Often overlooked for his later masterpieces, "Shadow of a Doubt," penned in part by Alma Reville (Hitchcock), is a brilliant, character-driven thriller that stars one of the great, also under-heralded, actresses of the time, Teresa Wright, paired fantastically with Joseph Cotton. The characters are full-bodied. The performances are subtle and affected in all the right places. The exchanges between Henry Travers and Hume Cronyn are spectacular, black comedy gold. One of the few from Hitchcock that might rightfully fall under the category of film noir. Set in filming location Santa Rosa, in the northern part of California that Hitchcock so loved, "Shadow of a Doubt" deftly captures both the innocence and dark crimes and deceptions of mid-twentieth century America. True suspense. This gem is not to be missed.

Shadow of a Doubt is classified as a Film Noir thriller. While I can see elements of film noir and elements of the thriller genre in this film, I think this film is more of a character study. It's a story about what happens when a soul-mate turns out to be somebody unexpected.

The cast is excellent, and the lead characters - played by Joseph Cotten and Teresa Wright - are very well imagined, written and portrayed. Both characters called for sweeping and dramatic personality changes which Wright and Cotten pulled off convincingly. Wright plays a very young woman (19-ish) living with her family and sort of depressed and aimless, while Cotten is her namesake and favorite uncle, Charlie. Uncle Charlie has come to visit and brought good cheer to the entire family, but shortly after his arrival, young Charlie begins to discover that Uncle Charlie has some sinister secrets. As the clues begin to add up to a coherent conclusion, Wright's character is forced to decide what to do about her growing, troublesome, understanding.

In typical Hitchcockian fashion, the film toys with its audience for the first 3/4ths and does not reveal itself until its almost too late - playing on paranoia, misleading and ambiguous dialog, and terrific acting to create equivocation. However, as you will see, this is not the standard Hitchcock stuff - in the end it has more to do with the characters and what they do than the action and resolution of the ingenious plot.

The Hitch' blows me away almost every time, and Shadow of a Doubt is one of his best. If you haven't seen it, you should. It's a very thoughtful and exquisitely executed character study about a very young and very bright woman, encountering the heavy side of life for the first time, and the choices she makes. Worth seeing for Wright's performance alone (easily Oscar-worthy), Shadow of a Doubt is a timeless piece of noir-esquire originality.

I sometimes think that people who don't like this film, don't like it because you aren't bonked over the head by fancy special effects or being shown a bloody knife stuck in someone's back. Psychological thrillers take place in the mind, not splashed across the screen so you don't have to think but sit in your seat and watch all the pretty colors flash by!

The acting is superb. Theresa Wright is a gem, and holds her own quite nicely against veteran actor, Joseph Cotton. What you need to look for in this film are the subtle cues given that build until Charlie suspects her beloved uncle is a murderer, and eventually even tries to kill her, not once but several times.

Made when the world was at war, I find it especially disturbing to realize that evil could and can be anywhere. Even sitting around your own dining room table.