Shadow of a Doubt
The Union Church Film Group will gather on Friday February 13th at 7:00pm in the Guild Room to screen Shadow of a Doubt, which was directed by Sir Alfred Hitchcock, who also directed Rear Window, which we viewed last year. The film stars Teresa Wright and Joseph Cotton. Supporting actors include MacDonald Carey and Hume Cronyn. The screenplay was written by Thornton Wilder, Alma Reville and Sally Benson. The film is a thriller set in a small town in California. While Rebecca (1940) was Hitchcock’s first film for an American film company, Selznick International Pictures, Shadow of a Doubt (1943) was Hitchcock’s first successful film made in America. It is generally considered to be his first great American film, as opposed to The 39 Steps, The Lady Vanishes, Rebecca, and his other European films. The film has a 100% Fresh Rating, and was included by Roger Ebert in his The Great Movies book series. During the discussion, Paul plans to discuss why Hitchcock favored “Shadow of a Doubt” and “Psycho” (1960) over all his other films. He will also discuss Teresa Wright’s career and her so far unequalled Oscar achievement. For Rear Window, we discussed Sir Alfred’s life and career from 1925 to 1940. I will discuss Hitchcock and his films in the 1940s. “Shadow of a Doubt” River is 1 hour and 48 minutes long. It was filmed in black and white, and will be presented with English Language Subtitles. The film is rated PG. March movie: on Friday, March 13th – Kenneth Branaugh’s “Much Ado About Nothing.”