Shadow of a Doubt ( Click here to watch ) 

(108 min; 1943; b/w; English) 

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

With Teresa Wright, Joseph Cotton, Macdonald Carey

Recipient of the NBR Award for Best Actress, National Board of Review, USA 1943; and Winner of the National Film Registry, National Film Preservation Board, US 1991

Alfred Hitchcock directed this first-class psychological thriller while living in America. Based on a story by Gordon McDowell and inspired by the real-life “Merry Widow” murderer Earle Leonard Nelson who was hanged in 1928. This darkly cynical film proved to be one of Hitch’s favourite films, and is also one of his most personal. The character of Emma Newton was based on Hitchcock’s mother. Complex in characterization, Shadow of a Doubt concerns a young woman and her growing concerns that her favourite uncle just may be a murderer.