Hitchcock’s “Shadow of a Doubt” to screen October 14, 2014 at Daystar Center

When: Tuesday, October 14, 2014 6:30 p.m.
Where: The Venue 1550 at the Daystar Center, 1550 S. State Street

A Personal Favorite
Considered Alfred Hitchcock’s personal favorite of all his films, Shadow of a Doubt (1943), is also the only film he ever shot entirely on location. Hitchcock picked Santa Rosa, CA, because it exemplified, at least it did in 1942, the ideal American town. Film critic Bosley Crowther said in his review of the film, “The flavor and ‘feel’ of a small town has been beautifully impressed in this film by the simple expedient of shooting most of it in Santa Rosa, Calif.”

No Prima Donnas
One of the reasons Shadow of a Doubt was Hitchcock’s favorite was due to the cast. Teresa Wright and Joseph Cotton, although movie stars, weren’t prima donnas. The director was impressed with Wright’s professionalism and preparation for her role. Cotton thought Hitchcock was one of the easiest directors he ever worked with. The two hit it off from the start and remained great friends for the rest of their lives. The rest of the supporting cast, Henry Travers, Patricia Collinge, Hume Cronyn, and MacDonald Carey were all pros, with Cronyn, prior to this film, a stage actor, making his movie debut in Shadow of a Doubt. He too, along with his wife, Jessica Tandy (Tandy would  appear in The Birds some 20 years later.) remained friends with Hitchcock for the rest of his lives.

Teresa Wright

Idolizing Uncle Charlie
When Uncle Charlie (Joseph Cotton) travels west to visit his sister and her family, the sleepy town of Santa Rosa is never the same. Handsome and debonair, Uncle Charlie is idolized by his young niece Charlene “Charlie” Newton (Teresa Wright) who has become disenchanted with her small-town life. Uncle Charlie represents glamour and excitement to young Charlie and she craves his attention.

Word of Mouth
As word spreads about a man they call the Merry Widow murderer, Charley suspects that he and her beloved uncle to be one in the same. But when a government agent investigating the case befriends her, Charley is faced with some tough choices. Does she cooperate, putting her uncle at risk, and upsetting her mother? By getting closer to her uncle, does she put her own life in jeopardy?

Where Evil Lurks

With the help of playwright Thorton Wilder (Our Town) and screenwriter Sally Benson (Meet Me in St. Louis), Hitchcock created a truly suspenseful film. Shadow of a Doubt demonstrates one of Hitchcock’s favorite themes: evil can lurk in the most unlikely and innocent of places…within our own towns or cities and in the midst our own families.

Joseph Cotton

Have some Joe and Enjoy the Show!
Before the movie, grab a cup of coffee from Overflow Coffee Bar, located within the Daystar Center. You can bring food and beverages into the auditorium; we even have small tables set up next to some of the seats.

Join the Chicago Film club; join the discussion
Once a month we screen a classic film and have a brief discussion afterward. For more information, including how to join (it’s free), click here. To purchase your ticket in advance, click here. The Venue 1550 is easily accessible by the CTA. Please visit Transit Chicago for more information on transportation options.


Backstory: Teresa Wright was nominated for Academy Awards for her first three film roles. It’s a record that stands to this day. She won for her performance in Mrs. Miniver (Best Supporting Actress). Shadow of a Doubt was only her fourth film where she was top billed. Wright was a legitimate stage actress, understudying for Martha Scott who was the original Emily in Thornton Wilder’s Our Town. She originated the role of Mary Skinner in the Broadway production of Life With Father, the role Elizabeth Taylor played on the screen.

Book Review: Tinseltown by William J. Mann

Tinseltown: Murder, Morphin, and Madness At The Dawn Of Hollywood,  William J. Mann’s latest nonfiction work centers around the unsolved murder of William Desmond Taylor, a popular director and president of the Motion Picture Directors Association. Taylor was murdered in his home on February 1, 1922. His murder has gone unsolved for more than 90 years, but Mann thinks he knows who did the deed and why.

Taylor was a popular player in the early days of the motion picture industry. He directed 59 silent films between 1914 and 1922. He also acted in 27 films between 1913 and 1915. He directed the legendary Mary Pickford as well as Mary Miles Minter, a serious rival to Pickford, in the silent version of Anne of Green Gables. Taylor was widely respected and beloved by many in the movie business, but he had his secrets. Did these secrets have something to do with his murder?

