We're over the moon about this 50-year-old classic

Paper Moon, released 50 years ago in 1973, directed by Peter Bogdanovich and produced by Frank Marshall and based on the novel "Addie Pray" by Joe David Brown, is admired for being shot on location in Kansas, Missouri, and Illinois and for the casting of Ryan O'Neal and his real-life daughter Tatum O'Neal. The film was a critical and commercial success, receiving four Academy Award nominations and winning one. Remembered fondly for its witty screenplay, excellent performances, and nostalgic atmosphere, Paper Moon still resonates five decades later. 

To listen to a recording of our CineVerse film discussion group’s conversation last week about Paper Moon, click here.

What makes Paper Moon a cut above? This is one of the finest performances by a young actor in Hollywood history. Nine years old at the time of filming, Tatum O’Neal won the Academy Award for best supporting actress for her role as Addie. She outshines her father, Ryan O’Neil, in nearly every scene they share. The performance is even more impressive when you consider several extended/uninterrupted shots in which Tatum must remain plausibly in character. Likewise, the chemistry between these two is palpable because they are actually father and daughter.

The decision to shoot in black-and-white paid off. Paper Moon reflects the stark, austere landscapes of the time and the downtrodden vibe of the Great Depression thanks in large part to its monochrome canvas. Director Peter Bogdanovich somewhat invokes the look, techniques, and vibe of films made by many of his key influences, including John Ford and Howard Hawks.

Roger Ebert wrote: “The two kinds of Depression-era movies we remember best are the ones that ignored the Depression altogether and the ones like “The Grapes of Wrath” that took it as a subject. Peter Bogdanovich’s “Paper Moon” somehow manages to make these two approaches into one, so that a genre movie about a con man and a little girl is teamed up with the real poverty and desperation of Kansas and Missouri, circa 1936. You wouldn’t think the two approaches would fit together, somehow, but, they do, and the movie comes off as more honest and affecting than if Bogdanovich had simply paid tribute to older styles…Paper Moon” doesn’t come off, then, as a homage to earlier beloved directors and styles (as Bogdanovich’s “What’s Up, Doc?” did - and his “The Last Picture Show,” to a smaller extent). No, it achieves something quite different: a period piece that uses generic conventions only when they apply, so that we see the Depression through the eyes of characters who are allowed to be individuals. Whatever Addie and Moses do in this movie, we have the feeling it’s because they want to (or have to) and not that the ghost of some 1930s screenwriter is prompting them.”

Bogdanovich also employs a simplistic style in filming and editing Paper Moon, opting to use deep-focus photography, long takes, and crosstalk dialogue. DVD Savant Glenn Erickson wrote: “Bogdanovich finds a classic camera style in Paper Moon, holding many scenes in extended takes, and cutting as infrequently as possible. A car chase is confected to use one single camera position for several screeching turns, for instance. The style sometimes resembles John Ford, particularly at the beginning. Dialogue scenes, like one in an ice cream parlor, use real street backgrounds as if they were rear-projections in a 30s studio film. Many exteriors have classically-composed wide shots showing the terrain and the horizon as might Ford. But scenes do jump across cuts, and there are many more closeups and wide angle shots. Bogdanovich's restrained camera, the lack of color, and the source music he uses for a soundtrack, place us firmly in the dust bowl years without the period oversell of the many imitators of Bonnie and Clyde.”

What’s more, the movie avoids being saccharine, cloying, cutesy, or politically correct. We see Addie smoking, hear her use profanities, and watch her engage in adult games of cat and mouse, revealing a precociousness that results in great comedy. Also, the film isn’t afraid to explore the subtopic of racial subjugation and the diminished societal status of Blacks during the Great Depression.

Paper Moon is organized tidily into three acts. Act I introduces Addie and Moses and establishes their dynamics and personalities. Act II involves Moses being preoccupied with Trixie Delight and Addie befriending Imogene. Act III focuses on the bootlegging scheme subplot and getting Addie home.

One prevailing question viewers may have after the film ends: Would Addie have been better off remaining with her aunt, or does forcing Moses to take her along again feel right? Consider what film critic Emmanuel Levy wrote: “Paper Moon features anarchic philosophy with a twisted view of childhood, one that could be just as harmful as growing up within a suffocating Milieu since both education and domesticity are rejected. Glamorizing deviance and legitimizing Addie’s status as a child-monster, the narrative fails to provide a clue as to how Addie is going to make the inevitable transition from childhood to maturity and womanhood.”

Major themes abound in Paper Moon. One message is “Fake it till you make it.” Moses and Addie must con and grift to get from point A to B and survive in a hardscrabble era. They also sometimes must pretend to be father and daughter, or pretend not to be if he truly is her biological patriarch, to accomplish their goals. Another moral to the story? Appearances are deceiving. Despite Addie’s young age, tomboyish qualities, and dependence on Moze, she’s a crafty and devious yet goodhearted kid who can easily fool grown-ups. Likewise, Moses uses this setup of appearing as Addie’s father to hoodwink marks.

A further takeaway is that familial bonds help us endure life’s hardships. While it is never confirmed that Moses is Addie’s father, he becomes a father figure to her and the pair form a symbiotic relationship built on mutual trust, respect, and loyalty. Interestingly, Addie seems to protect and rescue Moze more than the other way around. Even if Moses doesn’t believe he is her father or admit it, he comes to love and appreciate Addie in unspoken ways, and that feeling is reciprocated – as evidenced by Addie’s giving of the photograph to Moses. If this attachment proves mutually beneficial at a time when nearly everyone around them is suffering.

Similar works that come to mind after screening Paper Moon include:

• The Grapes of Wrath
• 
  
• Bonnie and Clyde
• A Perfect World
• Nebraska
• The Kid
• Little Miss Marker, a 1934 Shirley Temple film
• A Simple Twist of Fate
• The Professional
• Con artist films like The Sting, The Grifters, Matchstick Men, and The Flim-Flam Man
• Road movies such as Thelma and Louise, Little Miss Sunshine, and It Happened One Night

Other films by Peter Bogdanovich include:

• The Last Picture Show
• What’s Up Doc
• Targets
• Mask
• Runnin’ Down a Dream

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A retro artist who was ahead of his time

Once Warner Brothers’ The Jazz Singer debuted in 1927, the era of talking pictures was born, signaling an end to the dominance of silent movies. But Charlie Chaplin never got the memo. He continued making (mostly) silent films through 1936, as evidenced by Modern Times, released that year. The CineVerse faithful put this film under a magnifying glass last week and determined that it remains one helluva funny flick, regardless of its relatively wordless status, and surprisingly relevant in the 21st century. Here’s a recap of our discussion (click here to listen to a recording of our group conversation).

 

What is significant about this feature film by Chaplin?

