meaning of the cigar and the cane in shadow of a doubt hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcock shifted to the US to make films in 1939, but his earliest American-made films still had mostly English settings. This entry was posted in Uncategorized by Ian P.

As Hitchcock describes his films more dreamlike than plausible, and dreams in psychoanalysis are a means to express unconscious, and usually reprehensible ideas, maybe the plot holes that initially pass beneath the viewers consciousness, are a facilitation of expressing the unseen destructiveness of the institution of family. These cracks within a seemingly airtight narrative, are tantamount Hitchcock’s exploration of family, an institution we view as the bedrock of society, yet hides pernicious cracks in its ideologies.

How and why would police follow a suspect from New York to California if they don’t know what he looks like? Why would they suspect Uncle Charlie if they don’t know what the killer looks like? When the detectives arrive in Santa Rosa, why do they wait outside the Newton’s house for weeks and why do they use the cover of taking photographs of Americans’ bed rooms? What family would believe that? Since the plot revolves around Young Charlie’s suspicion of Uncle Charlie and his cloddish attempts to murder her, which for some reason doesn’t heighten the suspicion of the detectives surveilling, this creates an air of absurdity uncertainty that taints the seemingly perfect Santa Rosa. As in the 39 Steps and most of his other movies, the plot of Shadow of a Doubt takes a backseat to the story, ideas and themes Hitchcock is trying to convey. Released in 1943, Shadow of a Doubt explores qualms of the American family institutions through the eyes of Young Charlie.

Meaning of the cigar and the cane in shadow of a doubt hitchcock