Hitchcock gave depth to the characters by letting them have quirks and individuality, while Lynch stayed with his Fairy Tale puppets, complete with painted blue sky backdrops and gingerbread cul de sacs. My recollection is that where “Shadow” succeeded, and where “Blue Velvet” failed, was in the ability to get you to believe the innocence of the good, and the corruption of the evil. Most of the time he was concerned with the violent side of man’s nature, and what drives us to do the unthinkable. Sure, sexuality was also an important part, but only when it served the main storyline for motivation was it visited with true detail, as in “Notorious”, “Marnie” and, of course, “Vertigo”. His main subjects were always murder and insanity.
Hitchcock’s take on this subject had much less to do with sexuality, although there is definitely a weird incestuous undercurrent to “Shadow of a Doubt”. I saw “Shadow of a Doubt” was on Encore Mystery Channel, and I watched a bit of it. This, to me, is a very worn out subject.Īnyway, what got me interested in the double feature concept was that I already had “Blue Velvet” ready in my DVR, and just before watching, I was distractedly flipping around the channels. It seemed that Lynch’s point of the seamy underside of the American Dream was without real value a kind of American take on all those Victorian dramas about suppressed hormones and buttoned up sexuality. The entire film came across as a cartoon of sorts, or a Hardy Boys “The Crack House Mysteries” movie. I thought that the film’s acting was either wooden or WAY over the top. Originally “Blue Velvet” was going to be one of my “I don’t get it” entries. Many will also wax poetic on the virtues of “Blue Velvet”, to which I will take exception. Most critics will tell you that “Shadow of a Doubt” is one of Hitch’s finest films, and I will wholeheartedly agree with them. in that I will be (as we used to say in 7th grade) comparing and contrasting two films with a very similar theme. Obviously this will deviate from my normal M.O. “BLUE VELVET” (1986) Dir: David Lynch (I didn't get it) “SHADOW OF A DOUBT” (1943) Dir: Alfred Hitchcock
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