In the beginning the film is immediately set up in the film noir style. Under the opening credits a shadowy backround image is shown kaleidoscopically. Couples dressed in elegant ballroom gowns and suits waltz together dizzyingly as the "Merry Widow Waltz" plays. The scene has nothing to do with the drama to follow (until Charlie's crimes are revealed.) The titles dissolve in to a panoramic view of a bridge, further dissolves take us first to junkyard and then to a scene of children playing in the street. The city i

Also important during this scene is the fact that Charlie receives what will be her most important clue as to her Uncle's identity. The engraved initials in the ring are important evidence against him. It is almost as if he is at once courting Young Charlie and daring her to guess the truth about her uncle.

Here we see an excellent example of the contrast that the film sets up. The family as the audience sees it at this point could have been picked right off the set of early situational comedies like Leave it to Beaver or The Donna Reed Show. We have the young girl dazing dreamily off to space on an afternoon; her brainiac sister Anne offers easy comic relief, as the young "know-it-all"; and the pleasant father who always has time for his children. Often in comedy (especially early American Situational comedy based in a small town) there is a problem that needs to be resolved. Here, the stage is set for our first problem.

the bills have fallen to the floor and lie strewn around). The overweight, middle-aged landlady knocks on the door and enters, identifying him as Mr. Spencer and informing him that two men have been asking for him. As per his instructions to not disturb him, she didn't let them in, however, they have not left, instead they retreated to the street corner to stake out the boarding house. Noticing that he looks exhausted and depressed (he passively remains on his bed during their entire conversation), she suggests that he should get some rest. Then she notices his money cluttered all about and hurries forward to straighten it up and scolds him to be more careful with his belongings. Although all indications reveal her boarder's underworld connections, she naively ignores them. To allow him to continue his nap, the landlady lowers the blind before leaving and its shadow is drawn down over Charlie's face. Rather than inducing sleep, the darkness causes him to sit up alertly. Charl!

Joe: I don't want any clues. I want to murder you. What do I want with clues?

It would seem that Hitchcock has gone out of his way to introduce many sets of doubles into the film. First we have the obvious one that is the subject of this paper, the combination of the two styles, film noir and small town comedy. There are some other obvious examples: the two Charlies; the two detectives; and the two murder suspects. However, there are some not so obvious doubles as well: the two Americas (the "beautiful world" and Uncle Charlie's "nasty, ugly" world); the two conversations about murder techniques; the two sets of hunter and prey discussed above; the 'Til Two bar where Charlie orders a double brandy; Charlie's two school friends; the two unsuccessful attempts on Charlie's life; the two dinner-table scenes and the two garage scenes).

As we get further and further into the movie the lines between small town domestic comedy and film noir become blurred as the Uncle Charlie brings more evil into the town of Santa Rosa. It starts with the arrival of Uncle Charlie at Joe's bank. While making a deposit of the enormous sum of $40,000 Charlie meets the rich widow Mrs. Potter, who we later guess will be his next victim.

Further along into the movie we are bounced back and forth between scenes that resemble a comedy and that build our suspense. For example, after diner on the first day of Charlie's arrival we are introduced to Joe's friend Herb. Joe and Herb share an addiction to crime stories and playfully talk about how best to murder each other. It is easily identifiable to the audience that the two are "just playing" here and that there is no danger involved. The discussion even becomes quite humorous:

I was in Charlie's class in school. I sure was surprised to see you come in. I never thought I'd see you in here. I've been here two weeks. Lost my job over at Kern's. I've been in half the restaurants in town.

Herb: Well, if you haven't got any clues, where's your book?

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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 3262
Approximate Pages = 13 (250 words per page double spaced)