Scene by Scene: 'Shadow of a Doubt'

I've always thought 'what an introduction to a character' ... Uncle
Charlie's admittance to his landlady that he didn't know the men and
that they've never even seen him.
This not only demonsrates how much he's charmed the landlady (so much,
in fact, that she believes and trusts him more than two other
strangers) ... but it also shows how motherly she is towards him (to
the point of protecting 'her little boy' from the two bullies out on
the street).
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Comments about the film are exactly what I built the website for.
By posting here, they can be easily added to the site with reference to
who the poster is. In addition, any missed photos can be inserted as
the site grows. I cannot learn anything from my own point of view, but
I certainly can from others.
In the opening, the innitial view of the (can I say handsome?)
bridge is quickly changed to reveal the blight of abandoned cars. At
the water's edge, I think that I see the front of a small boat near the
two men who are probably fishing. Growing up near the Detroit River,
this is a common scene any day along the river-front.
I really liked how Hitchcock focused on the "Rooms" sign leaving no
doubt that this was not Mr. Spencer's residence.
Finally, there is much to say about the state of a woman's life in
a small town, especially in the 1940s. I'd like to talk about each
character since they are each unique, yet most are leading a miserable
life according to the story.
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INT - NEWTON'S LIVING ROOM - DAY. Anne.
Phone rings. Young Charlie calls to Anne to answer the phone.
Joe (the father) enters. Some light humour in Joe and Anne's
conversation.
He eventually goes upstairs. CUT TO-

INT - YOUNG CHARLIE'S ROOM - DAY. Young Charlie.
Joe enters the scene. He stays outside her room and they talk. We learn
that Charlie's feeling very despondent about her mother's lot in life
("dinner, then dishes, then bed").
The mother soon arrives and, unlike Joe, comes straight into the room.
Joe follows her in. She sits on Charlie's bed as they talk.
We hear Anne calling her mother from downstairs. The mother leaves. The
other two follow. CUT TO-
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I don't know if I'm supposed to or not but I always see Joe's standing
at Young Charlie's bedroom door (without going in) as a demonstration
of how distant he is to her. I don't see this as any kind of indictment
of the man but merely as a canny way for the filmmakers to emphasise
the mother's warmth soon after (when she walks straight into the room
on arrival).

I think Charlie's mother-centred conversation with her father shows
where the 'problem' of the film lies for her character and the line
("dinner, then dishes, then bed") and its delivery calls to my mind the
age-old and ugly sexist adage that holds that women are good for only
two things.
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INT - STAIRCASE - DAY. Emma, Joe.
Charlie enters scene; she's obviously just gotten an idea. She asks her
mother for her Uncle Charlie's address; it turns out she was named
after him and she wants to send him a telegram; she reckons he's the
only person in the whole world who can 'save' them right now, who can
make the situation right. Joe exits the frame while Emma and Young
Charlie talk.
The youngest son, Roger, enters and immediately tells those present
some trivial fact (about how many steps it took him to get to
someplace). (Note- Characters, in this scene, talk over each other
almost constantly.)
Charlie exits via the front door.
Joe re-enters the scene with a beer and pours it. The phone rings. Emma
answers. It's the telgraph clerk informing Mrs Newton of a telegram
from her brother. Emma replies that Charlie was the youngest, "the
baby". When the phone conversation ends, the scene ends with Joe and
Emma speculate over what made Young Charlie think of sending a telegram
to Uncle Charlie.
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INT - TELEGRAPH OFFICE - DAY. Young Charlie, telegraph clerk.
Young Charlie is writing a telegram to her uncle. The clerk interrupts
to tell her she's just off the phone, dictating a telegram *received*
from the very same uncle! Young Charlie marvels at this and leaves. CUT
TO-
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EXT - STREET - DAY. Young Charlie.
Young Charlie walks towards the CAMERA (the CAMERA pulling back),
smiling broadly and saying, "he heard me, he heard me". DISSOLVE TO-
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ESTABLISHING (ESTB) SHOT- Train, moving.
DISSOLVE TO-

INT - TRAIN CAR - DAY. Passengers, porter, Uncle Charlie.
Although Uncle Charlie is in this scene, we never get to see him
because he's claiming to be sick ... and he's hidden away behind a dark
curtain for privacy. (His alias in this scene seems to be "Mr Otis".)
Hitchcock's cameo occurs here. He's at a table, playing bridge with
three others and the man opposite him, a doctor, says to him that he
doesn't look too good ... we're then shown his hand in an INSERT, all
spades, the best possible hand ever in bridge. DISSOLVE TO-

EXT - TRAIN STATION - DAY.
The Newtons' car pulls up. The whole family, minus the mother, is here.
They get out.
The train pulls into the station, emitting thick black smoke as it
does.
Uncle Charlie is helped off the train, limping. Those who helped him
get back on and the train starts to move again.
Young Charlie sees all this and is both delighted and puzzled; she
thinks he's somehow sick. When she greets him and tells him, he laughs
off the suggestion.
The rest of the family, who are present, greet Uncle Charlie and carry
his bags for him. The CAMERA pulls back as all in the scene walk
towards it. All but Uncle Charlie walk past the CAMERA, leaving the
uncle the only one left in the frame. DISSOLVE TO-
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EXT - STREET - DAY.
The Newtons' car pulls up. Uncle Charlie gets out of the car and he
sees Emma, as she comes out of the house. Uncle Charlie says to Emma
that he doesn't see Emma Newton, he sees "Emma Spencer Oakley".
SHOT of Young Charlie looking very happy for her mother. DISSOLVE TO-

