major film noir

Philadelphia. Charlie Oakley (Joseph Cotten) sits on his bed and his landlady learns that two men asked. He discovers that the men in question are there and he managed to escape their spinning. He decides to go to her saeur in Santa Rosa. He then warns that even the young Charlie (Teresa Wright), his niece, was preparing to send a telegram. Charlie, who bears the same name as him, he dedicates a great admiration ...

To note, a rarity in Hitchcock, about a quarter scenes were filmed on real locations, namely the city of Santa Rosa, while the director generally favored the studio shooting.
The progression of the film is in full correlation with the relations of the uncle and his niece, the -quasi-incestueuse- attraction will gradually give way to repulsion. Here Hitch brush a parable about adolescence and the always difficult transition to adult life.
The film itself fascinating, underlines the objective that the director gives many of these movies: to make plausible what is already true.
This film stays with Psychosis one of the few Hitchcock films where the hero is a villain, brilliantly portrayed by the fascinating and disturbing Joseph Cotten.
Gordon McDonell was appointed to the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 1944.