Quote of the day:

The more successful the villain, the more successful the picture.
—Alfred Hitchcock 

Here’s another excerpt from Pat Hitchcock’s book entitled Alma Hitchcock: The Woman Behind the Man. 

“Mama,” I once asked Alma casually, “which one is your favorite of Daddy’s films?” Without hesitating one bit, she replied, Shadow of a Doubt. It was Hitch’s favorite, too. Mine is Notorious (1946). Shadow of a Doubt (1939) centers around the perfect American family: the Newtons. Perfect, that is, until the mother’s brother, Uncle Charlie, comes and stays with them.

The older daughter, named Charlie after her uncle, admires him but slowly starts suspecting that he might be the notorious “merry widow murderer.” She eventually discovers that her uncle is indeed a monster, who will stop at nothing to get away with murder.

[…]

The film was a complete success, beginning with the script. The original idea was brought to my father by a writer named Gordon McDonell (his wife, Margaret, worked for Selznick). Both my parents were immediately seduced by the concept of the uncle symbolizing menace coming to a small town. Writer Thornton Wilder (famous at that time for his play Our Town) was brought in to work on the script. Wilder and Daddy traveled together to Santa Rosa, California, where the story was set, to find locations for the film and to incorporate the spirit of that small town into the script. Thornton had to leave for the army, and another playwright, Sally Benson, took over (she had just written a hit play titled Junior Miss). Alma co-wrote the script as well—that film was probably her proudest achievement. The Newton family was just brilliantly conceived:

There is the father (Henry Travers), a man who likes to read murder mysteries and who constantly jokes about killing the next-door neighbor, played by Hume Cronyn in his first screen role. The mother, Emma, was played by Patricia Collinge, who brought warmth, heart, and humor to the character. The two young kids were played by Edna May Wonacott and Charles Bates. Charlie, the older daughter, was played by Teresa Wright, and the evil Uncle Charlie, Joseph Cotten (I admit I had a huge crush on him).

The making of the film was a family affair. We all went up to Santa Rosa for the shoot and all worked hard (Hitch was directing, Alma writing, and I was helping Edna May Wonacott rehearse her lines and coaching her). As I said, Daddy was notorious for insisting on shooting his films on soundstages; he did not like going on location, but in this case, he and Alma enjoyed being in that small town.

I remember when Hitch and Thornton Wilder had found this wonderful little old house that matched exactly what Daddy wanted for the Newton home. They made a deal, but when we went up to start filming, the owners were so excited that they had completely repainted the house—and so we had to have it dirtied down!

The film was about a family, and there was definitely a family spirit on the set; we all played games together between takes, had dinners, and threw parties all through filming. I recall we all went to a Chinese restaurant in San Francisco one evening, and some lady (who might have been the owner) passed around the table this hundred-year-old egg while Joseph Cotten kept making jokes about it. It was hard not to laugh as the poor lady was trying to give us a lecture about the egg.

But happiness was not to last; my father’s mother, Emma, had been very ill and finally passed away on September 26. It was a very sad time for all of us, especially for Daddy, who wished he could have been near her. While Emma Newton, the mother in Shadow of a Doubt, was not based on my grandmother, even though they have the same name, I can’t help but think a bit about Grandma whenever I watch the film. Her kindness, her beauty, her simplicity, and her humor are all very memorable. A few months after Emma passed away, William, Daddy’s brother, died of heart failure in his home. We stuck together during this very difficult time.