• It’s the last true appearance of his Little Tramp character, which first debuted in 1914.
• Many shorts and films featuring the Little Tramp end with him walking off alone. This movie concludes with him arm in arm with a partner, which was rare.
• Modern Times also marks the only film in which the Little Tramp utters words, which occurs during the restaurant singing scene. Technically, the character is singing gibberish, not any comprehensible language.
• Although the film includes voices and sound effects, it plays and is intended as a silent movie. This is widely considered to be the last silent film released in Hollywood. To create and distribute a silent picture in 1936 – nine years after the introduction of sound in cinema – was gutsy but risky.
• Interestingly, other than the nonsensical song Chaplin sings, the only words spoken are delivered through a machine, such as the inventor speaking via phonograph and the factory owner talking through his screen – which serves as thematic comment on dehumanization by technology.
• Rob Nixon of TCM wrote: “Modern Times represents more than a refusal to move into talkies for the film actually comments on sound and plays with the conventions of both silent and talking pictures. In exploring this new technology, the form of the film becomes part of the content and the story itself becomes a reflection of the cinematic "modern times," an observation on the increasingly mechanized, factory-like production of movies, something far removed from the improvisational and leisurely way Chaplin was accustomed to working.”
• Also unusual for Chaplin, this movie has a strong female lead who is arguably not a love interest but more a platonic partner who is from the same lower rung of the socioeconomic ladder as the Little Tramp. In past films, the Tramp often pined for more unattainable females.
• This was the breakout film for actress Paulette Goddard, who plays the Gamine.
• Additionally, Chaplin is making more of a sociocultural/sociopolitical statement in this movie than in many of his previous Little Tramp pictures in the way he critiques corporate America, authority figures, the government, and law enforcement, while representing down and outers and the disgruntled labor force empathetically.
• This was a rare instance of a Chaplin feature that wasn’t widely popular among audiences, and it suffered at the box office. Perhaps that can be attributed to its imagery and scenes of financial hardship at a time when many Americans didn’t want to be reminded about the Great Depression.
• As with several Chaplin feature-length films, Modern Times is built around a handful of gags and set pieces strung together, here comprised of four main segments: the factory, the jail, the department store, and the restaurant/nightclub.
• This film introduced Chaplin’s composition Smile to the world, one of the most beloved songs of the 20th century.

Major themes

• The dangers of increased reliance on mechanization, industrialization, and technology over human beings. Modern Times repeatedly demonstrates how technological advancement comes with significant cost to humans, particularly workers dehumanized and exploited by big business.
• We need to prioritize people and human ingenuity over machines and technology.
• Deep Focus Review creator Brian Eggert wrote: “Chaplin resolves that people need human interaction, not more technology—a theme easily drawn from the Gamine’s presence. The Tramp and Gamine are like children, free of responsibility, while adults remain mindless and controlled automatons.”
• David versus Goliath, or the little guy against the world. “Industry, labor strife, and government are all the enemies of the common man…The theme is really innocent Tramp against the world,” according to DVD Savant Glenn Erickson.
• Good people pushed to extremes. Most characters in Modern Times, including the Little Tramp, the Gamine, and even the department store intruders, are good at heart but may have to break the law for basic needs like food and shelter during a time of extreme financial duress.
• Grace under pressure. The Tramp and the Gamine are forced to be creative, improvisational, and cleverly spontaneous when put on the spot. They rise above their limitations with the help of pluck, inventiveness, and cunning.

Similar works

• Metropolis
• Sullivan’s Travels
• The Grapes of Wrath
• Brazil
• Woody Allen films like Sleeper and Take the Money and Run
• Films by Jacques Tati, including Jour de fête, Monsieur Hulot's Holiday, Mon oncle, PlayTime, Trafic, and Parade
• TV shows like I Love Lucy and The Dick Van Dyke Show

Other feature films by Chaplin

• The Kid
• The Gold Rush
• The Circus
• City Lights
• The Great Dictator
• Limelight

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What's priceless about Treasure of the Sierra Madre

Two weeks ago, our CineVerse group took the scenic route through Treasure of the Sierra Madre, a classic marking a 75th anniversary in 2023. Highlights of our discussion points are summarized below (you can listen to a recording of that group conversation here; to access the latest Cineversary podcast spotlighting Treasure of the Sierra Madre, click here).

Why does Treasure still matter? Why does it deserve to be celebrated 75 years later, and how has it stood the test of time?

• The film was helmed by one of the all-time greats of the classic Hollywood era, John Huston, who was renowned for a distinctive style across several genres, including Westerns, noir, and adventure dramas. With this story, Huston continues his exploration of disparate individuals or misfits who band together for a mutual purpose, such as the pursuit of wealth or the quest for an elusive target. Other Huston films that follow this formula include The Man Who Would Be King, The Asphalt Jungle, Moby Dick, The Maltese Falcon, and Beat the Devil.
• Treasure of the Sierra Madre is also memorable for its visual realism and verite-tinged cinematography. It’s no small point that most of the scenes were filmed outdoors in Mexico, which graces the picture with sociocultural and aesthetic authenticity. In fact, this was one of the first Hollywood movies to be shot on location outside the United States, within Durango and Tampico.
• Likewise, this movie has aged more gracefully than some others of this period because most of the Mexican characters are played by Mexican actors or nonprofessional natives. Yes, we have a young Robert Blake portraying a Mexican child, but virtually every other Mexican character is performed by a Mexican native or Mexican-American. Consider that American actors were often cast at this time to play Hispanics, Blacks, and Native Americans and wear dark makeup to hide their whiteness.
• The film earns extra points for not including subtitles when the Mexican characters speak, and they speak often. Granted, it was extremely rare for an American production in the 1940s to use subtitles, but there are quite a few verbal exchanges in Spanish that the vast throng of English-speaking viewers would not have understood, which remains true today.
• Refraining from using subtitles and not having characters constantly translating Spanish to English for the audience’s benefit makes many of us as culturally disoriented as Dobbs and Curtin, further immersing us in their world as outsiders in this foreign land. But this decision also speaks to Huston’s faith in the intelligence of his audience to figure out what they can in context and abandon language concerns they can’t decipher.
• Treasure also deserves to be celebrated because it’s a showcase role for its lead, Humphrey Bogart, who plays against type and isn’t afraid to get dirty – literally and figuratively – as the character Dodds. While some have criticized his portrayal as being overacted or exaggerated, others appreciate how Bogart, who, when the lead, usually plays a likable character who is in control and two steps ahead of everyone else, is at the mercy of external forces and succumbs gradually to paranoia and animalistic impulses.
• But as large a presence he may be, Bogart is outshined here by Walter Huston, who won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for so vibrantly bringing the old prospector Howard to life. There’s also a fascinating familial dynamic at work here in that we have a rare instance in a classic Hollywood feature of a son directing his father.
• This film plays as a hybrid of sorts that clearly works as a western and an adventure movie but is also infused with film noir elements. This is evidenced by the prevailing cynical tone and pessimistic worldview of the characters along with the high-contrast lighting in key scenes. Ruminate, as well, on the devolution of Dobbs from a down-and-outer with some semblance of morals to a duplicitous would-be murderer emboldened by avarice – the kind of traits we see often in a gritty urban crime drama otherwise known as noir.
• Like films such as It’s a Wonderful Life, Citizen Kane, Vertigo, and others, Treasure of the Sierra Madre was not a box-office hit or fully appreciated in its original era but was reappraised as an all-time classic many years later: further proof that great filmmaking transcends eras and generations.
• Among the reasons why it likely wasn’t as well-received by moviegoers back in 1948 were its downbeat ending and lack of a romance or major female character. Huston and his collaborators stayed true to the plot and tone of the original 1927 novel by B. Traven and defied conventional formula for a late 1940s picture.
• This film also contains one of the most quoted (for that matter, misquoted) lines in movie history: “Badges? We ain’t got no badges! We don’t need no badges! I don’t have to show you any stinking badges!” Interestingly, most people mistakenly cite the last part of this quote as: “We don't need no stinking badges!”

