Alfred Hitchcock's Bay Area

Darkness Descends On Small Town Santa Rosa

Many film critics consider Shadow of a Doubt (released in 1943) a true American classic, as well as one of Hitchcock’s most personal films. 

Shadow of a Doubt is about a “typical” American family that is visited by Uncle Charlie Oakley, played by Joseph Cotten, a fugitive living on the East Coast who is looking to hide from the law and start a new life in the sleepy town of Santa Rosa.  His younger niece and namesake, “Young Charlie,” played by Teresa Wright, slowly discovers the truth about her uncle, who is actually the Merry-Widow murderer.After considering many small towns in California, Hitchcock chose Santa Rosa, 45 miles north of San Francisco, as the setting for Shadow of a Doubt.  Santa Rosa held great allure for Hitchcock because it represented the quaint goodness often associated with small towns.  Santa Rosa would act as the perfect counterpoint to the dark, twisted plot he would unleash.