MovieChat Forums > Shadow of a Doubt (1943) Discussion > Do you put this movie in Hitchcock's top...

Do you put this movie in Hitchcock's top 5?

posted 16 years ago by derozz24
71 replies | jump to latest

I thought this movie was way before its time. I've seen alot of Hitchcock and I gotta put this up in his top 5. Don't know why it took me so long to see this one.

[–] Devinpl86 16 years ago

That's weird I feel the same exact way. For over 10 years I've been loving Hitchcock and of course there is ones we all haven't seen and I like that because he has made SO MUCH its like you are constantly finding new treasures and while I had heard of 'shadow' I never cared to watch it for some reason b/c to be frank I had known the majority of the story from hearing and seeing clips but I finally watched it last night and I was blown away by every little detail and every performance and especially the fact that it was 1943. It enters my top 5 for sure most likely bumping out 'vertigo' or 'birds' or something of that sort and I am probably thinking it jumps right to number one.

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[–] 16 years ago

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[–] johnfrancisco1987 16 years ago

It's my favourite of his films (two of my favourite actors), but I'm not sure I'd put it quite in his best five.

Rear Window
Rebecca
Strangers on a Train
Vertigo
The 39 Steps

[–] Liz10 16 years ago

Definitely......and it is also HITCHCOCK'S favorite so there you go!

[–] nutsberryfarm 9 years ago

sometimes.

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[–] Gotensive 16 years ago

Nope.

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[–] eden_echo 16 years ago

Yes! It's replaced NbN at the number three spot in my top 5 Hitchcock films.

"I promise you, before I die I'll surely come to your doorstep"

[–] vballarat 16 years ago

I'm not sure exactly why, but I suspect for me it has something to do with the fact that it seems to resemble a very twisted version of a Frank Capra movie. Maybe I feel that way, at least partially, just because of Henry Travers, who plays Charlie's father in Shadow of a Doubt. Since he also played the angel Clarence in It's a Wonderful Life, it adds even more to that Capraesque feeling I get at the beginning of the movie. You have a small town, a close and loving happy family, and then you have the very Hitchcockian psychopath in the form of a beloved uncle who walks into this Capra setting and brings with him darkness and fear. You have to love it.

Rear Window, Vertigo, The Lady Vanishes, To Catch a Thief, North by Northwest, etc., are great movies too, but Shadlow of a Doubt is a bit different in tone from all of these and is probably my favorite, or at least definitely in the top 5.

[–] gerald-flynn 15 years ago

I have tried to pare my list down to my top five but still have eight that I can't quite decide which to drop. "Vertigo" is my #1 and "Shadow" #2. Beyond that, in no particular order are "Stangers on a Train", "Rear Window", "North by Northwest", "Psycho", "Rebecca" and "The 39 Steps".
Some other thoughts -- "The Birds" was great fun but kind of absurd and ridiculous; "Spellbound" is driven by a ridiculous pseudo-psychological premise that is too over the top to be believed but still thoroughly enjoyable; "To
Catch a Thief" is entertaining but not quite good enough to make this list; the same can be said for "Dial M for Murder". Also, after a lapse from "Marnie" through "Topaz", Hitch had a resurgence with teh truly diaboloical and evil "Frenzy", again, just short of the top 5 (aka 8).

[–] ladylavende 16 years ago

Top 5 Hitchcock (his best, not necessarily my favorites) for me:

1. Notorious
2. Vertigo
3. Psycho
4. North by Northwest
5. Rear Window

But I do think Shadow of a Doubt could merit a spot in the top 10.

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[–] 16 years ago

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[–] Goodbye_Ruby_Tuesday 16 years ago

It's my #4, too. Just a great movie all around, fantastic acting, and there's also some sentimental value to it--it was shot close to where I live, in Santa Rosa. I sometimes pass by the house after school.

1. Vertigo
2. Notorious
3. Rear Window
4. Shadow of a Doubt
5. Rebecca
5 1/2: Psycho.

I was born when she kissed me
I died when she left me
I lived a few weeks while she loved me

[–] 16 years ago

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