Can you cite any influence this movie had on filmmakers or later films that may have drawn inspiration from Treasure?

• Although the level of political commentary imbued in this movie is minor, Treasure’s moral about the consequences of greed and betrayal was a fitting precursor to the message movies and socially conscious Hollywood pictures that came in the 1950s and 1960s.
• One of the most obvious descendants of Treasure of the Sierra Madre is the Indiana Jones films; ponder the rugged and dirty appearance of Indiana Jones and the Fedora hat he wears, which take a cue from Dobbs.
• Other similar works include McKenna’s Gold, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966), Huston’s own adaptation of The Man Who Would Be King (1975), Trespass (1992), City Slickers II (1994), Three Kings (2000), Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods (2020), and the Breaking Bad TV series.
• Additionally, Paul Thomas Anderson rewatched this movie multiple times to inspire his creation and direction of There Will Be Blood. The director said: “Sierra Madre is as direct as you can get—nothing clever, nothing structurally new or different—and I mean that as a high compliment. It's harder than anything else to be completely straightforward.”
• Some scholars speculate that, when writing his book, author B. Traven may have been influenced by the Pardoner's Tale within The Canterbury Tales by Chaucer and Christ’s parable of the hidden treasure in the New Testament.

What impresses about the acting?

• This movie shows another side to Bogart; although he played criminals, gangsters, and antiheroes before Treasure, here we have him in the lead as an outright villain, which isn’t fully revealed until about halfway through the story. His character’s transformation from sympathetic drifter to seemingly trustworthy team player to venal, avaricious snake in the grass is remarkable. It’s rare to see Bogey this sweaty, nervous, and utterly despicable.
• Walter Huston, by contrast, projects an amiable, grizzled charm and a hard-earned sagacity that earns his character and the actor well-deserved seniority among the trio. He has to be careful here not to steer Howard into stereotype territory as the old prospector archetype. Instead, with his rhythmically rapid manner of speech, his soft, empathetic eyes that contrast his hard-stubbled visage, and his gift for greeting misfortune with laughs, he fashions a distinctive and original persona.
• The final sequence, in which Howard’s unexpected guffaw makes Curtin break out into peals of laughter, is infectious. It’s hard for the viewer not to chuckle in response, and it says a lot about the humility within these two survivors that they can find comedy in disaster.

John Huston earned his only Best Director Academy Award for helming this picture. What stands out about his directing choices in Treasure?

• As he proved in his cinematic translations of written works like The African Queen, Moby Dick, The Dead, The Maltese Falcon, and The Asphalt Jungle, Huston had a clear gift for adapting acclaimed stories as both a director and often the screenwriter on many of his films. Treasure is no exception. It’s little surprise that Huston won dual Oscars for this picture: Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Director.
• The narrative in Treasure of the Sierra Madre is tightly paced, straightforward, simple to understand, and free from extraneous subplots, unnecessary side characters, and showy directorial flourishes. There are no frivolous scenes or ham-fisted dialogue. Were intently focused on three things: the interdynamics between the three men, progress or lack thereof in their quest for riches, and Dobb’s riveting descent into villainy. Sometimes the best directorial efforts involve following the straightest path to success: letting great actors tell a great story.
• Huston worked closely with his thespians, often urging them to improvise. The filming of Treasure was more strained, due to the longer-than-expected shoot under harsh conditions, but Huston lightened the mood by playing practical jokes on the actors.
• Huston has famous for taking risks and staying faithful to his vision, such as insisting on riding Bogart to glory instead of other actors earlier in their careers and preserving the complex themes and dark undercurrents of his adapted source materials, as is true of Treasure.
• Indeed, this director brought out the best in Humphrey Bogart, who played four of his finest roles for Huston. In addition to Treasure, Bogart starred in six movies for the filmmaker, including The Maltese Falcon, Key Largo, and The African Queen, winning a Best Actor Oscar for the latter.
• Two shots that demonstrate Huston’s mastery of the craft include when Dobbs and Curtin symmetrically shake hands in front of a dubious-looking Howard, and when Dobbs sees Gold Hat’s reflection on the surface of the water.

What major themes or messages can be mined from Treasure of the Sierra Madre?

• The corrupting influence and power of greed. As the story advances, Dobbs increasingly demonstrates how avarice can grip the soul and strip you of empathy, allegiance, or compassion. The fact that Howard and Curtin each save Dobbs’ life and are willing to trust each other and collaborate fairly doesn’t prevent Dobbs from double-crossing them and attempting to murder Curtin.
• Treasure of the Sierre Madre is a cautionary tale about the dangers of unbridled materialism and how a tunnel vision pursuit of wealth inevitably results in moral decay and the dissolution of trust and friendship.
• As mentioned earlier, Dobbs devolves into an inhuman, animalistic being as the story advances. Riffing on that theme, the film is replete with mentions and appearances of creatures both common and exotic, including jackasses, tigers, dogs, lions, foxes, buzzards, swine, birds, monkeys, ants, and a Gila monster.
• Self-interest versus altruism and the greater good. There’s a clear dichotomy between the selfish, mistrustful nature of Dobbs and the more generous, trusting, and compassionate Howard, who pledges, like Curtin, to donate a portion of his treasure to Cody’s family, encourages the group to repair their damage to the mountain in an ecologically conscious gesture, and agrees to help a sick young villager—leaving his share of the gold in the hands of his partners during his absence.
• A love/hate triangle. Howard, Dobbs, and Curtin form a character triad in which one point of the triangle, Curtin, stands between two practically diametrical opposites in Dobbs and Howard and is pulled in either direction at various points in the story.
• Roger Ebert wrote: “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is a story in the Joseph Conrad tradition, using adventure not as an end in itself but as a test of its characters. It involves moral disagreements between a wise old man and a paranoid middle-aged man, with a young man forced to choose sides.”
• From a psychological perspective, Dobbs, Curtin, and Howard could represent the id, the ego, and the superego, respectively. Per Freud and his psychoanalytic theory, the superego serves as the conscience and moral compass of our personality, which fits with Howard; the id pertains to that part of our mind driven by instinctual, primitive, and immediate gratification urges, which somewhat describes Dobbs; and the ego is the mind’s more rational and realistic component that mediates between the superego and id, which describes Curtin. It’s interesting how the id dominates and attempts to destroy the ego once the superego in Howard temporarily leaves Dobbs and Curtin.
• Material rewards versus human rewards. A major message of this film is that the real treasure in life comes from helping others, as suggested by the perks Howard receives after healing a sick boy in a nearby village and the bright prospects evident to Curtin, who agrees to aid Cody’s widow. Howard and Curtin seem content with these non-monetary forms of compensation, and both are at peace with the loss of their shares of the gold.
• A moral quandary provoked by external forces. After an outsider, Cody, intrudes on their operation and wants in, the trio must make a difficult decision about the interloper: They vote to kill him. Conveniently for them, Cody is killed in a gunfight with Gold Hat and his bandits. But it reveals much about Howard and Curtin that they, like Dobbs, were willing to murder Cody to prevent dilution of their fortune. This subplot also compels viewers to ask themselves how they would vote in this situation.
• Karmic irony. In the end, no one gets the gold—not even Gold Hat, whose very name and reappearance throughout the story perhaps make you believe he’s going to prevail with the fortune by the conclusion. Not only are Dobbs, Curtin, and Howard denied the spoils of their toils, but the winds scatter the carefully sifted gold dust, making it irrecoverable to anyone. As remarked by Howard: “It’s a great joke played on us by the lord or fate or nature or whatever you prefer, but whoever or whatever played it certainly had a sense of humor.”
• Appearances can be deceiving. Curtin and Dobbs underestimate Howard, judging him based on age and visage; they’re soon shocked by their old partner’s surprising stamina. Likewise, the younger men are convinced they’ve struck it rich before Howard informs them they’ve been duped by fool’s gold. The trio are also practically convinced that Cody is an ill-intentioned extortionist but later form different opinions after reading his wife’s letter.

