Tremendous film, said to be Hitchcock's favourite of his movies. Both Joseph Cotten and Teresa Wright are superb here and it's one of the all-time nail biters.

The waitress was played by an actress called Janet Shaw, who was under contract to Warner Bros. at the time. Looking at her filmography it seems she had bit parts in a large number of films, including some very well-known ones (Jezebel, The Adventures of Robin Hood, Waterloo Bridge) so I guess she must have appealed to somebody! It doesn't seem like she ever had a leading role, though.

Must have been some nepotism going on. I've seen all those movies you mentioned and don't remember her at all. Only mentioned her now because I re watched Shadow of Doubt yesterday

Cotten is the original Hitchcock charming villain, up till then his villains were pretty repulsive and not given much screen time.

I take it the actress was instructed to play weary and unmotivated, like someone doing a job they have no enthusiasm or care about, and no energy for. The character mentions she just started there at the bar a couple weeks earlier. Presumably the waitress is "calling it in" about her job performance at work. Since Hitchcock was pretty picky about how cast members played their parts, he must have wanted her to play the waitress that way, though I agree with you, Aus, that it came off more as a bland, uninspired, flat, talentless performance by the actress.

I watched this again tonight and enjoyed it. Except for the waitress actress, who makes no favourable impression, everyone else is excellent.

I'm still here. Haven't ditched TMDb for another site. Just been offline for a while. Haven't been well

Great to see you, Aus! I hope you're doing/feeling better.

Thanks genplant. Getting there

Hope you feel better @ausfem

Great movie!

I bought a bluray collection of Hitchcock movies and have been watching one or two every month or so... Some I had seen before, others are new to me such as Shadow of a Doubt... Quality movie!

A lot of fun and I loved how Charlie and Charlie interacted the whole movie, how the way they relate to one another develops and changes... So good...

The charming cosmopolitain comes back to the idyllic small town... Under mysterious circumstances... Classic...

Also hope that everybody has been well!

Right, and this remains "the idyllic small town" even after the return of Uncle Charlie because even though it's set in Santa Rosa, California - which may not come first to mind as "small town Americana" - Miss Wright and family continue along with correct mannerisms, lifestyles and wardrobe depicting this setting.

Our friendly, lovely and talented Teresa really knows how to hit films out of the park like baseballs because she exemplifies acting perfection in this, her fourth film, as a proven screen veteran of three prior, with more on the way.

While Waitress Louise somehow may have lost her motivation, the remainder of Shadow of a Doubt's supporting cast really holds its own.... "Young Charlie, there's a man loose in this country...."

Only one great performer as Teresa knows how to spare audiences nightmares in reaction to a line that brutal, and the same talent holds true down those rocky train tracks, when nobody will be seated for the clashing of the doubt with the shadow!

@Renovatio said:

Hope you feel better @ausfem

Thank Renovatio, I am