Dial H For Hitchcock: "Shadow of a Doubt" - Norman Rockwell with a Twist in Hitchcock's America

Shadow of a Doubt (1943) was Alfred Hitchcock's fifth American film and the first of his films that he believed truly depicted America. Hitchcock's "first draft" attempt at this had been Saboteur (1942), but he hadn't had the cast he'd wanted, he felt the script was weak and that he'd been rushed into the film before he was ready...none of this was the case with Shadow of a Doubt.

The narrative was based on a story called "Uncle Charlie" by Gordon McConell. For the adaptation, Hitchcock got Thornton Wilder, convinced that the author of Our Town possessed the concept of small-town America he wanted for Shadow of a Doubt. Wilder, who helped Hitchcock select Santa Rosa, California, as the setting, wrote a prose outline of the story before being mobilized into World War II. Hitchcock then turned to screenwriter Sally Benson, another writer deeply steeped in Americana. Her "5135 Kensington Avenue" stories had been the basis for Meet Me in St. Louis.

The opening scenes of Shadow of a Doubt make it clear that the man we come to know as Charles Oakley (Joseph Cotten) has sinister secrets and a dark side, so when he descends on pristine Santa Rosa and his sister's family, the Newtons, we already know that something is quite wrong, but we don't what it is. Oakley is handsome and smooth. His voice is velvet and his manner is insinuating; he has seen the world and flaunts his style and money with confidence. When he comes to stay with the Newtons, their staid community is bedazzled and responds by immediately embracing him.

Santa Rosa, scene of much location work, is blissfuly serene, a spotless tree-filled little town of quaint houses with broad porches, lush flower beds, friendly neighbors, fussy librarians, crusty traffic cops, immaculate churches, a stately and bustling bank and every trapping of the ideal American town in the 1940s.

At the heart of the film is a doppelganger motif personified by young Charlie (Teresa Wright) and her Uncle Charlie. They are admitted "doubles," she was named for him and adores him; he obviously favors her. The two Charlies seem to have a psychic link, share a restless spirit and other traits. But one of the pair is pure while the other is corrupt, and the two eventually come to an unbridgeable abyss and a stand-off. Teresa Wright delicately renders Charlie as an intelligent and decent girl impatiently verging on womanhood. Intuitive and strong, she has her mettle tested and must grow up quickly and profoundly when she realizes her beloved uncle is a cold-blooded killer. Uncle Charlie, intricately wrought by Cotten, is a ruthless sociopath of indecent charm. His view of humanity is far beyond cynical:

"Do you know the world is a foul sty? Do you know if you ripped the fronts off houses you'd find swine?"
Wright and Cotten contrast and play off each other beautifully; their scenes together are rock solid. Backing them up is an excellent supporting cast that includes Hume Cronyn making his memorable film debut as the Newton's eccentric next-door-neighbor; Henry Travers, cozy and congenial as small-town-dad Joe Newton; Patricia Collinge, note-perfect as fluttery and sentimental Emma Newton. Also very watchable are Edna May Wonacott as the cheeky little sister and Wallace Ford as a detective on Oakley's trail. (See this week's "Underrated Performers" blog, posted January 10, to learn more about Collinge and Wonacott)
Shadow of a Doubt has been called Hitchcock's first fully-realized masterwork. I'm not so quick to write-off his direction and overall imprint on Rebecca, but agree that Shadow of a Doubt, multi-layered and meticulously orchestrated, is among his very best films. The juxtaposition of a simple and complacent American small town with the lethal killer creeping toward its heart is neatly executed, and the early kinship that becomes a battle-to-the-death relationship between the two Charlies ensures that the dramatic tension never eases up.

What are your impressions of Hitchcock's vision of America in Shadow of a Doubt? Any comments about his style and technique or technical aspects of the picture? Which of the performances are standouts for you and why? Does it seem to you that the film is referencing the international situation of the time? What other films owe a debt to this one? ...And have you heard about or noticed the repeated use of "twos" or "doubles" (starting with the two Charlies) in Shadow of a Doubt?