Is Treasure showing any wrinkles 75 years onward?

• You could make a case that the ethnic typecasting of Mexicans is minimal in Treasure of the Sierra Madre. After all, the filmmakers did cast Mexican actors in these roles without putting Americans in brownface. But depicting the Mexican bandits as vicious, uneducated savages perpetuates a creaky stereotype, as does the portrayal of indigenous peoples as uncivilized, superstitious, atavistic inferiors to Whites. 1948 was a different time, certainly, but it’s only fair to point out, 75 years later, that facets like these are less acceptable today.
• It’s perhaps unfortunate that the only female roles in this film are primarily wordless women who serve men, such as the prostitute who walks past Dobbs, a gold digger on the arm of the contractor who owes Curtin and Dobbs money, and attractive personal servants who possibly function as Howard’s harem.
• That fistfight sequence in the cantina, using stuntmen who look nothing like Bogart and Tim Holt and employing mismatched cuts between the real actors and their doubles, is visually the biggest blemish noticeable 75 years later.

What is Treasure of the Sierra Madre’s greatest gift to viewers?

• One of its greatest gifts is that it continues to resonate as a minimalistic but effective morality play about the repercussions of covetousness and selfishness—how it can erode relationships, leave you alienated and vulnerable, and ultimately backfire on you. That’s an obvious gift, certainly.
• But an ever bigger present this movie bestows on us is to demonstrate to filmmakers and lovers of film alike that the best cinematic stories are often the simplest. Sure, Treasure of the Sierra Madre benefits from some thrilling twists and gripping turns along its rusty railroad track of a narrative, but this train doesn’t have to be the fastest, newest, or most stylish vehicle to get us from A to B to C. All you need for a thoroughly satisfying ride is a strong, dependable locomotive engine in the form of a well-written but streamlined tale and compelling characters.
• John Huston and his collaborators make things look easy because three strong actors, a solid screenplay, and Mother Nature in the form of outdoor location shooting are doing the heavy pulling. There’s no merit in overthinking Treasure of the Sierra Madre. Sometimes the very best movies are the simplest to understand thematically, the easiest to follow narratively, and the beneficiaries of good casting and a handful of memorable performances.

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TCM's Ben Mankiewicz & Farran Smith Nehme join Cineversary podcast to celebrate Treasure of the Sierra Madre's 75th anniversary

Ben Mankiewicz and Farran Smith Nehme

In Cineversary podcast episode #56, host Erik Martin is joined by Turner Classic Movies host Ben Mankiewicz and Farran Smith Nehme, whose writings have appeared in The Village Voice, Sight & Sound, and her Self-Styled Siren Substack. Together, they sift through the sands of time to uncover the golden truths behind The Treasure of the Sierra Madre as they commemorate the film’s 75th anniversary.

To listen to this episode, click here or click the "play" button on the embedded streaming player below. Or, you can stream, download, or subscribe to Cineversary wherever you get your podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Audible, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Pocket Casts, PodBean, RadioPublic, and Overcast.

Learn more about the Cineversary podcast at anchor.fm/cineversary and email show comments or suggestions to cineversegroup@gmail.com.

 

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It takes a village

Is it possible to depict the life of children in a feature film without cloying themes and situations, overscripted dialogue, and implausible performances? The Florida Project by director Sean Baker proves this is more than possible. Last week, CineVerse spent some quality time with this film and arrived at several key conclusions, detailed below (to listen to a recording of our group discussion, click here).

• What did you find surprising, distinctive, noteworthy, curious, or satisfying about The Florida Project?
• The film lacks a cohesive narrative, serving more as a succession of vignettes. Despite not having a conventional plot, the movie works as a penetrating study of characters, probing deep into fascinating personalities, especially the characters of Moonee, Halley, and Bobby.
• This is one of the best feature films ever made about the formative childhood years, particularly thanks to the stupendous performances of the child actors, most notably Brooklyn Prince as Moonee, who was only six years old at the time of filming. Often, the movie feels less like a scripted fictional film than a documentary, thanks largely to the naturalistic acting of the kids, who seem to be given free rein here to simply be themselves and to shape the direction or dialogue of a given scene.
• The contrast between the characters of Bobby and Halley is striking; the latter is a relatively carefree but angry, immature, and impudent young mother who is bailed out time and again by the eternally patient and kind motel manager, who goes out of his way to compensate for the flaws, failures, and misfortunes of Halley. While he is not a father figure and doesn’t spend any quality time with Moonee as such, Bobby is the glue keeping the mother and daughter from drifting swiftly toward disaster, until even that bond of safety inevitably breaks.
• The filmmakers refrain from moralizing, shoehorning a message into the movie, or judging these characters. Instead, they create an impressionistic canvas that allows the viewer to form their own opinions and conclusions about these people.
• Movie reviewer Wenlei Ma wrote: “The world captured by Baker’s lens is colourful and bright, despite its impoverished inhabitants, and he never judges or pities them for their choices, even if you might. Here is a movie that shows, not tells.”

Major themes

• The resilience and fragility of children. Moonee and her young friends can impressively adapt to their disadvantaged financial situations and limiting environments and are amazingly street-smart, perceptive, and sturdy. But the volatile nature of their families and surroundings leaves them vulnerable to risks and sudden challenges, such as the possibility of being taken away from their parents.
• The bent/tipped tree that Moonee admires is an apt metaphor here for the hardiness of kids and the ability to survive yet be at a disadvantage to other children and families.
• It takes a village to raise a child. While Halley is fairly attentive to and initiates some happy experiences for her daughter, she is insufficient at being a responsible parent and providing a truly nurturing environment. We see several other adults fill in as surrogate parents of sorts to Moonee and the other youngsters on The Magic Castle motel property, including Bobby, Ashley, and Grandma Stacy. The Florida Project suggests that, especially for some disadvantaged communities, surrounding adults need to step up and help watch, safeguard, and care for neighborhood children.
• Slant Magazine film credit Ed Gonzales wrote: “One take on the project of the film’s title is the unspoken social contract that binds these lives: the understanding that they’re in this life together, united in their love for their kids.”
• Fantasy vs. reality. There’s a dark and often ignored realistic side to the fairytales we cherish. Adjacent to the wonderland that is Disney World in Orlando, there is a subculture of impoverished, underprivileged, and overlooked people who are barred from entry into The Magic Kingdom and instead have to settle for The Magic Castle motel.
• Life is a series of unpredictable episodes, random events, and seemingly insignificant experiences that combine to shape and represent you. Every day for Moonee is different and unexpected to some extent, even though she and her mother have limited resources and finite terrain they can explore. This film posits that it’s often the small details and the minor slice of life experiences in life – especially in childhood – that are the most memorable and impactful.