During the time of Taylor’s murder, the movie industry was under attack by reformers to clean up its act. Many believed that Hollywood was corrupting the youth of America and early movie moguls like Adolph Zukor and Marcus Loew feared their empires were in danger. There was talk of censorship and government regulation which no one in the movie business wanted.

William Desmond Taylor

With the growing success of the movie business and its stars came a lot of press scrutiny—the public loved a good scandal—and Hollywood during the 1920s seemed more than happy to oblige. Top stars like Mabel Normand and Wallace Reid had drug problems. Normand was able to beat hers, but Reid, who was addicted to morphine after he suffered a work-related injury, wasn’t so lucky. Then there was the Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle scandal. Arbuckle a top star at the Famous Players studio, was accused of rape and murder. Although Arbuckle was acquitted with the jury saying that the actor suffered a great injustice, the reformers and church ladies organized boycotts of Arbuckle’s (they would eventually boycott Normand’s films as well) films. The public was willing to forgive Arbuckle—they loved his movies—but Zukor, head of Famous Players, decided to cut his loses and release Arbuckle from his contract.

Mabel Normand

Taylor was a great friend of Normand and the two were rumored to be an item, but their relationship was strictly platonic. Normand was the last person to see Taylor before he was murdered and was an early suspect. Other suspects, included Minter, Charlotte Shelby (Minter’s mother), Edward Sands, Taylor’s valet who was recently fired, and Henry Peavey, Taylor’s new valet and the one who discovered the body.

Mary Miles Minter was
in love with Taylor.

The murder negatively affected the careers of Normand and Minter, both major stars during the silent era. Minter’s career basically came to an end after the murder. Zukor afraid of outrage and boycotts from the reformers didn’t renew Minter’s contract. She never worked in films again. Normand survived, but she never enjoyed the success she had before Taylor’s murder. Before Normand died of tuberculosis at the age of thirty-seven, she supposedly said “I do hate to go without knowing what happened to poor Billy Taylor.”

Mann’s book has been compared to The Devil In The White City because of its similar narrative style, reading more like a novel than a work of nonfiction. Mann weaves a fascinating tale of early Hollywood and the scandals that almost destroyed the movie business. It’s to Mann’s credit that he doesn’t wallow in the details of the various scandals, but instead focuses on the possible motivations of the individuals involved. I came away feeling that I knew Mabel Normand, Mary Miles Minter, Adolph Zukor, Marcus Lowe, and William Desmond Taylor, so good were Mann’s descriptions of the major players.

Tinseltown is a great read and a must for movie buffs and film historians.

Tinseltown’s publication date is October 14, 2014, but can be pre-ordered at Amazon.

Hitchcock’s “Saboteur” to screen September 9, 2014 at Daystar Center

When: Tuesday, September 9, 2014 6:30 p.m.
Where: The Venue 1550 at the Daystar Center, 1550 S. State Street

Alfred Hitchcock’s 1942 thriller stars Priscilla Lane and Robert Cummings. Cummings plays Barry Kane, a Los Angeles aircraft factory worker who suspects the plant has been bombed by a foreign agent. Kane’s best friend is killed in the conflagration and is wrongly accused of sabotage. Along the way, Kane meets a model Patricia (Pat) Martin (Priscilla Lane). The two begin a cross-country journey in an attempt to prove Kane’s innocence and to stop more bombings planned throughout the United States.

All-American cast

Hitchcock chose an all-American cast to move the narrative along at breakneck speed. The film features some amazing set pieces, as well as some great on-location filming at Boulder Dam, New York’s Radio City Music Hall, and the Statue of Liberty. The climatic scene atop the Statue of Liberty is one of the most iconic in all of cinema.

No looking back

New York Times movie critic Bosley Crowther said in his May 8, 1942 review that “Saboteur is a swift, high-tension film which throws itself forward so rapidly that it permits slight opportunity for looking back.”

Behind the scenes at the Sutton mansion

Have some Joe and Enjoy the Show!
Before the movie, grab a cup of coffee from Overflow Coffee Bar, located within the Daystar Center. You can bring food and beverages into the auditorium; we even have small tables set up next to some of the seats.

Join the Chicago Film club, join the discussion
The Chicago Film Club is for classic movie fans. Once a month we screen a classic film and have a brief discussion afterward. For more information, including how to join (it’s free), click here. To purchase your ticket in advance, click here. The Venue 1550 is easily accessible by the CTA. Please visit Transit Chicago for more information on transportation options.