" it's not good to know too much about someone , charlie , " charles warns his niece , charlie ( margaret welsh ) , with a devilish grin . charlie is infatuated with her namesake uncle , her " soul mate " as she calls him since her mother gave her his name . there's a lot to know about charles , not the least of which is that he strangled 3 widows back east . mark harmon , who looks like anything but a killer but specializes in playing them , plays charles , the merry widow murderer in the 1991 hallmark hall of fame remake of the 1943 hitchcock film , shadow of a doubt . and to avoid any questions about his guilt , we see charles in action in the opening scene with his last victim . the story takes place in the early 1950s in the small town of petaluma , california , where charles heads to avoid the police . john gay's script uses most of the original screenplay by sally benson , alma reville , and thornton wilder . karen arthur's direction is certainly no match for the great master , but on an absolute scale , the movie maintains a high level of suspense . when supercilious and deceitful charles comes to pay a visit of indeterminate length with his sister and her family in petaluma , they don't know about his nefarious activities . he showers them with elaborate gifts to buy the love they had already given him anyway . two mysterious and exceedingly clean-cut writers for a magazine show up to take pictures of the family for a spread on the " average american family , " but their interest is focused on uncle charles , especially on taking his picture and learning about his background . charlie , who first welcomed her uncle's visit , begins to feel more and more uncomfortable with him and suspicious of the disingenuous magazine reporters . the picture advances with a delicate power using small details such as the newspaper article that the uncle tries secretly to remove and that charlie discovers . the beauty of the story is the pas de deux between uncle and niece as they try to out psych each other . she wants him to leave , and he doesn't want to go , what with a local , rich widow as a prospective victim . will charles kill charlie first , or will she get him out of town . harmon is wonderfully creepy and smug , and welsh is tough but trapped . with a deft touch the director sets up each scene , several with thunderstorms , and tom neuwirth's sepia-toned cinematography makes the movie feel as if it were filmed in the 50s . my only quibble is the director's awkward staging of the final scene on the train . is hitchcock's version better ? of course . is this one worth watching as well ? actually , yes . shadow of a doubt runs 1 : 40 . it is not rated but would be pg for adult themes and would be fine for kids around nine and up .
