Sunday, February 7, 2010

THE TROUBLE WITH HARRY (1955)

In a book length interview between Alfred Hitchcock and Francois Truffaut, the Master explained his fondness for this movie where he established a contrast, going against traditional, breaking clichés. Hitchcock brought the drama of murder in broad daylight in forest, took noticed of dead body by almost all characters and messing up with him. The trouble with poor Harry is that he’s no more.

It’s very unusual Hitchcock film on so many accounts and that’s the reason why it didn’t receive much audience in US, where in Europe it was a big hit. What’s happening with the dead body in the woods is really interesting stuff. Every character is paying visit to him, digging him again and again which makes us laugh and thrill at the same time. Surprisingly Hitchcock’s films never filled with such situational subtle humor what today we called dark comedy made widely famous by Coen Brothers. It’s again an experimental film where Hitchcock hadn’t used any big stars for the film. British actor Edward Gwenn as Capt. Wiles gave one of his most memorable character here. It was a debut film for Shirley Maclaine. Hitchcock’s collaboration with composer Bernard Herrmann continued here.

Ratings- 8/10

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