“Shadow of a Doubt”: Hitchcock’s Favorite

Alfred Hitchcock’s personal favorite of all his films, Shadow of a Doubt (1942), is also the only film he ever shot entirely on location (Santa Rosa, CA).

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 “Charley” 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.

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. When she is befriended by a government agent investigating the case, 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 at risk?

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 among our own families.

My Man Godfrey this Friday

The Prairie District Neighborhood Alliance (PDNA) invites you to "Meet Me at the Movies," Friday September 24, 2010 at 6:30 p.m. at Sherwood Community Music School, Columbia College recital hall, 1312 S. Michigan Ave. The wrap party (dinner after movie) will be held at the Weather Mark Tavern 1503 S. Michigan Ave.

Classic performances and situations have made My Man Godfrey one of the best film comedies ever made. My Man Godfrey was the first film to receive Academy Award nominations in all four major categories, including Best Actor and Best Actress for William Powell and Carole Lombard respectively. Film critic Roger Ebert in a review of the movie simply said, “God, but this film is beautiful” and it truly is. My Man Godfrey is ranked 44 in the American Film Institute’s (AFI) “America’s 100 Funniest Movies” compiled in 2002. Not bad for a movie first released in 1936.

Lombard was so identified with the screwball comedy genre that Life magazine dubbed her “the screwball girl” in a 1938 cover story. When paired with Powell, no stranger to comedy himself, My Man Godfrey becomes a master class of screwball comedy technique.

Carole Lombard and William Powell in My Man Godfrey

Admission to the movie is $5. Dinner afterward (not required) is $15 per person. To RSVP to this event and/or the wrap party click here.

Chicago and Movie History

Gloria Swanson, Charlie Chaplin and Marion Davies

Hollywood in the Midwest?

Before anyone heard of a place called Hollywood, Chicago played an important role in the history of film in America.

Charlie Chaplin and Gloria Swanson Slept (and worked) Here

Before the sound era, Chicago housed Midwest corporate offices for Paramount, Warner Bros., Universal, and the Samuel Goldwyn studios. Most of the offices were in Chicago's South Loop along Wabash Ave. Other film offices were located one block east on Michigan Ave. During this period, major silent movie productions starring screen legends Charlie Chaplin and Gloria Swanson were made in Chicago.

Distribution Hub

Some evidence of this history still exists. The Film Exchange Lofts at 1307 S. Wabash Ave. was once owned by the Warner Bros. studio. They had corporate offices at that location, but its most important use was for storing film for distribution. With Chicago's location and access to train travel, it was the ideal distribution point for Chicago and Illinois theatres.

Ruins From Past Glories

The Universal International logo
can be seen at 1234 S. Michigan Ave.*

The famous terra cotta archway entrance to the Jesse Lasky Famous-Players (a forerunner of Paramount) building on Wabash near 13th Street was rescued from destruction by Columbia College. It now stands in their Media Production Center at 1600 S. State St.

*Ming Hin South Loop removed the Universal International logo when they opened at 1234 S. Michigan Ave. Why they felt this was necessary no one knows.

Rita Hayworth in "Gilda"

There never was a woman like Gilda!
That was the tagline for Gilda, the 1946 film classic starring Rita Hayworth and Glenn Ford. Hayworth caused a sensation as the conflicted title-named heroine. When she sang "Put the Blame on Mame," in a skintight Jean Louis gown, Hayworth secured her place in film history.

The story begins with Johnny Farrell (Ford), a down-on-his-luck small-time gambler who ends up in Buenos Aires, Argentina. After cheating two men at craps, a mysterious man (George Macready) saves him from being robbed. He proceeds to tell Johnny about an illegal casino and warns him not to use his cheating skills there.

Right-hand man
Intrigued, Johnny finds the high-class gambling joint and begins cheating the house. Before he knows what's happening, Johnny is surrounded by the casino's watchful staff and taken to the owner, Ballin Mundson, the mysterious man, who saved him from thieves! Johnny convinces Mundson that he should hire him. Mundson does just that and before you know it, Johnny is his right-hand man. 

"I hate you, Johnny!"
When Mundson returns from a trip with a beautiful, young wife (Gilda,) he asks Johnny to watch over her for him. What Mundson doesn't know is that Gilda was once Johnny's lover. The tension and hatred between Gilda and Johnny grows with each passing day. But is it really mutual hatred that stands between them?

Chemical reaction
The on-screen chemistry between Hayworth and Ford set tongues wagging about a possible off-screen relationship. Both stars denied they were ever romantically involved, but remained life-long friends.

The "Love Goddess" is born
After Betty Grable, Hayworth was the most popular pin-up girl during World War II. In a cover story in Life magazine, Hayworth was dubbed the "Love Goddess" a label that she personally hated, but one that followed Hayworth throughout her career.

Gilda was given the A-treatment by her home studio, Columbia Pictures. Charles Vidor (Cover Girl, Love Me or Leave Me) directed and cinematographer Rudolph Mate (The Pride of the Yankees, To Be or Not to Be) lovingly photographed Hayworth. As already mentioned, Jean Louis designed Hayworth's form-fitting costumes, which only served to reinforced her love goddess label.

Icon Status
Almost everything surrounding Gilda is iconic. Hayworth's look, her clothes, her "Put the Blame on Mame" performance, and even the movie poster itself is considered an iconic piece of promotional art. The Artist's Cafe in the Fine Arts Building, 412 S. Michigan Ave. has a foreign version of the Gilda poster hanging on its wall.

There were many memorable movies made and released during the late 1940s, but Gilda stands out among them and remains a classic today.