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Hitchcock's 'Shadow of a Doubt' - is the evil uncle not the real uncle?


I had a wonderful shadow of a doubt when I first finished watching this movie. I went to the Internet to see what other people thought, and found that they did not think about it at all!

But I more than doubt. I believe that the man visiting the Newton family is not their Uncle Charlie.

I have a list. Of moments. When you watch this movie again, remember me.

06:50
Hat shadow forming a mask on the man's face when he first calls himself ‘uncle Charlie’ and has to repeat that yes, that’s him. Nothing IRL, everything in a movie.

07:40
Little Charlie lying on her bed in exactly the same position as he was lying on his, to demonstrate their uncanny connection. Not exactly the same: she has her hands behind her head, while he is fiddling with a cigar, turning it in his hands and never trying to smoke it. Just a tiny bit off.

18:00
Charlie doesn’t recognize him at first. Spends a few seconds surprised by how her adored uncle looks.

18:28
Ann doesn’t recognize him and states he looks different. Ann remembers all the important things.

19:20
So he doesn’t wait for Emma to not recognize him as well. He stops her 10 steps away, distracts her and clouds her vision with tears, then allows her to come closer.

19:50
‘How’s he look to you, same old Charlie, eh?’ says Joseph. He’s not sure he does either.

21:28
‘You sent this dress to me!’ — ‘I did?’. That’s what they in movies do to show a person is not who they say they are. That's when I first stated doubting.

21:46
‘I’ve never had a wristwatch’. The man doesn’t know that.

21:50
A stuffed animal for a girl who obviously wouldn’t need one. The man doesn’t know her.

22:31
Grandpa and grandma. Uncle Charlie treasured the picture, now the man just gives it away.

37:37
‘I’ve never been photographed in my life’ — ‘I guess you’ve forgotten’. Sure.

38:30
Uncle Charlie hit his head as a child and stopped being smart. This man is a criminal mastermind, Uncle Charlie is not. And we never got to see the scar.

42:18
‘Little details are most important for me’. They are. He’s got a lot of them from Uncle Charlie. Wonder where Uncle Charlie is.

53:15
‘In the east, there’s another man, who’s being hunted too’. Found Uncle Charlie! Certainly he wouldn’t risk leading the police to his sister and niece, would he?

1:00:00
‘The trailing detectives are after two men, one of whom they are certain is the actual killer.’ Why two? Strangling takes one. Yet somehow two of them, and not known which is the killer.

1:08:00
This one is the killer, obviously.

1:16:00
‘I’ve been chasing the globe since I was 16’, says the man. How would Ann remember him then? She would remember Uncle Charlie, who had an address that Charlie was supposed to know by heart (at 13:00).

1:23:23
Run into the propeller of an airplane. A silly death for a silly uncle, left completely off-screen.

So my guess is that this movie is also about a helpless little man, guileless and guiltless. The real uncle Charlie is never even missed, and when he dies, no-one cares.

It seems Uncle Charlie was an accomplice of the killer, he was supposed to look like him and act like him and impersonate him to provide an alibi when it is needed. They spent a lot of time together to get the same mannerisms and intonations, and Uncle Charlie also shared a lot of information about himself and his family. So when the police came for them, Uncle Charlie ran as far as he could, leaving behind everything that would connect him to his beloved relatives, while the killer took these things and went to hide under a very real fake name.

Poor Uncle Charlie. They say this movie has the main character that is unusual for Hitchcock. It does not. Now you know :D

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