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Shadow Of A Doubt: Film Analysis

2007 Words9 Pages

‘Nowadays, the work of Alfred Hitchcock is admired all over the world’ (Truffaut, 1986, p.9). Although this was stated in 1966 in the original copy it still applies today as Hitchcock’s body of work consists of fifty-three films some of which are worldwide phenomena. Young audiences who consume his films today assume that Alfred Hitchcock’s work has always been at its prime; this however was not always the case, it is only now after his passing that more people are beginning to understand how truly masterful some of his films are but in subjectivity of course as his films cannot please everyone. In 1962, in New York Truffaut was asked the question ‘Why do the critics of cahier du cinema take Hitchcock seriously? He’s rich and successful, but …show more content…

This picture follows a female lead named Charlie Newton who receives a message that her uncle is coming to visit, unfortunately for her the visit will not turn out as expected. There are many themes and techniques/styles to explore in this film, Driscoll (2014, p.14) states ‘Shadow of a Doubt is a film in which Hitchcock uses perspective to manipulate what his audience perceives’. When watching this picture, you can see that Hitchcock finds a way to allow the audience to see more than what the characters know at times or in reverse allow the characters to know more than the audience. For example, when young Charlie is walking down the stairs she steps on a faulty step which almost made her fall over and break her neck, we find out later that uncle Charlie set out this trap meaning that he knew more than the audience which ultimately created suspense as they did not see this crucial moment coming. Another example would be when uncle Charlie locks Charlie in the garage to suffocate from exhaust fumes when uncle Charlie is in the house the mother asks where young Charlie is and he acts if he doesn’t know but the audience knows this and it again creates tension and suspense for the audience because they know young Charlie is in danger. This relates to Hitchcock’s use of a consistent style as this technique is used in most of his films to create suspense and tension for viewing

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