Hitchcock loved to take such conventions and audience expectations and spin them backwards, to pile irony upon delicious irony, sometimes hilariously, sometimes deeply layered by his singular compositional expertise as a kind of in-joke he enjoyed making for himself and his closest initiates. Its thoroughly American origin, atmosphere, and elements he certainly knew thoroughly, its derivation from paint-by-numbers pulp murder mysteries, its hard-boiled loner super-masculine detective and femme fatale and plot that will only end in tears (or a cynical laugh). This was his donnee for the film, its generative spark, the “thought” he “loved.” Noir gave Hitchcock a set of conventions to play with- and against. His daughter, Patricia, said it was “because he loved the thought of bringing menace into a small town.” For Hitchcock, part of the game in making his first movie set in America was to make it absolutely American, with a sweet comic surface and a heart as dark as the noirest of the noir. In the end, however, it's just a nail-biting thriller that - now over sixty years old - still reigns as one of the absolute best of its genre.On at least four different occasions, Alfred Hitchcock said that “Shadow of a Doubt” (1943) was his favorite film, but never why. It manages to focus on family ties and the struggles within the family itself while it also juggles the whole theme of an outcast family member.

The entire film is taut and suspenseful, well-filmed and realistic.

The ending of 'Shadow of a Doubt' is classic Hitchcock and some of the best stuff he's done. She begins to become suspicious of her uncle as he becomes more suspicious of her own awareness. Charlie acts oddly and, at times, violent. His niece - who loves him and sees him as a sort of perfect role model - at first is excited that her Uncle Charlie is coming.but then things start to get strange. Left stranded and pursued, he decides to move in with his brother's family. Joseph Cotten plays Charlie, a crook on the run from the police. 'Shadow of a Doubt' may only be listed as #181 on IMDb's 'Top 250' list, but in my opinion it far outweighs some of the films higher up on that list and is one of Hitch's very best films.

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