Sally BensonRezensionen

Acting: 5.0; Theme: 5.0; Content: 4.5; Language: 5.0; Overall: 5.0

A young teenage girl, Charlie Newton, (Teresa Wright) is ecstatic when she learns her Uncle Charlie (Joseph Cotten) is coming for a visit to their small California town. However, Charlie becomes very suspicious of him as she begins noticing clues that he might be the "Merry Widow" murderer. Very suspenseful and Hitchcockian. Highly recommend.

***December 26, 2023***

Lovely Teresa Wright shines in Alfred Hitchcock’s tale of darkness and evil coming to stay in Santa Rosa, California. A story by Gordon McDonnell was adapted for the screen by Thorton Wilder, Alma Reville, and Sally Benson, and this slice of Americana is played out perfectly by a wonderful cast.

Teresa Wright is the bored young daughter of Emma (Patricia Collinge) and Joseph (Henry Travers) Newton. Life for her in the small town of Santa Rosa has become boring for the wholesome American girl looking to stretch her wings. Wright’s “Charlie” is the very picture of small town innocence. When her Uncle and namesake (Joseph Cotten) blows into town, it is the catalyst for the change she desires. Hitchcock has already shown the audience by this time that something is not quite right about the charming Uncle Charlie, so the viewer already knows from the get-go what’s going on in this film. The special bond between Charlie and her uncle and their unusual connection is fully explored by the director in the happy and charming early moments that follow Cotten's arrival in Santa Rosa.

Hitchcock quickly begins shading this portrait in grey, however. Charlie’s adoration of her uncle borders on a crush, leaving her open and vulnerable to anything Charlie wants. Here the famous director creates some almost uncomfortable scenes, giving the viewer the impression that at any moment Cotton might just take the smiling and adoring Charlie in his arms and kiss her. And for her part, Charlie might remain passive, so unsure is she of her own feelings. But strange behavior in her uncle and the attention of a government agent after him who falls in love with young Charlie will change everything, as Uncle Charlie’s spell is broken when his warped and twisted view of the world is finally revealed. The tune he whistles might be the key to his long absence.

Hume Cronyn steals every scene he is in as Herbie. Long talks on the porch, attempting to devise the perfect murder plan for amusement is ironic and darkly humorous considering the real evil right under their noses. Charlie can’t risk destroying her weak mother, but luckily she has Agent Jack Graham’s (Macdonald Carey) number. Uncle Charlie, however, has no intention of going to the gallows…

This is both a beautiful portrait of small-town America and a suspenseful thriller. Cotten, always solid yet often underrated, underplays his role to marvelous effect. Teresa Wright is simply wonderful in this Hitchcock masterpiece, the very picture of confused innocence. A film that must be seen by all, especially Hitchcock devotees.

A film starring Teresa Wright and Joseph Cotten (Universal, 1943).

A girl suspects her uncle is a criminal.

B (Good).

I guess it's a good movie? It's interesting, and it's entertaining enough thanks to comedic side characters.

(Feb. 2023)½

Uma peça popular e encantadora! Coisa rara é capturar verdadeiramente um momento especial no tempo, e um momento particular na vida de algumas poucas pessoas numa familia. O que torna esta peça excepcional não é apenas que ela faz isso tão lindamente, mas o fato de conter diversão, emoção e numerosas cenas de comédia, que arrancam risadas da plateia. Quatro atraentes irmãs estão empolgadas com a maravilhosa Feira Mundial que está prestes a ser inaugurada em St. Louis em 1905. As garotas também preocupam-se com a vida amorosa de seu único irmão, suspeitando que a doce garota amada esteja prestes a deixar a cidade natal para casar-se com um esnobe oriental. Em meio às manobras bem-humoradas das irmãs para resolver o romance do irmão, o pai anúncia que lhe ofereceram um emprego melhor em Nova York! Mas isto significa deixar a casa em St. Louis e perder a Feira! As meninas se unem para entrarem em ação.½

Cute. Funny to think that when the film was made 1904 was our 1980. I had to go back and rewatch the film afterwards and found both to be charming. Here's wishing I lived in such a simple time -- with better dentists.

:)

A casa de sus familiares, en el tranquilo pueblo de Santa Rosa, llega un día el encantador tío Charlie (Joseph Cotten), un seductor criminal que viaja de Filadelfia a California y al que la justicia va pisando los talones. Su sobrina Charlie, a pesar de que no sabe nada de sus actividades, no tardará en sospechar que su tío es el misterioso asesino de viudas al que la policía anda buscando.

Benson wrote for the New Yorker (as well as writing the book that became Meet Me in St Louis) and I can just imagine how fun it was to come upon these delicious little slices of life stories while thumbing through the magazine in 1942. All the women wear hats.

Love this book, which is nothing like the movie. Reading it again for the nth time and still charmed by it. Amusing family stories but occasionally there's something that gives it a little more edge - I know when I first read it in junior high, I didn't notice the paragraph where the grandfather remembers his time in Andersonville prison. Which makes you see him as more than the quirky grandpa who enjoys teasing his granddaughters.

Those stories were originally published in the New Yorker, and subsequently turned into a Broadway play which ran for two years and then was transformed into a movie, radio series and tv show, as well as being the inspiration for Junior Mints candy. All this would lead one to believe that Junior MIss will be a light, cheerful book all about the magic of being a young lady. This illusion is destroyed 4 pages in, when Judy, the heroine, is described as "tall for her age and heavily built...entirely shapeless...her face had a ghastly yellow tinge...her dress was supposed to hang gracefully but instead looked as if she had been stuffed into it."
I'm not saying I couldn't identify with Judy on the basis of her appearance. But when a writer goes out of her way to point out that her main character is unattractive, and then has the main character constantly obsess about nail polish, facials, beauty tips from magazines, and growing up as quickly as possible so she can wear stockings, perfume and "perfectly stunning" cruise clothes, the effect is a little depressing.
Did sophisticated New Yorker readers in 1940 find this soothing? Did they think Judy and Lois amusing creations just like their own daughters? Did the irritatingly mournful comedy of the stories make them chuckle? I can't really answer that, any more than I can decide if this is a book you're supposed to enjoy or one to send a chill up your spine.
Reviewed on my blog The Paris Hat: http://theparishat.blogspot.com/2010/06/little-monsters.html

I didn’t realize that one of my favorite movies was based on a book until someone on LT mentioned the book. I had to have it! And I really enjoyed it. Although there are some differences in the two versions, as always happens when a book is transferred to the screen, it still has the same spirit as the book and almost all my favorite parts. Possibly this is true because Sally Benson had a hand in writing the screen play. The main differences between the two versions is that the book does not have the two “romance” stories for Rose and Ester and all 4 girls seem to have “equal time” in the episodic stories, one for each month of the year leading up to the opening of the World’s Fair in May 1904. The one advantage the movie has over the book is that you can actually hear the song and see the dancing. This book brings to mind a book I read when I was quite young (and the book was quite old—it had belonged to my grandmother) called Mama’s Bank Account. I’m not sure why; I may have to find a copy of that book to reread.

If you've seen the movie and loved it, and didn't want it to end, then you need to read the book. I'll give a big sigh of contentment here... and let you fill in the rest.

Enjoyed the read, and look forward to trying out the high heels mysteries.

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