“Psycho” (1998) gets the wrath among near beat-for-beat remakes of Alfred Hitchcock’s films, but there are many candidates for worst remake of his work. “Shadow of a Doubt” (1991, CBS/Hallmark) throws its hat into the ring as it takes on the 1943 film that Hitchcock said was the favorite of his catalog.
Teleplay writer John Gay had successfully adapted a Hitchcock film to TV before, the 1981 version of “Dial ‘M’ for Murder,” driven by Christopher Plummer’s acting and the sheer brilliance of the plot. But this is a shadow of that project. The story and themes of “Shadow” require a perfectly calibrated touch, which Hitchcock provided.
Director Karen Arthur’s version eventually runs off the rails. The filmmakers suggest they’re aware of it when Young Charlie (Margaret Welsh) says “I’ll do something” heading into a commercial break instead of Teresa Wright’s iconic “I’ll kill you myself.”
“Shadow of a Doubt” (1991)
Director: Karen Arthur
Writers: John Gay (teleplay), Gordon McDonell (earlier story); Thornton Wilder, Sally Benson, Alma Reville (earlier screenplay)
Stars: Mark Harmon, Margaret Welsh, Norm Skaggs
As Uncle Charlie, Mark Harmon dominates the battle of wills between the two “soulmates” with the same name. So that’s one interesting aspect of Hitch’s film gone. Welsh – who makes Young Charlie neither vulnerable nor strong-willed, but merely concerned — appears older than a teenager. So while the film aims for some incestual weirdness with the two Charlies repeatedly expressing their mutual love, we miss the age-gap weirdness of Cotten and Wright.
Ain’t no doubt about his guilt
The point of the title is that there’s the slightest chance that Uncle Charlie is not the Merry Widow Murderer. There’s no doubt in this version. Gay mostly follows the beats of the 1943 screenplay, but in order to give TV viewers something new, he opens with Charles murdering a victim, played by Tippi Hedren in a bit of stunt casting.
Granted, the killing is off-screen. So there’s technically still a chance Charlie is innocent, and his connections to Hedren’s character (via the initials on the ring he gives to his niece) and the suspect the authorities kill back East can be explained in some other way.
That would’ve been a helluva twist, but Arthur and Gay don’t have the guts to go there. Plus, Harmon always goes sinister and Welsh always goes suspicious, even when Young Charlie learns the cops consider the case closed.
It’s a missed opportunity. Even Hitchcock was not totally inflexible with story direction, able to adjust under censors’ pressures – notably in “Suspicion” (1941), which (although this seems weird on every viewing) is about someone who seems guilty but is actually innocent (Or is he? Or isn’t he? Or is he?).
How cool would it have been if “Shadow” 1991 had taken that route? Arthur and Gay do get in one play on the shared Charlie name by cutting from the height of the train fight’s drama directly to the funeral; a viewer new to this material might not know the outcome of the struggle.
Stuck in the Forties – and in the original’s shadow
Another thing the filmmakers might’ve done differently is time-hop the story to 1991, but they stick with the Forties and say the town is Petaluma instead of Santa Rosa. (IMDb says it was shot in both of the neighboring towns.)
As the story progressed, I realized it would’ve taken serious restructuring to change the time period. Logistics require, for example, that no one has a picture of Uncle Charlie, which is why the cops sneakily try to take his snapshot. Fifty years later, it wouldn’t be likely that someone could go through life unphotographed.
There might be something of value here if someone had never seen the original, just because Harmon – later a TV star in 435 (!) episodes of “NCIS” — is a looming presence in what had been a peaceful small-town household.
But Harmon and Welsh, in combination, don’t have what this film needs. The script might be nearly the same, but without the Hitchcockian magic, maybe “Shadow of a Doubt” 1991 should’ve altered it to give us something new.
RFMC’s Alfred Hitchcock series reviews works by the Master of Suspense, plus remakes and source material. Click here to visit our Hitchcock Zone.