Charlie-Horse
In Shadow of a Doubt, Hitchcock utilizes and stretches the ambiguous line between comedy and suspense by utilizing smaller characters in the film to keep the story line moving, and to help break sequence or rhythm of what the audience had been perceiving at the time. Many of the minor characters were used as “fillers”, such as the waitress in the bar when Uncle Charlie and Charlie are sitting in the bar, and makes the comment “I would die for a ring like this”; or the quiet, gentle neighbor Herb who is fascinated with the process of homicide and murder. It brings to the audience an immediate comic relief, but similar to all of Hitchcock, leaves an unsettling feeling of fear and suspense with the viewer. Shadow of a Doubt is a film that hits very close to home for me, primarily because of the small town feel very similar to Orono that I have grown to know so well. There is a brutal irony that lurks through the film, especially during the time period that the film was made. The picturesque stereotype of small town life in the 40’s is brutally torn apart by Hitchcock wit and creative ingénue, putting the viewer in an uncomfortable mind stretch of reality.
The first instance of ambiguity between comedy/drama begins directly at the beginning credits of the film, with the brilliant shot of a uniform waltzing party, in carousel motion, or a perfect circle. From my perspective, I was unable to recognize w...
Hitchcock has a way of throwing clues in the face of the spectator, yet still allows some room for the spectator to find their own less obvious details. In the same museum scene, Hitchcock shows the viewer exactly what he wants them to see. In a sense, Hitchcock can be very manipulative with the camera. The audience sees the picture containing the women with a curl in her hair holding flowers, and then the direct connection is made by the camera, by showing the curl in Madeline’s hair, and the flowers sitting next to her. The spectator is led to believe that they have solved the mystery and she is truly possessed by the women in the picture. However, Hitchcock does this on purpose to lead the audience away from the truth that she is only acting. It is for these reasons that Hitchcock’s work at an auteur adds a level of depth and intrigue.
The film Shadow of A Doubt uses doubles, a film concept in which a shot is created and then later exposed once again in another frame. There are various scenes in the movie where doubles are used to imply different ideas. Three concrete examples of this effect include the scenes where Uncle Charlie and young Charlie wake up, the scenes where both Charlie’s say that telling Emma about Uncles evildoings will be hurtful, and the scene of the trains going in opposites directions of each other.
In the movie, the three main types of comedy I recognized were farce, parody, and satire. Farce is comedy designed to provoke the audience into simple, hearty laughter and often uses highly exaggerated or caricatured character types and puts them into improbable and ludicrous situations. It also makes use of broad verbal humor and physical horseplay. Some examples of farce in the movie are:
Alfred Hitchcock’s film Shadow of a Doubt is a true masterpiece. Hitchcock brings the perfect mix of horror, suspense, and drama to a small American town. One of the scenes that exemplifies his masterful style takes place in a bar between the two main characters, Charlie Newton and her uncle Charlie. Hitchcock was quoted as saying that Shadow of a Doubt, “brought murder and violence back in the home, where it rightly belongs.” This quote, although humorous, reaffirms the main theme of the film: we find evil in the places we least expect it. Through careful analysis of the bar scene, we see how Hitchcock underlies and reinforces this theme through the setting, camera angles, and lighting.
Conflict with reality and appearance brings to surface the elements of the traditional commedia dell’arte in the form of mistaken identity, which enriches the farcical plot-lines that occur in the play. The very embodiment of mistaken identity establishes that what may be seem real could be quite the opposite, however the characters in the play are unable to distinguish this as their vision becomes distorted by their fall into the deception of appearance. It is this very comedic device that enables the conflict between Roscoe (Rachel) and Alan, or Charlie and Alan’s father to occur which is a significant part of the comedic nature of the play as the unproportional situation is what sparks laughter from the audience, and so it is the presence of mistaken identity alone that conveys the play into a light-hearted comedy. Furthermore, Peter O'Neill quotes that ‘using humour can provide a degree of safety for expressing difficult ideas or opinions which could be particularly effective…’. In the circumstances of the quotation Richard Bean effectively c...
Shadow of a Doubt is an Alfred Hitchcock film that was shot on location in the 1940's town of Santa Rosa, California. The town itself is representative of the ideal of American society. However, hidden within this picturesque community dark corruption threatens to engulf a family. The tale revolves around Uncle Charlie, a psychotic killer whose namesake niece, a teenager girl named Charlie, is emotionally thrilled by her Uncles arrival. However her opinion slowly changes as she probes into her mysterious uncle. In the film, director/producer Alfred Hitchcock blends conventions of film noir with those of a small town domestic comedy as a means of commenting on the contradictions in American values.
The movie leaves little to viewers' imaginations. In order to be entertained by literature or art, the viewer needs to feel that they can use their imagination and not be confined to a plot that reveals all. In the parable Doubt, the controversial topics presented by John Patrick Shanley sparked differing views that the reader was torn between. It introduced a storyline revolved around a nun accusing a pastor of partaking in inappropriate engagement amongst the alter boys. Since the plot was open-ended and there were no pulmonary guidelines, the reader resolved to using their imagination to deem what direction, and whom they would agree with.... ...
Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo is a film which functions on multiple levels simultaneously. On a literal level it is a mystery-suspense story of a man hoodwinked into acting as an accomplice in a murder, his discovery of the hoax, and the unraveling of the threads of the murder plot. On a psychological level the film traces the twisted, circuitous routes of a psyche burdened down with guilt, desperately searching for an object on which to concentrate its repressed energy. Finally, on an allegorical or figurative level, it is a retelling of the immemorial tale of a man who has lost his love to death and in hope of redeeming her descends into the underworld.
Salem to work as his servant. She was known to practice Obeah, an African cult
Many examples in Who Framed Roger Rabbit? suggest the film is a classical comedy. Some elements of a comical film include massive confusion, mistaken identities, errors in judgment, and excessive behavior. When such traits are exploited it leads to chaos and choices need to be made. The use of exaggerating characteristics to real life creates a humorous effect, for instance in “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” Furthermore, the film “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” is an example of a romantic comedy because it involves chaos, massive confusion, and two lovers.
Hitchcock captures the moments where the audience is able to see the visceral experiences with Madeline and Scottie through the use of camera movements. In the first scene of the film, the viewers see a chase in which a man is literally hanging from a rooftop, grasping tightly to not fall into his death. Hitchcock uses the zooming effect to enhance the fear of heights of Scottie Ferguson, as well as provide the point of view of the detective’s vertigo to appeal to the audience of Scottie’s emotive state of being. This traumatic experience of witnessing the policeman fall to his death represents that every experience will end tragically. The chase between the detec...
It is this mix that so marks the play out from pure comedies such as
At the end of the scene a comedy genre is hinted at. The words by
But then “The Lodger” knocks and Daisy, Mother answers inviting the men with his face covered and creepy eyes, creating this look of something atrocious and malicious coming. This shows a new beginning to the story. The story is kicking off and he is the catalyst for the rest of the story. He creates a fear that is supposed to generate this suspicion of “The Lodger”, but for me it was to clear what Hitchcock was trying to do with the lights flickering and the fog even “The Lodger” first scene is trying create this image of the Avenger and “The Lodger” as one in the same in your head, it was too in your face I never believed it but throughout the first part of the movie Hitchcock creates this image of this dark man. The film wants you to think he the Avenger and then in the second part he opens up this character's showing he is not and that is my story of how. Hitchcock creates, this vampire like the image of “The Lodger”. When you first meet
This is a film that makes you laugh of things that can in no way be described as