Charlie decides to send a telegram to her uncle Charlie hoping that he will come visit them to make things more exciting and she is stunned when the telegram from her uncle arrives–she calls it mental telepathy that they were thinking of the same thing at the same time. Her father, Joseph (Henry Travers) can’t understand her, but promises that things will get better. His niece, Charlotte “Charlie” Newton (Teresa Wright) lies around her bedroom bored to tears with her life in the small town and wonders if anything exciting will ever happen. He sends a telegram to his family in Santa Rosa, California, informing them that he will soon arrive for a visit. His landlady tells him that two men have been looking for him, so he languidly gets himself together, goes downstairs and immediately loses the two men who are following him. The opening credits show a ballroom with couples dancing to “The Merry Widow Waltz,” an image that will be reprised throughout the movie.Ĭharlie Oakley (Joseph Cotton) lies on his bed in some nameless Eastern city, a pile of money laying on his bedside table. This review contains plot spoilers, so beware reading the entire summary below if you want to be surprised!

It combines many of his best filmmaking techniques, it is tremendously suspenseful, and the very heart of the movie is loss of innocence. Of all the films Hitchcock made in his lifetime, this was his very favorite. Is this Alfred Hitchcock’s best movie? The Master thought so.

Shadow of a doubt movie reviews