MovieChat Forums > Shadow of a Doubt (1943) Discussion > Uncle Charlie and Little Charlie's Mom

Uncle Charlie and Little Charlie's Mom

posted 13 years ago by PussyCrusher_Principal
6 replies | jump to latest

Lots of posts question whether or not there's sexual tension between Uncle Charlie and Little Charlie, and whether or not Hitchcock put it in on purpose. I have no doubt he did, and I think it's hinted that Uncle Charlie's extra closeness to relatives didn't start with his niece.

Little Charlie's mother is ecstatic to see her brother (Uncle Charlie) and her elation grows as the film goes on. Then, when Uncle Charlie announces he's leaving, she bursts into tears and wonders how she'll go on after he leaves, and says something about loving her brother so much she forgets she has a husband! I wonder what went on in their childhood...

This isn't in the movie at all, but maybe Little Charlie is so named because her mother wishes Uncle Charlie was Little Charlie's father...or maybe he IS her father! It's far-fetched, but Little Charlie does have that special connection with her uncle (telepathy) and he does state how they have the "same blood flowing through their veins"(yeah, I know he's her uncle, but I wonder if Hitch wanted us to consider these things. I know...I'm extending far past what was actually shown in the film, but...).

Don't get all crazy savaging me...I'm not saying this is supposed to have happened. I think the first thing I said is possibly true, though (the naming and wishing U.C. was L.C.'s father)...the mother DID say those things, with her actual husband sitting right there. The "Uncle Charlie as her father thing", I was just having a little fun."

"How do you feel?"
"Like the Kling-Klang King of the Rim-Ram Room!"

[–] moosefeathers 12 years ago

Stop rewriting movies.

they were just close-knit family. yes, there is sexual tension between the two charlies, but that's it.

Swing away, Merrill....Merrill, swing away...

[–] thegr8defender 11 years ago

Her line is "You sort of forget you're you, when you're your husband's wife". In ither words, her brother's return reminded her of her youth, happy times, life as her own person rather than just "Mrs. Newton", wife and mother. This speaks a lot to what may have been going on behind her flighty exterior. He reminded her of simpler, happy times - and vice versa, since he also insisted on remembering her as a girl, and their parents as existing in a time when "everyone was pretty".

[–] Harold_Robbins 11 years ago

Personally, I had a bit of trouble believing Patricia Collinge and Henry Travers not only as a married couple, but of the parents of those three children.

"In my case, self-absorption is completely justified."

[–] jreedha 11 years ago

"Personally, I had a bit of trouble believing Patricia Collinge and Henry Travers not only as a married couple, but of the parents of those three children."

Boy do I agree. Even the little boy who was no older than nine, was way more intelligent and in touch with the world than either of his parents. And Ann had an extraordinary future ahead of her. I know she must have ended up in Manhattan eventually. Was this movie in part a commentary on how the most unlikely families can spawn the most unlikely children? I'd like to think so.

[–] avia2 8 years ago

I was watching this film with family tonight, and we were all awkwardly silent during the scene where Young Charlie first teases her uncle about the newspaper. I think none of us dared to admit we found it a little odd.

And just now I've been reading that the real-life inspiration for Uncle Charlie had been accused of child molestation. The mother adored him so much, she would easily have trusted him with the children.

[–] 8 years ago

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