which character in hitchcock's film shadow of a doubt is the murderer

In a canon full of femme fatales and murder victims, she stands out. As Charlie the Younger, Teresa Wright is Hitchcock’s most vulnerable heroine, but she is also his smartest and most capable, as seen in her slow investigation into her uncle’s activities. While Shadow of a Doubt contains the familiar Hitchcockian tropes of deceit and serial killing, the lack of urban environments, international espionage, and steamy sexual tension gives the film a real edge. Charlie (Teresa Wright) is utterly bored with her life in suburban California until her rebellious Uncle Charlie (Joseph Cotten) – her namesake – turns up, with reports of murder following him from the big city.

Here, the suspicious protagonist is a teenage girl. Just three years after Rebecca, Hitchcock perfected his dark, suspenseful style with Shadow of a Doubt, but the film has one quality that is rather unique in retrospect. That award, of course, went to Selznick while Hitchcock had to make do with the first of his five Best Director nominations. It certainly convinced the Academy, who honored the film in 11 Oscar categories, and awarded it Best Black & White Cinematography (for George Barnes’ gothic gloom) and Best Picture. But in their place is a masterful piece of psychological suspense, as Joan Fontaine’s unnamed protagonist is hounded by the memory of her new husband’s (Lawrence Olivier, fresh off his turn as Heathcliff in William Wyler’s Wuthering Heights) dead, former wife. Typical Hitchcock flourishes, like adventurous thrills and humor, are missing.

Rebecca, adapted from the Daphne du Maurier novel of the same name, is no different. By 1940, this legendary producer had made his name by creating lavish adaptations of literary epics, such as Anna Karenina, A Tale of Two Cities, and the high-grossing, Oscar-nabbing Gone with the Wind. While Hitchcock is held up as one of filmmaking history’s true auteurs, his first Hollywood feature is, in many ways, a studio film, as it was his first picture directed under contract to David O.

Which character in hitchcock's film shadow of a doubt is the murderer