LIFE magazine ran an extensive feature on the film's production in their January 1943 edition:Īs a director of one of the first movies to be produced under the Government restriction placing a $5,000 ceiling on new materials used for sets, has shown he has more than one trick up his sleeve. Writer Thornton Wilder accompanied Hitchcock on a trip to the town in June 1942 so that they could incorporate local landmarks and buildings into the screenplay. Shadow of a Doubt was mostly filmed on location in Santa Rosa, California, during August 1942. (Hitch considered it 'a family film'.] & ] in ]

This is a taut thriller with no gratuitous violence, foul language, or mature situations. Going in with no knowledge will increase the movie's initial impact, and will help you to appreciate why Hitchcock was the 'Master of Suspense'. My advice then, if you want to see this movie, is not to learn anything about it beforehand. Apart from being a bit of comic relief in an otherwise very dark film, it also demonstrates how lightly people think of murder and murderers.until they encounter them face-to-face. One of my favourite elements in the movie is the ongoing dialogue between Henry Travers and Hume Cronyn, avid mystery readers who are constantly discussing the best ways to murder each other. This allows Hitch to pull off his famous 'twists' throughout the course of the movie, hitting you every now and then with something you simply weren't expecting.

To give away even the slightest story detail would ruin it for new viewers, because it is essential that everyone begin with the wrong impressions of the major characters. I own the Hitchcock collection (14 films in toto), and while this isn't my favourite of the bunch ('Psycho' is one of my favourite movies of all time, and 'Birds' never gets old), I like to watch it every now and again to remind myself what it means to make a 'suspense film', and why Hitchcock was and always will be the master of this craft.

Alfred hitchcock film shadow of a doubt