Black But Brilliant

The music intro is invigorating. The scenic views of a rural church and its countryside have an autumn beauty. Shots ring out as a little boy named Arnie walks through the woods with his toy rifle in hand. Arnie, played by Jerry Mathers comes across a dead man. He runs away to get his mother. Then we see an old man called Captain, played by Edmund Gwenn, with a real rifle who comes upon the same dead man. He fears he has accidentally shot the unknown man by mistaking him for a rabbit. Captain looks inside the dead man’s wallet and sees that his name is Harry. Later a tramp steals Harry’s shoes. This is how “The Trouble With Harry” (1955) begins. It is perhaps the most delightful Alfred Hitchcock movie I have ever seen.

The little boy shows his mother Jennifer Rogers the dead body. She is played by the unbelievably lovely and talented Shirley MacLaine (her first film). John Forsythe plays Mr. Marlowe, a brilliant painter (so he claims). He too comes upon the dead body of Harry when he goes into the woods to sketch. Captain freely admits to Marlowe that he accidentally shot the unfortunate man. They decide to hide him, but a man walking and reading a book comes by and trips on the leg of the corpse, but gives his apologies and walks away. Of course as the story continues the plot thickens and turns into a mystery laced with romance. Yet, I won’t spoil the show by saying anymore about that.

Forsythe does a fine job as Mr. Marlowe, but I think Jack Lemmon would have given a better performance. Edmund Gwenn is one of those rare veteran actors who does not seem like he is acting. Even in her film debut one can see that MacLaine is a natural screen actor. Young Mathers (later of “Leave It To Beaver” fame) gives a fine performance. It is too bad that his acting talents got worse as he got older.

The dialogue of the film is witty, the music enchanting and the story is black comedy perhaps at its most charming. It is a rather mature movie for the 50s. Many of Hitchcock’s films are called classics that just do not deserve to be called such, but “The Trouble With Harry” clearly can be called a cinematic classic. If you have yet see it, you are in for a wonderful film experience.