Shadow of a Doubt

Just in case Americans were beginning to feel morally righteous during WWII, Alfred Hitchcock made Shadow of a Doubt in which a wholesome, all-American family invites a loving uncle to stay in their pleasant home in their pleasant town, only to learn he’s a psychotic serial killer. Teenager Charlie Newton (Teresa Wright) has always been infatuated with her uncle and namesake, Charlie Oakley (Joseph Cotten), but when he arrives in town for a visit, he brings not only gifts and family photographs but a scent of evil that only his niece perceives. Cotten plays the villain with effective restraint, even while mocking the family’s church attendance, describing older women as fat pigs, and doling out inspirational quotes like: “Do you know the world is a foul sty? Do you know if you ripped the fronts off houses, you’d find swine?” Hitchcock follows young Charlie as her sunny disposition fades and her suspicion grows, evolving into a domestic cat and mouse game that turns staircases and garages into lethal weapons. A perfectly decent, low-budget remake directed by Harry Keller, Step Down to Terror, was released in 1958.