Similar works

• Small Change
• Fish Tank
• American Honey
• Beasts of the Southern Wild
• Room
• To Kill a Mockingbird
• Shoplifters
• Little Fugitive
• Winter’s Bone
• Bicycle Thieves and other works of Italian neorealism
• Little Rascals/Our Gang shorts

Other films by Sean Baker

• Take Out
• Starlet
• Tangerine
• Red Rocket

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A South Korean masterwork that ignites our imagination

Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite took the world by storm in 2019, further demonstrating the ascendance of South Korean filmmakers and their mastery of the cinematic arts. But a key predecessor to Parasite – a movie that shares many similarities and, one could argue, is equally praiseworthy – is Burning (2018), produced, co-written, and directed by Lee Chang-dong. Last week, we at CineVerse gathered close to the brilliant light and heat generated by this film and conversed extensively about its ample virtues. Our major discussion points are outlined below (warning: spoilers ahead; click here to listen to a recording of our group discussion).

This is a picture that works on multiple levels, including multiple interpretations. Can you identify two common readings of Burning?

• A literal, more straightforward analysis is that Ben is a serial killer who enjoys murdering women of inferior status, including Hae-mi. Jong-su suspects Ben of this and ultimately kills him in an act of self-imposed justice and revenge.
• Evidence of this includes the various jewelry, presumably collected from different female victims, found in Ben’s bathroom cabinet; the sudden appearance in Ben’s building of Hae-mi’s cat, who immediately answers to the name “Boil”; Ben’s sociopathic traits, including lack of empathy and confessing to never shedding a tear; and Hae-mi’s apartment suddenly appears tidy and clean after she disappears, in contrast to the disheveled state it was in earlier.
• A different reading suggests that most or all of what we see is factual and literal up through perhaps the scene in the middle of the film where the three main characters smoke marijuana. But starting roughly from the point when Ben begins talking about burning greenhouses, the remainder of the tale is metaphoric and imaginary – within the head of aspiring novelist Jong-su, who finally has a good plot for that work of fiction he’s dreamed of writing. Keeping with the burning imagery and motifs, his imagination has been “fired up” by his exposure to Hae-mi and Ben, the former a teller of captivating but possibly untrue stories, the latter a Gatsby-like figure of fascination, and he now has more of those invaluable life experiences to fuel his writing.
• Evidence of this includes the later scene where we witness Jong-su typing on a laptop in Hae-mi’s vacated apartment; there’s also the sudden and horrific violence Jong-su unleashes upon Ben, followed by the strange behavior of removing his clothes; we also hear a character mention the word “metaphor” and explain what a metaphor is earlier in the film. In this reading of Burning, it’s likely that Ben is an elitist jerk but not a bad guy and that Hae-mi wasn’t killed but instead decided to abandon her old life and start fresh somewhere else.

Motifs and patterns

• Fire and burning. The burning in this movie takes at least three forms: the burning of kindling or combustible materials; a burning that drives your desire, whether it be sexual, spiritual, or otherwise; and an emotionally volatile burning as represented by anger and jealousy.
• Hunger, eating, and consumption – consumption of food both real and imaginary, and consumption of combustible materials like cigarettes and marijuana as well as kindling like greenhouses and human bodies.
• Running. We see both men running in different scenes and hear Hae-mi presumably running and panting on the phone.
• Dreaming. Jong-su has actual dreams he awakes from as well as aspirations and desires for something better, whether that be Hae-min as a girlfriend or the money and popularity Ben has.
• Dancing.

Major themes

• Hunger and desire. Each of the main characters craves something, whether it’s a climb up the social ladder, justice/revenge, or a higher purpose or meaning.
• Reality versus illusion or metaphor. This film juxtaposes facts and tangible/believable details with representations, speculations, possible fantasies, lies, and beliefs.
• Hai-me demonstrates how you can effectively imagine something, such as eating an invisible tangerine. She says “Don’t think there is a tangerine here. Just forget that there isn’t one. That’s the key. The important thing is to think that you really want one. Then, your mouth will water and it’ll taste really good.”
• It’s also possible Hai-me is lying about things, like owning a cat.
• Deep Focus Review blogger Brian Eggert wrote: “Burning revels in the ambiguity between the known and perceived, inhabiting the vast space between the objective and subjective. His thorny character study, its currents of class and masculine identity shaping many of its scenes over the two-and-a-half-hour runtime, portrays its themes in a way that raises more questions than it answers. And despite the viewer’s uncertainty about the motivations behind every character, or whether what unfolds in the film is what actually occurred or just our perception of it, the filmmaking somehow leaves us more engaged than if everything had been delivered gift-wrapped with a tidy bow. Lee’s interest in ambiguity further sculpts his use of the central mystery, how the characters have been written and performed, and where he chose to shoot the film.”
• Class inequality. Jong-su represents the lower class who must struggle in Korean society and who yearns for opportunity and money. Ben symbolizes the upper class and privileged in society who seemingly don’t have to work for the wealth and privilege they enjoy. Hae-mi stands between them as someone from the lower class who aims to ascend the social ladder and fit in with the upper crust. A subtheme of a classic love triangle also fits within this concept.
• Many believe this is a sociopolitical film whose key subtext preaches that these class divisions are a tinderbox waiting to ignite. With this reading, the message of class division is tied with the hunger and metaphor themes. Burning is perhaps saying that, like the imaginary tangerine, hunger by the lower classes for a better life can’t be satisfied by pretending, fancy words, illusory concepts, or trickery. If the underprivileged aren’t given real, tangible solutions, the cycle of resentment, jealousy, isolation, and ultimately violence against the empowered and upper class will continue.
• Slant Magazine critic Niles Schwartz wrote: “Jong-su, working through his literary mind, scornfully sees (Ben) as one of South Korea’s many Gatsbys, for whom work and play are indistinct, living the good life on the backs of people like Hae-mi, who will be handily disposed in time. Lee is drawing an analogy between how both authors and sociopolitical systems cast real people as abstractions or metaphors. The author or artist heightens life with metaphor, while the exploitative materialist cheapens it, and for Ben, the employment of “metaphor” implies something destructive and not creative.”
• Life is uncertain, mysterious, and unfair. There are few certainties in this story and many mysteries. From Jong-su’s perspective, his lot in life is unfair; from Ben’s point of view, assuming he is innocent of killing people, it’s undeserved that he is brutally murdered by Jong-su.
• The inability to escape your fate. Ben talks about lives as predestined by DNA or nature. Proof of this theme is played out by Jong-su, who eventually demonstrates violence as his father did.

