with marvelous dialog, adapted from Gordon McDonell's original story. Joseph Valentine's photography on this film is stunning. The contrasting scenes of Uncle Charlie in bed at his flop house hotel & Charlie in bed in her home, drives home the point of good vs. evil, without a word of dialog. This film also began the long partnership of Hitch & legendary composer Dimitri Tiomkin.
Rating 10 Stars
Murder, My Sweet (1944)
If You Had To Explain Film Noir To Someone
MURDER MY SWEET (1944) (RKO RADIO) If someone asked you to explain what exactly "film noir" is, this would be the film, that I would have them watch, to answer their question. This landmark film is arguably the quintessential film noir.
Los Angeles is the setting for this fantastic tale of stolen jade, marital misconduct, a search for a lost love and of course....murder!
Raymond Chandler's world weary Private Eye Philip Marlowe was first brought to the screen in this adaptation of his novel "Farwell, My Lovely". Dick Powell's casting as Marlowe, must have seemed crazy, at the time. But Powell made the amazing transformation from amiable song & dance man to hard boiled private dick & set the standard for all of those who came later. As much as I loved "The Big Sleep" & Humphrey Bogart, Powell's performance as Marlowe stands alone.
RKO assembled an excellent cast in support of Powell. Claire Trevor, as the "femme fatale" Helen Grayle strikes the right balance of greed, tawdriness, sex appeal & cattiness, to match up with Marlowe. Anne Shirley, as the good girl Ann Grayle (Helen's step daughter) provides a fresh faced softness to counteract against her stepmother's hardness. Her character brings out the humanity in Marlowe. Powell's chemistry with both ladies is evident. Otto Kruger is at his slimiest as Jules Amthor, the con artist bad guy. Don Douglas as LAPD Detective Lt. Randall, convinced that Marlowe is the murderer he is after. Esther Howard, in a small role as boozy widow Jessie Florian, in a scene where Powell's gives one his best (of many) voice overs:"She was a charming middle-aged lady with a face like a bucket of mud. I gave her a drink. She was a gal that would take a drink, if she had to knock you down to get the bottle". Last but certainly not least is Mike Mazurki as the lovestruck punch drunk brute Moose Malloy. The former pro wrestler nearly steals every scene he's in.
Edward Dmytryk's taut direction & keen pacing keeps you on the edge of you seat through out the entire film. Groundbreaking use of special effects by Vernon Walker & fantastic lighting & camera work & angles by Harry Wild make this film feel very realistic when it needed to be & unrealistic (the black pool montage) when it needed to. John Paxton's adaptation of Chandler's novel brought the characters to life with cracking dialog & narrative to keep this complex tale of murder & deceit moving along until the climatic ending.
Rating 10 stars.