Hitchcock's own favorite movie

Francis 2022-03-22 09:02:01

It's hard to believe that this movie is actually Xi Fatty's self-proclaimed favorite movie. Against the backdrop of the famous masterpieces "Vertigo" and "Psycho", this film seems too simple and superficial, but it does have its own particularity and excellence.

In this film, Xi Fat is still focusing on what he is good at - suspense setting and psychological analysis. In the suspense setting, Xi Pang used his usual method of "tell the audience where the bomb is without telling the audience when it exploded". The niece Charlie naively and blindly walked to the victim's position step by step without knowing it, but the audience has been hanging on her heart, and even angry that she was so blind because of infatuation. In terms of psychological analysis, through a table speech, the audience can feel why Uncle Charlie has become Merry Widow Murderer - inner emptiness and lack of empathy - which echoes the opening scene of him lying like a walking dead on a bed full of money .

In addition, the film also focuses on the exploration of duality, the duality of two Charlie's, and eventually one kills the other. There is also a depiction of love's blindness to reason, much like "Suspicion". The portrayal of family roles and tensions is interesting, especially the role of Ann is so addictive. The difference is that this time, there is no role of Blonde, who is the favorite, as the victim. I am afraid he does not think that Charlie is sexual.

Two of my favorite shots in the movie, one is the close-up of the newspaper with the impactful music, and the overhead shot, which highlights Charlie's insignificance and helplessness; the other is Uncle Charlie after saying "I can eat a good dinner" today" and then walked up the stairs, the 3-second long back.

ps. The reversal in the last 3 minutes is a bit rushed and funny

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Extended Reading
  • Jimmy 2022-04-22 07:01:32

    Looking back at the class, it is still thin on the whole. Whether it is the story or the characterization, there is still a wider space to be explored and extended. For example, the two protagonists are named Charles, and the portrayals of the two are basically the same scene (in sleep). Wake up), the film emphasizes the difference between the two but only in the lines, and the homogeneity and heterogeneity in the characters of the two are not explored. The dancing scene that appears four times in the film is very abrupt and unbelievable

  • Fanny 2022-04-20 09:01:48

    I thought that the twins would lead to the Lolita complex, but only later did I realize that the development of the story is not an ethical direction, but focuses on the social analysis of Xanadu in troubled times, and there is no sense of precaution in the face of various foreign intrusions. And Uncle Charlie, actually "Mr. Verdue" (directed by Charlie Chaplin), was forced by society to become a widow murderer, an American tragedy in the 1940s.

Shadow of a Doubt quotes

  • Emma Newton: Wine for dinner - sounds so gay!

  • Uncle Charlie: Remember the time they had the champagne when the oldest Jones girl got married?

    Uncle Charlie: This is sparkling burgundy.

    Emma Newton: Well, one sip and I'll be calling it "sparkling burgledy." Maybe I'd better not take anything.