“Shadow of a Doubt,” directed by Alfred Hitchcock, is considered by many to be his best movie. Most critics compare it favorably to “The Stranger,” which came three years later, but I’ll have more to say on this towards the end.

In the opening scene, a man (Joseph Cotton) seems to be enjoying a siesta in his home when two other men knock at his door. The two men appear to be police officers. With the help of a friendly woman who seems to be his housekeeper, the man escapes.

Later, the same man, who will soon be revealed to be Charlie Oakley, sends a telegram to his older sister, Emma Newton (Patricia Collinge), that he will be staying with her and her family in Santa Rosa, California.

The scene shifts to Emma’s house where she lives with her husband Joseph (Henry Travers). The couple has a teenage daughter, Charlotte (Teresa Wright), named after Emma’s brother Charlie, and two smaller children, Ann, a geeky girl, and Roger, a young boy.

With her strong, vivacious but kind personality, Charlie is clearly the boss but a wonderful daughter to her parents and a great sister to her siblings. When she hears that Uncle Charlie, whom she has never seen before, is coming for a visit for a few days, Charlotte is excited and looks forward to meeting him.

When Uncle Charlie arrives, the whole family is happy to see him. At dinner, Uncle Charlie gives each of them a gift. Charlotte gets a ring. When she examines it closely, she sees that it has another person’s initials.

Two men arrive at the home of the Newtons, claiming that they are doing a profile of American families and want to take photographs of each member of the family. Uncle Charlie strongly protests when one of the men takes a photo of him and demands the men to give him the film reel that has his photo. The men comply. Later, one of the men tells Charlotte that they are undercover cops and that they are on the trail of a serial killer, the “Merry Window Killer.”

Charlotte initially ignores her intuition even though she has seen Uncle Charlie behave suspiciously on many occasions. One scene where Uncle Charlie makes a house from a newspaper for little Roger and tears off a part of it that mentions the Merry Widow Killer is classic Hitchcock!

Later, while seated at the dinner table, Uncle Charlie viciously attacks rich widows, claiming that they are mooching on society. This leaves a lasting impression on Charlotte, who now thinks that her uncle is the killer he is alleged to be.

Earlier in the movie, she tells Uncle Charlie that she and he may be telepathically connected and that they can read each other’s minds. Unfortunately for her, she may be right, and this may put her life in danger.

Will she uncover the truth on time? Can she save herself?

Hitchcock turns on the suspense and increases its intensity towards the end, leading to an action-packed finale. “Shadow of a Doubt” should definitely be on your ‘must-watch’ list. Both Cotten and Wright put in excellent performances that accentuate the tension.

Both “The Stranger” and “Shadow of a Doubt” share common threads. Both feature a suspected killer hiding in a small town. Both imply that the killer should be caught before he harms innocent people. In both cases, a dinner table speech brings out the suspected killer’s viewpoint and exposes them to the ones who are suspicious of them.

How does it compare with “The Stranger”? Well, my opinion differs from many critics.

For one thing, the plot in “Shadow of a Doubt” is quite simple. “The Stranger” has a more complex plot.

Let us now compare the cinematography. For one thing, while the cinematography is good in “Shadow of a Doubt,” it seems to use limited film noir lighting techniques. The cinematography in “The Stranger,” especially in the church and clock tower scenes, is superior.

I mentioned earlier that Cotten had put in an excellent performance. However, his clean good looks do not allow him to come across as menacing. He appears more like a groomed, polished, and harmless gentleman unlike the menacing Orson Welles in ‘Stranger.’ While I did like “The Stranger” more, I think this movie is a must-see.