Similar works

• Parasite
• Vertigo
• Taxi Driver
• Gone Girl
• Mulholland Drive
• The Vanishing
• Eyes Wide Shut
• Memories of Murder
• The Mad Monkey
• Classic works of American literature, including The Great Gatsby and stories by William Faulkner, including his story Barn Burning

Other films by Lee Chang-dong

• Poetry
• Secret Sunshine
• Oasis
• Peppermint Candy
• Green Fish

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You can't teach an old instructor new tricks

In 1951, a film adaptation of Terence Rattigan’s 1948 play The Browning Version was released that garnered high praise for its fidelity to as well as expansion beyond the source material. A 1994 remake starring Albert Finney contemporized the tale and introduced the story to a new generation. A close examination of the latter edition was undertaken by our CineVerse group last week; here is a roundup of our primary discussion points (click here for a listen to a recording of our group discussion).

In what ways is Andrew humiliated throughout the story?

• He is forced to leave the school due to a change in the curriculum, although his health condition is cited by the school as the main reason.
• His wife is cheating on him with another teacher, and many around the school are aware of this possibility.
• He is denied a pension by the school.
• He is disliked by most students and referred to as the “Hitler of the fifth form,” which he is embarrassingly informed about by his teacher replacement.
• The headmaster asks him to deliver his graduation farewell speech first, not second, because it is feared that his speech will be anticlimactic compared to that of the more popular teacher who is slated to give the second speech.
• His wife Laura embarrasses him in front of a table of peers by lying about Taplow’s reasons for gifting Andrew the book.

Can you cite examples of how Andrew is uplifted via generous gestures from others?

• The teacher replacing him compliments him and shows Andrew respect.
• Two past students say hello to him and one offers financial guidance.
• Taplow gives Andrew the “Browning version,” a rare and special translation of Agamemnon, and inscribes a moving personal message inside.
• Frank, his wife’s lover, feels sorry for Andrew and tries to console him with comforting words and advice.
• Andrew is given a long round of applause by students, teachers, and attendees at the graduation ceremony following his apologetic speech.

Major themes

• The passing of an era, inevitable obsolescence, and replacing the old and archaic with the new. Andrew and the subjects he loves are being ushered out, to be replaced with a younger teacher and more contemporary languages and studies. He’s become a fossil of a bygone time and no longer fits within the modern world.
• How failure and success can define your life and its value if you allow them. Andrew regards himself as a failure in academia, marriage, and life overall. Unwilling or incapable of showing emotion or expressing kindness or empathy, he’s unpopular, unloved, and disrespected by many around him. This story suggests the pitfalls of attempting to gauge your self-worth by using strict concepts of failure and success, and the benefits of revamping this mindset and finding joys and triumph in even the smallest acts and gestures, such as Taplow’s bestowing of the Browning book and tableau’s inscription within it.
• According to LitCharts: “The quote (in ancient Greek) reads: “God from afar looks graciously upon a gentle master.” Taplow thus offers Andrew a redemptive perspective on his life, suggesting that he deserves the respect and understanding of a master and that his lack of sociability was more a reflection of his incompatibility with society’s strict definition of success than some deeply embedded personal failure. In fact, as the quote is both well-chosen and transcribed perfectly in Greek, the inscription represents a quiet triumph of Andrew’s teaching… Rattigan shows how a shift in perception—a freeing up of the restraining characteristics of a particular kind of success—empowers an individual to take control of their own world; and though it’s not certain Andrew will follow through on this powerful shift, the possibility is suddenly there where previously it wasn’t.”
• You get what you give in this life. Andrew’s famous words, “you have obtained exactly what you deserve – no less, and certainly no more,” prove karmically fitting in describing the state of his life as the story progresses.
• Sometimes it’s the simplest and smallest events and details in life that can make the biggest difference. Taplow’s kind deed triggers major changes: It causes Laura to, like Clytemnestra, wound her husband, Frank to reject Laura and attempt to befriend Andrew, and Andrew to separate from Laura.
• Acceptance versus rejection, or popularity versus disfavor. Frank is an instructor beloved by his students with a fun and exciting approach to teaching; Andrew, a teacher who is unliked and secretly disparaged by most of his pupils, is stodgy, rigid, and intractable in his educational style.

Similar works

• Goodbye Mr. Chips
• Dead Poets Society
• The Emperor’s Club
• The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
• Mr. Holland’s Opus
• To Sir With Love

Other films by Mike Figgis

• Leaving Las Vegas
• Internal Affairs

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Hitchcock casts a long shadow of excellence across this 80-year-old film

Alfred Hitchcock called Shadow of a Doubt his favorite among all the pictures he directed. And it's easy to see why: Here is a film endowed with richly layered characters; a brooding atmosphere of infiltrating evil contrasting against a bright and cheery family milieu; memorable performances by Joseph Cotton and Teresa Wright—perhaps the best of their careers, with Cotton playing against type as Uncle Charlie, a rare villain role in his acting career—and masterfully composed shots imbued with stylized lighting that evoke the very best of the classic Hollywood period and the encroaching influence of film noir.

We at CineVerse took a fresh drive behind the wheel of this cinematic vehicle last week and had plenty to talk about, as summarized below (to listen to a recording of our group discussion, click here; to hear the latest Cineversary podcast episode celebrating Shadow of a Doubt’s 80th anniversary, click here).

Has the movie stood the test of time? Why is it worth honoring 80 years after its release, and why and how does Shadow of a Doubt still matter?

• This is a memorable milestone in Hitch’s oeuvre thus far because he infuses cynicism, pessimism, and mistrust into his depiction of a wholesome, clean-cut, old-fashioned sleepy little burg. The pessimism and cynicism about small-town USA are remarkable when you ponder that this is a film shot and released in the middle of World War II, a time when America and Hollywood tried to emphasize positive, morale-boosting messages.
• David Keyes of The Cinemaphile Blog wrote: “This thoughtful 1943 noir – about a mysterious family man with a dark history – emerges, even now, as a watershed moment…Movies about characters with those sorts of dubious backgrounds had, up to that point, belonged almost exclusively to the world of B-movies, and major film studios dared not touch on subjects perceived as cynical for fear of undercutting broad appeal.”
• What makes Shadow work so well? Hitch builds mood, atmosphere, and disquiet in a seemingly benign, charming, and comfortable Everytown USA locale. The suspense here is a slow builder, insidiously creeping into a place the characters feel safe, invading a middle-class home and usurping the safety and values of Norman Rockwell-era America. This is apple pie Americana, but with a burnt crust, a critique of assumed American innocence.
• Several critics regard Shadow of a Doubt as possibly the purest distillation of Hitchcock’s style and common themes and the director’s first American masterpiece; consider that he had already directed five films in the States prior to Shadow. Even though his first U.S. feature, Rebecca, won the Academy Award for Best Picture, much of that glory is shared with producer David O. Selznick. Many feel this is a more personal work that surpasses Rebecca and stands as his finest American feature up to this point in his filmography.
• It matters that the screenplay was co-written by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Thornton Wilder, a talent purposely chosen by Hitchcock to weave a wistful but twisted vision of a small town that is threatened by a secret dark force. While several people contributed to the story, Wilder was an ideal hand-picked choice by Hitchcock because he was the author of Our Town, a popular play that depicts everyday life in a small American town and that uses minimal props and scenery. Shadow of a Doubt seems cut from this same cloth.

