Shadow of a Doubt illustrating the evilness of Uncle Charlie

Innocent and not so innocent are common in Hitchcock movies: Charlie and Uncle Charlie in Shadow of a Doubt, It's not the fault of the criminals but rather Thornhill's ownĬharacter faults shared by the supposedly I sense that Hitchcock would like us to think Thornhill 'deserving' Hitchcock paints Thornhill not only as glib and centerless but asĪ momma's boy to boot.

Thornhill (Cary Grant) kidnapped because he is mistaken for a man named Would have avoided misfortune-and there would have been no movie. Why does he take the beautiful spy to his apartment? 'May I come home with you?'Īnswers, 'Well, I like you.' We assume that Haney, a Take Richard Haney (Robert Donat) in The 39 Steps. Takes care to show that it is more than bad luck that plagues his Self-preservation-their acts of bravery are almost always the result of theirĮfforts to extricate themselves from dangerous situations, e.g., mistaken Has less to do with their own inner worth than with un-heroic Self-destruct (the prime exception being Scotty Ferguson in Vertigo) The fact that most Hitchcock protagonists do not In most of the world's mythologies the heroĪlways falls victim to his own hubris he carries with him the seeds of May attribute this urge to original sin or simply humankind's propensity toward theĭark side of our nature.

The course of the film nudge hero toward villain. With desires that on the surface seem antithetic to one another, yet each shares traits that in

Chance, yes, but not all that improbable, at least It has been argued that Hitchcock's filmsĪll too often rely on improbable chance and mistaken identity ( The 39 Steps, Psycho, The Wrong Man, North by Northwest, etc.). Villainy, and identity in Strangers and other Hitchcock

Shadow of a Doubt illustrating the evilness of Uncle Charlie