INT - YOUNG CHARLIE'S ROOM - DAY. Uncle Charlie, Joe.
Uncle Charlie wants to put his hat on the bed but Joe asks him not to,
out of superstitiion; he doesn't believe in inviting trouble. Joe exits
scene. Charlie looks around the room (photograph of Young Charlie's
graduation class) and out the window (smalltown 'innocent' life).
Self-satisfied, he finally throws his hat on the bed. FADE TO BLACK.
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FADE IN-
INT - DINING ROOM - NIGHT. Newton family, Uncle Charlie.
The scene opens with Uncle Charlie, holding court (so-to-speak),
telling his stories with an air of confidence. Everyone is listening
and smiling. There follows some dialogue about the dress that Young
Charlie is wearing being from Uncle Charlie himself, which reminds him
that he got the family some presents ('presents' for the two younger
kids, a wristwatch for Joe, a stole and a couple of photographs in a
picture frame of Charlie and Emma's parents for Emma). Roger points out
that the photographs were taken in 1888, "fifty three years ago".
Uncle Charlie then wants to give a present to Young Charlie but she
tells him she doesn't want for anything right now and exits the scene,
walking into the kitchen. They talk about her for a minute (Joe
admiringly speaks of the fact that she was the "smartest girl in her
class") and then Uncle Charlie exits the scene too by following Young
Charlie. CUT TO-
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With the film's first FADE TO BLACK occurring here (finally!), it gives
it the feeling that the film's introduction is over, the pieces are in
place and 'middle game' can begin.
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INT - KITCHEN - NIGHT. Young Charlie.
Uncle Charlie enters. The two chat. She speaks of how she believes
there to be a kind of paranormal connection between them and that there
can never really be any secrets between them. He tells her that
sometimes it can be dangerous to find out too much.
He eventually gives her her present, a ring. It turns out there's an
inscription on it ("TS from BM"); we realise it must have belonged to
one of his victims and he overlooked the engraving. She likes the fact
that it once belonged to someone else and decides to keep it, against
Uncle Charlie's wishes. (Note- Violins play the "Merry Widow Waltz"
from now on.)
Young Charlie exits. Uncle Charlie's left, brooding, walking in the
direction of the CAMERA, while the "Merry Widow Waltz" gets louder on
the soundtrack.
The image of the dancing waltzers is superimposed over the image of
Uncle Charlie and the latter DISSOLVES into the former. DISSOLVE TO-

INT - DINING ROOM - NIGHT. Newton family, Uncle Charlie.
The dinner continues. Uncle Charlie speaks of depositing money in the
bank where Joe works.
Young Charlie is humming the "Merry Widow Waltz" to herself. She wants
the others to help her identify it, in the hope that it'll make it go
away. Uncle Charlie has a looks perturbed. Emma says she reckons it's
a waltz "and its Victor Herbert". (Roger corrects her that "Victor
Herbert" wasn't a waltz.)
Uncle Charlie: "I know, its 'The Blue Danube' waltz".
Young Charlie: "Oh yes, of course. <pause> No, Uncle Charlie, I know
what it is, its 'The Merry Wid-...", at which Uncle Charlie knocks over
his wine glass, thereby nicely interrupting the conversation.
They all get up and walk to the living room. Joe's friend, Herbert, has
arrived and is standing at the front door. The two exit the scene by
going out. CUT TO-

EXT - NEWTONS' HOUSE - NIGHT.
Herb and Joe are exiting the house. They talk about fictional
detectives and the topic of murder.
The scene ends on Herb's line, "I'd tried to murder you so it didn't
look like murder." CUT TO-

INT - LIVING ROOM - NIGHT. Uncle Charlie, Anne.
Scene opens with head on SHOT of Uncle Charlie, reading the paper. From
his expression, we know that he sees something he doesn't like
(probably about himself). He calls Anne over and pretends to make a
paper house for her. Roger enters and protests that "That's Papa's
paper!"
Young Charlie enters the scene and says the exact same thing. She
begins attempting to put it back together but is missing one page. In
an INSERT SHOT, we can see that Uncle Charlie has the page, folded up
in his hands behind his back. DISSOLVE TO-
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INT - STAIRS - NIGHT. Young Charlie.
Young Charlie is going to her room (where her uncle is staying). She
knocks on the door and goes in. The shadows of the uprights of the
banister throw very evocative shadows (of prison bars) on the wall and
on the door to her room, where Uncle Charlie is. CUT TO-

INT - YOUNG CHARLIE'S ROOM - NIGHT. Uncle Charlie.
Young Charlie comes in. She sees the scrunched up page of the newspaper
in Uncle Charlie's jacket pocket and reminds him that he can never
succeed in keeping anything from her ... that she'll find it out. She
plucks the page from his jacket, at which he immediately gets up and
violently wrenches it from her grip, causing her to cry out. He
apologises and simply says that the story was something nasty about
someone he once knew. She exits. DISSOLVE TO-

ESTB SHOT- The Newtons' home at night.
DISSOLVE TO-

INT - ANNE'S ROOM - NIGHT. Anne, Young Charlie.
Young Charlie gets Anne to say her prayers. The last image here is of
Young Charlie, lying back, smiling and about to go to sleep, humming
the "Merry Widow Waltz" to herself (like a lullaby). CUT TO-

INT - YOUNG CHARLIE'S ROOM - NIGHT. Uncle Charlie.
One SHOT, Uncle Charlie, sitting up in bed, brooding and smoking his
cigar. He blows a smoke circle. FADE TO BLACK.
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