Can you trace any influence this movie had on the cinema or filmmakers who may have been inspired by it?

• Orson Welles’ The Stranger (1946) and David Lynch’s Blue Velvet (1986), movies that also explore danger lurking in seemingly safe suburban communities, are two inheritors of the plot and design of Shadow of a Doubt.
• The Stepfather (1987), Bad Influence (1990), The Man Who Wasn’t There (2001), What Lies Beneath (2000), Seven (1995), and Stoker (2013) are six contemporary examples, and The Usual Suspects (1995) invokes Shadow of a Doubt somewhat in the character of Keyser Soze, who walks with a fake limp much like Charlie emerges from the train with a hobble and a cane.
• There were also two remakes: Step Down to Terror (1958) and a 1991 made-for-TV feature also called Shadow of a Doubt.
• It’s noteworthy that Hitchcock admired the low-budget horror films of RKO producer Val Lewton, including Cat People (1942), The Leopard Man, and The Seventh Victim (both 1943), which each depict malignancy and menace lurking about in everyday settings with modern Americans and/or small towns.

Hitchcock said that Shadow of a Doubt was his personal favorite among the films he directed. Why do you believe he held it in such high regard?

• Biographer Donald Spoto called this film “the first spiritually autobiographical film of (Hitchcock’s) career.” To provide context, the director’s mother grew gravely ill back in England while the screenplay was written, with her son not able to visit due to the challenges of traveling abroad during World War II. During production, she passed away, and Hitchcock poured a lot of his heart and soul into the movie, especially its more idealized vision of domestic bliss found in Santa Rosa, California.
• Note that, like Hitch’s own mom, the mother character is named “Emma.” Interestingly, Emma represents the last time a major maternal character (the mother of the lead character or villain) is shown in a positive light in a Hitchcock film; most subsequent mothers would exhibit evil or undesirable qualities.
• Hitchcock shot most of the picture on location in Santa Rosa, the setting of the story; he appreciated the amiable nature of this town and its people, making the shoot a pleasant one.
• Unlike some of Hitchcock’s other works of suspense, this one has more fully realized characters, especially the two Charlies, who form a symbiotic relationship. Hitchcock was quoted as saying he was particularly fond of this movie because “it was one of those rare occasions where you could combine character with suspense. Usually in a suspense story, there isn’t time to develop character.”
• Interestingly, the plot is far from airtight or completely credible. Ruminate on how Uncle Charlie evades capture several times, how improbable it is that a niece would kill her uncle or permit him to leave town in exchange for her keeping quiet about his secret, and how the detectives are dimwitted amateurs who don’t abide by jurisdictional boundaries. Yet, plausibility isn’t what Hitchcock is going for here.

What directorial choices by Hitchcock in Shadow of a Doubt are most impressive?

• Here, the artist prioritizes subtlety and simplicity over grandiose visuals, sensationalistic storytelling, glamorous starlets or marquee stars, showy set pieces, or gimmicky techniques, which causes us to focus more on the central thematic conflicts and the well-developed characters. Recall how Joe Newton says to his friend Herbie when discussing a detective story, “those writers from the other side get too fancy,” which serves as an in-joke about how this screenplay was kept simple and written by Americans (half true). The plot is lean, the setting is relatively mundane, there isn’t much action, and all the characters aside from Uncle Charlie are middle-class normies who lead uninteresting lives.
• The personification of Uncle Charlie is a primary fuel that drives the engine here, as he emerges as a fascinatingly complex individual with idiosyncrasies and curious traits that create an unpredictable but colorful character. He’s irresponsible about loose cash and not exactly careful about covering his incriminating tracks, despite saying that it’s the little details that are most important to him. He’s outspoken and verbally insensitive, as when he makes callous remarks about Joe and his job at the bank, yet he’s careful not to reveal too much about his past. And though he’s capable of terrible acts of violence and psychopathic tendencies, he’s beloved and trusted by his family.
• Peter Bogdanovich said in an interview that Hitchcock never makes his villains cliché, that “he goes out of his way to give this (Uncle Charlie) character as much depth as possible.”
• Consider Hitchcock’s ability to insinuate disturbing violence, infuse a subversive tone, and suggest the slightest hint of incestuous sexuality without depicting anything graphically. We are never shown Uncle Charlie strangling any of his victims, and the most inappropriately creepy he gets with his niece is when he gifts her a ring and puts his arms around her. Yet the implications and potentialities of these sins churn the waters enough to make it a tense journey for viewers.
• Recall how often the director places Uncle Charlie in profile, often in a close-up or medium shot. In these shots, he faces left or right, at roughly 90 degrees from the lens and other characters in the shot, perhaps suggesting that there are multiple sides to the uncle’s character, including a side we can’t figuratively or literally see in that moment.
• As further evidence of the director’s visual savvy, he repeats dreamlike imagery of dancers waltzing hauntingly in Uncle Charlie’s mind, employs a dramatic push zoom to emphasize the ring on Young Charlie’s finger, and uses canted camera angles to suggest a world made crooked by the uncle’s presence. And it’s a nice touch to have Uncle Charlie break the fourth wall by turning to look directly at the camera—at us—in a key shot.
• As with so many of his works, Hitchcock compounds suspense often by giving the audience more information than the protagonist—in this case, by hinting at a dark side to Uncle Charlie that his niece doesn’t learn about until midway through the picture. He further builds tension by suggesting that exposing the truth about Uncle Charlie will harm the Newton family.
• Also, the filmmakers cleverly use a comedic subplot to relieve and subtextually comment on the tension: the humorous friendship between Joe Newton and Herbie, who regularly meet to discuss the perfect murder.

What significant messages or themes from Shadow of a Doubt are worth examining?

