Trivia

In his interview with François Truffaut on "Shadow" (first published in 1967), Sir Alfred Hitchcock said the dense, black smoke belching from the train that brings Charles Oakley to Santa Rosa was a deliberate symbol of imminent evil.

Sir Alfred Hitchcock said that part of why he considered this to be his favorite movie was that he loved the idea of bringing menace to an otherwise idyllic small town.

Charlie's sister mentions that he'd had an accident on a bicycle when he was a boy. Earle Nelson, the serial killer on whom this story is loosely based, suffered from extremely serious mental illness which, along with his history of occipital headaches, was attributed to a near-fatal bicycle accident in his childhood in which he was seriously struck on the back of the head. Charlie's sister mentions how his personality had changed after the accident (getting into mischief), which is what happened with Nelson, who soon began to commit burglaries.

Teresa Wright did not read the script before agreeing to sign on for this movie. Sir Alfred Hitchcock described the plot to her in a meeting, and she agreed to take on the part immediately.

The $40,000 in 1943 that Charlie opened the bank account with would be the equivalent of $606,000 in 2020.

Alfred Hitchcock: On the train to Santa Rosa, California playing cards. He has the entire suit of spades in his hand, including the symbolic Ace. Being the director, he was "holding all the cards".