![]() ![]() The next day, Emma tells Charles that a questionnaire man for a national poll named Jack Graham, along with photographer Fred Saunders, is conducting a survey of the Newton family, but Charles refuses to be interviewed or photographed. At dinner that night, Charles, who is viewed by the Newtons as a sophisticated adventurer, gives Charlie an emerald ring, and she begins to hum the "Merry Widow" waltz, the same tune of which Charles had just been thinking. Charlie is especially elated by the arrival of her uncle, as she was named after him and the two have a seemingly telepathic relationship. At the train station, Charles is met by his brother-in-law Joseph, his young nephew Roger and his two nieces, Charlie and Ann. Charles escapes to his unsuspecting older sister Emma Newton's home in the small town of Santa Rosa, California. As the movie came out during WWII, it seems to have a direct parallel to the evil leaders loose in the world, particularly in the film's final scene.Serial murderer Charles Oakley is forced to flee Philadelphia when the police come to suspect him in the strangulations of three rich widows. ![]() The second half, including the increasing revelation of Uncle Charlie's dark views of humanity and the lengths to which he will go to protect himself, is what make the film so sinister. On the other hand, there is a real small town feeling to this setting, helped in no doubt by Thornton Wilder being one of the screenwriters, and the characters of Charlie's father (Henry Travers) and his friend (Hume Cronyn) passing the time by talking about the perfect murder are absolutely priceless. Some of the tension is also missing because we're pretty darn sure Uncle Charlie is guilty. I considered a slightly higher rating, but thought the pace in the first half of the movie was a little slow. Trouble is just behind him though, and it gets worse when his niece (also 'Charlie', named after him, and played by Teresa Wright) begins to suspect him of being the "Merry Widow Murderer". ![]() Uncle Charlie (Joseph Cotten) is on the run from the law on the East Coast, and he settles in with his sister and her family in Santa Rosa. Hitchcock said this was his favorite film, and there is a quiet evil about it that makes it truly horrifying. ![]()
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