Santa Rosa noir

Is the suave, smooth-talking Joseph Cotton just plain Uncle Charlie, or maybe a serial killer of rich widows, laying low in suburbia? “Shadow of a Doubt,” Alfred Hitchcock’s 1943 thriller, ups the tension slowly but relentlessly, as Charlie’s niece becomes increasingly more suspicious. The noir elements are that much more effective when played out in the idyllic setting of Santa Rosa.

Teresa Wright stars as a teenager caught up in the psychological whirlwind. In the mid-40s Wright was, briefly, one of Hollywood’s biggest stars. She started her film career alongside Bette Davis “The Little Foxes;” was nominated for an Academy Award for her first three films, winning Best Supporting Actress Oscar for “Mrs. Miniver;” and co-starred in the biggest movie hit of the decade, 1946’s “The Best Years of Our Lives.” And all within five years.

‘Shadow’ co-stars Henry Travers and Hume Cronyn as crime fiction buffs. Hitchcock appears 15 minutes in, playing cards on the train.)

Monday, November 14. $9. 7 p.m. Sebastiani Theatre. 996.9756. Sebastianitheatre.com.