- Film Review
- Reviewed By Adrian Turner
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5 out of 5
A train, belching out a cloud of ominous black smoke, signifies trouble for a sleepy Californian town in Alfred Hitchcock's own personal favourite of his movies. Joseph Cotten has arrived and is met by his adoring niece, Teresa Wright. Both are called "Charlie". She is pumpkin-pie innocence; he is a suave killer, wanted back east for relieving widows of their wealth and their lives. Although Hitchcock blurs the line between good and evil (endorsing Cotten's outbursts against the cosy complacency of the town), the two Charlies are inevitably pitched against each other as suspicion increases and the police start nosing around. The movie may lack the show-off set pieces that Hitchcock turned into his trademark, yet its tension never falters.
Plot Summary
Classic Hitchcock thriller starring Joseph Cotten and Teresa Wright. When Uncle Charlie arrives in the small Californian town of Santa Rosa, he is welcomed with open arms by his family. However, his admiring niece soon begins to harbour doubts about her favourite uncle.
Cast and crew
Cast
- Young Charlie Newton
- Teresa Wright
- Uncle Charlie Oakley / Mr Spencer / Mr Otis
- Joseph Cotten
- Jack Graham
- Macdonald Carey
- Joseph Newton
- Henry Travers
- Emma Spencer Oakley Newton
- Patricia Collinge
- Herbie Hawkins
- Hume Cronyn
- Fred Saunders
- Wallace Ford
- Ann Newton
- Edna May Wonacott
- Roger Newton
- Charles Bates
- Station master
- Irving Bacon
- Pullman porter
- Clarence Muse
Crew
- Director
- Alfred Hitchcock
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