13,000), Hitchcock with his cast and crew took over the entire city for four weeks, converted it into a complete motion-picture studio. Instead of building a studio version of a typical American city, his main setting, he searched for a ready-made one. Instead of elaborate sets he used the real thing. Accustomed to spending more than $100,000 on sets alone for one picture, Hitchcock made Shadow Of A Doubt by reverting to the "location shooting" of early movie days. LIFE magazine ran an extensive feature on the film's production in their January 1943 edition:Īs a director of one of the first movies to be produced under the Government restriction placing a $5,000 ceiling on new materials used for sets, has shown he has more than one trick up his sleeve.
Writer Thornton Wilder accompanied Hitchcock on a trip to the town in June 1942 so that they could incorporate local landmarks and buildings into the screenplay. Shadow of a Doubt was mostly filmed on location in Santa Rosa, California, during August 1942.
As the movie came out during WWII, it seems to have a direct parallel to the evil leaders loose in the world, particularly in the film's final scene.] & ] in ] The second half, including the increasing revelation of Uncle Charlie's dark views of humanity and the lengths to which he will go to protect himself, is what make the film so sinister. On the other hand, there is a real small town feeling to this setting, helped in no doubt by Thornton Wilder being one of the screenwriters, and the characters of Charlie's father (Henry Travers) and his friend (Hume Cronyn) passing the time by talking about the perfect murder are absolutely priceless. Some of the tension is also missing because we're pretty darn sure Uncle Charlie is guilty. I considered a slightly higher rating, but thought the pace in the first half of the movie was a little slow.
Trouble is just behind him though, and it gets worse when his niece (also 'Charlie', named after him, and played by Teresa Wright) begins to suspect him of being the "Merry Widow Murderer". Uncle Charlie (Joseph Cotten) is on the run from the law on the East Coast, and he settles in with his sister and her family in Santa Rosa. Hitchcock said this was his favorite film, and there is a quiet evil about it that makes it truly horrifying.
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