In our new Film Studies series, FRAMEWORK, film scholar Michael van den Bos explores the work of Alfred Hitchcock across four monochrome masterworks spanning three decades in the illustrious career of “the master of suspense”.
Hitchcock’s favourite Hitchcock, Shadow of a Doubt is an intricately devised thriller exploring the parallels between a menacing psychopath (Joseph Cotten’s Uncle Charlie) and his niece, also nicknamed Charlie (Teresa Wright), who is to all intents and purposes a fine, upstanding, clean-cut young American home town girl. Yet it’s Charlie who begins to smell a rat when her uncle pays a visit to Santa Rosa for the first time in years, and if you watch the film closely, it’s almost as if she calls this agent of destruction down on herself. It’s a fascinating film, one of the master’s very best, with a fine screenplay by Thornton Wilder. It’s also one of the key movies about small town Americana, to be viewed alongside It’s A Wonderful Life and Blue Velvet.
Intro at 11:00 am (Monday only), film at 11:30 am (108 min)
Alfred Hitchcock
Teresa Wright, Joseph Cotten
USA
1943
English
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Credits
Screenwriter
Thronton Wilder, Sally Benson, Alma Reville, Gordon McDonell
Cinematography
Joseph A. Valentine
Editor
Milton Carruth
Original Music
Dimitri Tiomkin
FRAMEWORK
FRAMEWORK brings the history of cinema to life with lighthearted but insightful introductions combined with classic film screenings.
The 39 Steps
In our new film studies series, FRAMEWORK, film scholar Michael van den Bos explores the work of Alfred Hitchcock, across four monochrome masterworks. This week: The 39 Steps (1935), a witty and fast-moving spy thriller from Hitchcock's English period.
Shadow of a Doubt
In our latest film studies series, FRAMEWORK, Michael van den Bos explores the work of Alfred Hitchcock across four monochrome masterworks. This week: smalltown US thriller Shadow of a Doubt (1943), one of the director's personal favourites.
Strangers on a Train
Sociopath Charles Bruno (Robert Walker) strikes up a conversation with star tennis player Guy Haynes (Farley Granger) and makes him a gentleman's proposition: Bruno will kill Guy's unloved wife, on the understanding that he will return the favour.
The Wrong Man
One of Hitchcock's most underrated films, The Wrong Man returns to one of his most common themes, the innocent man falsely accused, but the treatment here is stark and soul-searching. Intro by Michael van den Bos (Monday only).