Shadow of a Doubt (1943)

Charles Oakley lives alone in a rooming house. One day, his landlady tells him that two men came looking for him; he sees the two men waiting on the street in front of his room, and he decides to leave town. Charlotte Newton is a bored teenage girl living in the idyllic town of Santa Rosa, California. She receives wonderful news: Her mother’s younger brother (her eponym), Charles Oakley, is arriving for a visit. Her uncle arrives, and at first, everyone is delighted with his visit, especially young Charlie. Uncle Charlie brings everyone presents. He gives his niece an emerald ring that has someone else’s initials engraved inside. Charlie’s father, Joseph Newton, works at a bank, and Uncle Charlie tells him he wants to open an account and deposit $40,000 ($0.6 million today) at his bank.

Two men appear at the Newton home, posing as interviewers working on a national survey. Uncle Charlie is upset and berates his sister for opening up her home to strangers. One of the men takes a photo of Uncle Charlie, who demands the film roll because “no one takes my photograph.” The younger interviewer, Jack Graham, asks out young Charlie, and she guesses that he is really a detective. He explains that her uncle is one of two suspects who may be the “Merry Widow Murderer”. Charlie refuses to believe it at first but then observes Uncle Charlie acting strangely, primarily with a news clipping from her father’s newspaper that describes a murder. The initials engraved inside the ring he gave her match those of one of the murdered women, and during a family dinner, he reveals his hatred of rich widows.