• Rot and infection beneath a pristine surface. Santa Rosa is an idyllic small town with friendly traffic cops, residents who know your name, and kids who respect their elders and say bedtime prayers. Yet this village is not as wholesome as it looks since a mysterious stranger came into town. Shadow of a Doubt is about the intrusion of evil into a typical American household via a Trojan horse of sorts. And the unsettling nature of this relationship is that the murderer is a relative who shares the same blood and genes as the decent, morally upstanding family members whose home he has infiltrated. This suggests that every other member of that clan—particularly Young Charlie—can become infected with or victimized by Uncle Charlie’s malevolence. Hitchcock said that the overarching theme of Shadow of a Doubt is: “Love and good order is no defense against evil.”
• Hitchcock makes the viewer second guess the sanctity and unimpeachable ideals of small-town society by permitting Uncle Charlie’s dark influence and negative worldview to seep into Young Charlie’s mind.
• The uncle tries to taint her perception of the town and the people she loves, telling her: “You live in a dream. You're a sleepwalker, blind. How do you know what the world is like? Do you know the world is a foul sty? Do you know, if you rip off the fronts of houses, you'd find swine? The world's a hell.”
• In the same scene at the restaurant, young Charlie sees as a cautionary figure the morose waitress who serves them—a reflection of what she could become in the years ahead.
• Young Charlie, a kind, chaste, gentle teenager, also finds a festering and violent animosity within herself that compels her to threaten violence. She tells her uncle: “Go away or I’ll kill you myself.”
• Twinning, doubling, and doppelgangers. We have two Charlies at opposite ends of the spectrum: one young, one old; one sweet and innocent, one devious and devilish; one from the west coast, the other from the east coast. Visually, the film links them by using symmetrical shots and poses, cross-cutting action that juxtaposes one with the other, and mirrored events like both attempting to send telegrams. The uncle even remarks: “We’re sorta like twins.” Young Charlie conjures up a sinister twin of herself, as well, when she says, “Go away or I’ll kill you myself,” suggesting a darker facet of her personality.
• A human monster in plain sight. Uncle Charlie is depicted as a kind of horrific psychological vampire. Ponder how he prefers to lie in the dark behind curtains, evades capture by the two gumshoes, doesn’t appear winded from the chase, insists on not being photographed, and seems to possess a telepathic power to communicate with his niece. Later, a character mentions the story of Dracula.
• Toxic misogyny. Uncle Charlie says: “Women are fools—they fall for anything,” and “The cities are full of women, middle-aged widows, husbands dead, husbands who've spent their lives making fortunes, working and working. And then they die and leave their money to their wives, their silly wives. And what do the wives do, these useless women? You see them in the hotels, the best hotels, every day by the thousands. Drinking the money, eating the money, losing the money at bridge. Playing all day and all night. Smelling of money. Proud of their jewelry but of nothing else. Horrible, faded, fat, greedy women... Are they human or are they fat, wheezing animals, hmm? And what happens to animals when they get too fat and too old?”
• According to film scholar Michael Ryan: Uncle Charlie “uses his sex appeal for power and power alone. Not even for money-- which he acquires from his serial murders only to dismiss it. What he wants is to be superior to the human race and control everyone, especially women. He is absolutely isolated. He seduces only to conquer— and destroy.”
• Subversion and perversity. Hitchcock subtly suggests a sexual conflict between the two Charlies. She tells him: “We're not just an uncle and a niece. It's something else. I know you. I know that you don't tell people a lot of things. I don't either. I have the feeling that inside you somewhere, there's something nobody knows about.” Also, remember how the uncle gives his niece a ring as a gift and places it on her finger in a manner slightly similar to a wedding proposal. And after she learns the truth about him, she appears more as a jilted lover betrayed by him than a disappointed niece.
• Shadows and doubt. The film is aptly named, as we see shadows fall across the screen as foreshadowing elements, such as the darkness that falls across the train when it pulls into the Santa Rosa depot and the black billowing smoke it belches out; the high contrast lighting sometimes used in scenes with Uncle Charlie; and the visible doubt that creeps into Young Charlie’s face in several later scenes.
• Suppression is the lesser of all evils. Young Charlie must squelch her urge to kill or unmask Uncle Charlie to preserve the appearance of normality and wholesomeness that Santa Rosa requires to maintain stability, reputation, and purity. Remember that Uncle Charlie’s crimes go unpunished and unexposed; he’s given a hero’s funeral at the end, which prevents the town from being forever stained.
• Slant Magazine critic Fernando Croce posited: “Shadow of a Doubt is about awakening, the simultaneous darkening and enlarging of the world…Young Charlie must muffle her knowledge as to not disturb the order of things…Hitch’s habit of taking us to the edge of the abyss and then returning us with a wink, so often resulting in unconvincing happy endings, here seals one of his most pitiless visions of a monstrous cosmos admitted only to be denied.”
• Dark secrets and skeletons in the family closet.

Are there any problematic elements that don’t pass muster 80 years later?

• Younger sister Ann seems a bit too precocious and articulate to be believable.
• We see Uncle Charlie pass over a stack of forty $1,000 bills to the banker, a denomination that has long been out of circulation. Today, that would be like carrying $689,000 in your pocket adjusted for inflation.
• More problematic are silly plot movers like Young Charlie being afraid to tell her parents or the authorities that her uncle is trying to kill her and the detectives agreeing not to arrest him in town to spare a scandal.
• One obvious creaky component is the black porter on the train, yet another example of a classic Hollywood film in which characters of color were often limited to tiny roles as servants to whites.

What is Shadow of a Doubt’s greatest gift to viewers?

• This is a film that truly picks up steam as it progresses, hitting a higher gear by the midway point, which is when Young Charlie discovers the unsavory facts about her uncle and we witness her sunny disposition depart, replaced by distrust, fear, and hatred. Earlier, the niece had expressed disbelief and exhibited naivete about her uncle’s seemingly shady side, but as the tale progresses she demonstrates savvy intuition, healthy skepticism, cautious agency, and bravery in standing up to Uncle Charly. All of these qualities help her survive and keep the town’s purity and incorruptibility intact. It’s this transformation of Young Charlie that serves as one of Shadow of a Doubt’s greatest gifts.
• Thematically, this is an exceptional loss of innocence and coming-of-age story in which a wide-eyed, gullible girl comes to realize that the world isn’t simply black and white—it has layers of gray that can cloud your judgment. She learns that some of the people populating this sophisticated world—including trusted kin—may harbor evil secrets and terrible sins that can leave a harmful residue on loved ones. Young Charlie is forced to grow up quickly and shield her family from this danger, even stifling the truth at the very end when unsuspecting townspeople gather to mourn her uncle’s death. Fortunately, despite her pseudo telepathic connection to Uncle Charlie and the fact that, as he says, “the same blood runs through our veins,” Young Charlie ultimately won’t be corrupted by his hate or negativity, and she’ll have her family and a partner in the detective to remind her that the world is full of good people.
• The way Hitchcock and his collaborators slowly but consistently erode Young Charlie’s veneer of blind bliss and familial exuberance, thickening her skin for the harsher realities and lethal dangers to come, makes for a captivating character study. The uncle may be the more fascinating figure in Shadow of a Doubt. But the niece’s conversion from an innocent adolescent to an awakened young adult burdened by the unspeakable—a shameful family secret she’ll probably need to take to her grave—help elevate this film to masterpiece status in the eyes of many.

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Cineversary podcast celebrates 80th birthday of Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt

In Cineversary podcast episode #55, host Erik Martin and guest Carrie Rickey, former film critic for The Philadelphia Inquirer, explore the hidden rot beneath the white picket fences of a small town and the sinister secrets that threaten to destroy an all-American family as they celebrate the 80th birthday of Alfred Hitchcock’s Shadow of a Doubt.

Carrie Rickey

To listen to this episode, click here or click the "play" button on the embedded streaming player below. Or, you can stream, download, or subscribe to Cineversary wherever you get your podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Pocket Casts, PodBean, RadioPublic, and Overcast.

Learn more about the Cineversary podcast at anchor.fm/cineversary and email show comments or suggestions to cineversegroup@gmail.com.

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