Week 3 Blog: Shadow of a Doubt

Alfred Hitchcock’s “Shadow of a Doubt” is a movie about Charlie Newton, a teenage girl who idolized her uncle, Charlie Oakley, until she discovered that he leads a double life robbing and murdering wealthy widows. The entire Newton family adores Uncle Charlie, for he is the youngest brother of Charlie’s mother and the person whom she is named after. Charlie Newton is referred to as young Charlie in the family.

Hitchcock effectively utilizes lighting and various camera shots to give the audience a deeper insight of young Charlie’s emotions when she first discovers her uncle’s sinister crimes. One particular scene of the movie takes place in the library, where young Charlie quickly browses through the editorials in the newspaper section to ease her suspicions of her uncle’s crimes (timestamp – 6:55, part 6/11). Young Charlie arrived at the library a couple minutes after its closing time and convinced the librarian to turn on the lights and allow her entrance.

When she reads the editorial on the “Merry Widow Murderer,” the nickname for the serial killer of rich widows, young Charlie finds the initials of the latest victim engraved on the inside of a ring given to her by Uncle Charlie upon his arrival at the Newton household for a visit. The camera performs a close-up of her hand in a point-of-view shot as she removes the ring and uses the engraved clue to come to the conclusion that her uncle is the murderer (timestamp – 8:04, part 6/11). This allows the viewers to share her moment of distress after finding out the truth about her uncle’s mysterious double life. The camera then slowly zooms out as young Charlie walks out of the library, overwhelmed by shock from her new discovery (timestamp – 8:14, part 6/11). The way that Hitchcock filmed this scene, along with the actress’s slow movements, is very dramatic. The point-of-view and zoomed-out shots allow the audience to see (and feel) young Charlie’s agony.

Lighting also played an important role in this scene. The librarian turned on the lights for young Charlie to browse the newspaper section. After she discovered her uncle’s sordid crimes, the lights began to dim as she walked out of the room (timestamp – 8:28, part 6/11). This shift in lighting represents young Charlie’s admiration for her uncle, in which the bright lighting indicated her respect for him and the dimming signified her loss of respect. The change in the library’s lighting gave viewers a deeper approach to young Charlie’s emotions.