The Burmese Ferret-Badger, of Burma

Actor Joseph Cotten, in Alfred Hitchcock‘s Shadow of a Doubt {1943}, brings ambivalence to new heights in this scene from the famed director’s favorite of his films.

Cotten, as serial murderer Charles “Uncle Charlie” Oakley, seems somewhat less than thrilled with the prospect of being interviewed/photographed.  Perhaps the fact that he has sought refuge at his older sister’s “normal” home— safe, secure, and far, far away from his litany of serial murders— yet is nonetheless in all likelihood on the precipice of being located/captured…perhaps this is playing no small role in re: his sudden enthusiasm-plummet. Nonetheless, he states for the record his Carpe Diem philosophy.

On occasion, Charlie lets slip his mask of the charming, urbane Uncle, and the less palatable, psychopathic elements of his personality take the helm. In this mesmerizing, chilling performance , specifically in this scene, Cotten metamorphoses from disarmingly lighthearted/congenial/convivial, to quite menacing/disquieting, in an almost imperceptibly seamless manner, right at the dinner table. His views on women who live in “The City” are not terribly flattering, as such.

Cotten is remarkable; a truly iconic performance. The film as a whole is a piercing early cinematic glimpse into the mind of a psychopathic murderer, and how denial and disbelief by those closest to him are not only typical…they are perhaps, together with his apparent normality, his greatest defense.