how charlie and uncle charlie are shadow of a doubt

When Uncle Charlie slips a ring around his niece’s finger, the gift expresses a closeness that you’d expect between lovers – and she welcomes this closeness. A ring is a symbol of marriage, and in that capacity it absolutely fits what Hitchcock wished to give his audience. It structures the film so naturally, and the object is anything but random. He had already learned to invest his films with details that coalesced around an ulterior meaning, but the ring was a more elegant device than he, or almost any other filmmaker, had used before. In 1943 however his career was still rising he was new to Hollywood, and Shadow of a Doubt marked a sense of discovery. He surely knew what he had achieved in Vertigo, but that movie was a failure in the public’s eye, and it probably represented an unpleasant experience. Hitchcock famously claimed, as late as 1972 near the end of his career, that Shadow of a Doubt was his favorite of his films. Either we’d see the ring and know she’d prevail, or we’d see that she left it behind, in which case Hitchcock would either have to change the ending or weaken the pattern. If her hands were exposed, there would be no suspense. This pattern is so consistent that in the climactic struggle on the train, Hitchcock finds it necessary to put the young Charlie in gloves. This aggression will soon escalate into two murder attempts on his niece.įinally, when Charlie comes down the stairs flashing the emerald ring to all the family and guests, her uncle does her bidding without hesitation and promptly announces his departure from Santa Rosa the next day. Uncle Charlie then puts his hand over it, and he suddenly turns aggressive. When she puts the ring on the table, for a brief interlude it remains neutrally between them as the waitress drools over it, and the two Charlies both bow their heads as if drained of energy. Later in the ‘Til-Two café, before the ring changes hands again, Uncle Charlie is still nervous around his niece and laughs sheepishly. First she throws him off balance by noticing the engraved initials, and then she tells him to bring coffee into the dining room. When Uncle Charlie arrives in Santa Rosa with the ring in his baggage, his niece is practically infatuated with him and always bends happily to his will, but as soon as he gives it up she turns the tables on him. This ring is like Tolkien’s legendary ring because whoever gets it immediately holds the upper hand in the relationship.

How charlie and uncle charlie are shadow of a doubt