(Note: Shown at top left, "Freedom From Want" (1943) by Norman Rockwell aka/"The Thanksgiving Picture," it is one of Rockwell's "Four Freedoms" paintings inspired by President Roosevelt's 1941 State of the Union Address; the color photo is "The Newton House" on MacDonald Avenue in Santa Rosa, California)

Underrated Performers of the Week: Patricia Collinge and Edna May Wonacott

(Pictured: Edna May Wonacott - seated in front; standing, left to right - Patricia Collinge, Charles Bates, Joseph Cotten and Henry Travers in Alfred Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt)

This week our spotlight on supporting players takes a look at two standout members of the superb cast of Alfred Hitchcock's 1943 masterwork, Shadow of a Doubt: Patricia Collinge, a veteran stage actress in her second film outing, and Edna May Wonacott, a fledgling actress in her first role.

Patricia Collinge was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1892 and went on the London stage at the age of 18. In 1907, she and her mother emigrated to the U.S. where Collinge found steady work in American theater for the next 45 years.

Collinge originated the role of Birdie Hubbard in the 1939 Broadway production of Lillian Hellman's "The Little Foxes." She was again cast in the part when the play was adapted to film in 1941. It was her film debut and she garnered an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Collinge's next film was equally auspicious - she was cast in Alfred Hitchcock's great classic, Shadow of a Doubt (several sources concur that she was also involved with script re-writes on the film). She made only seven films in her career and is primarily remembered for those first two. Both characters, Birdie in The Little Foxes and Emma Newton in Shadow of a Doubt, shared a certain tremulous, high-strung quality, but the two existed in very different milieus. Birdie, sensitive and tentative, was crushed by the avaricious and carnivorous Hubbard family; Emma is affectionately respected by the gentler Newton clan and is secure in her position at home and in the community. Collinge depicts both characters in fine detail.

Patricia Collinge's last film was The Nun's Story (1959) with Audrey Hepburn. She appeared on various TV drama anthology programs of the 1950s and in series TV of the 1960s. She passed away in New York City in 1974 at the age of 81.

Edna May Wonacott was born in Willits, California, in 1932. The daughter of a local area grocer, she was discovered by Alfred Hitchcock, who had set Shadow of a Doubt in bucolic Santa Rosa, California, and was using the town's citizens as extras in the film. He selected 9-year-old Edna May to portray Ann, younger sister of the protagonist, Charlie Newton, and daughter of Emma Newton (Collinge). Observant Ann was the one member of the family to be skeptical of charming Uncle Charlie from the beginning.

Following the success of Shadow of a Doubt, Wonacott and family moved to Southern California where she pursued an acting career for a time. She had small roles in only six more films, including the Leo McCarey classic, The Bells of St. Mary's (1945), and appeared on television, but left her career in the early 1950s to marry and raise a family.

Though Edna May Wonacott's career was brief, her striking performance as the smart, self-possessed bookworm, Ann Newton, earned her a place in the hearts of Hitchcock aficiondados and classic film buffs everywhere. She brought an appealing piquancy to each of her scenes and hardly seemed a novice onscreen with the likes of Joseph Cotten, Teresa Wright, Henry Travers, Hume Cronyn, Wallace Ford, Macdonald Carey and Collinge.

Wonacott, now a great-grandmother, lives in Arizona.

Patricia Collinge
The Little Foxes (1941), Shadow of a Doubt (1943), Tender Comrade (1943), Casanova Brown (1944), Teresa (1951), Washington Story (1952),The Nun's Story (1959)

Edna May Wonacott

Shadow of a Doubt (1943), Hi, Beautiful (1944), Under Western Skies (1945), This Love is Ours (1945), The Bells of St. Mary's (1945), Sunny Side of the Street (1951), The Model and the Marriage Broker (1951)