The Trouble with Harry
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Written by John Michael Hayes based on a novel by Jack Trevor Story
1955/USA
Alfred J. Hitchcock Productions
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental
[box] Jennifer Rogers: He looked exactly the same when he was alive, only he was vertical.[/box]
If nothing else, this movie gave us Shirley MacLaine. But it’s light and amusing as well.
Harry makes a highly inconvenient corpse but is mourned by nobody. In fact, everybody thinks they may have killed him. Captain Albert Wiles (Edmund Gwenn) stumbles upon the body while he is out rabbit hunting and thinks a stray bullet has killed Harry. He doesn’t have a chance to hide the body because a succession of people come out of nowhere to discover it. Finally, he comes clean with local spinster Ivy Gravely (Mildred Natwick) and she invites him for coffee and muffins.
Along the way we discover that Harry is the unlamented late husband of Jennifer Rogers (MacLaine). She beaned him when he came to reunite with her. The murder brings Jennifer together with painter Sam Marlowe (John Forsythe). The witnesses/murderers all team up to help each other while burying and unburying the body over and over as new clues develop.
This is super slight and purely fanciful. It’s a pleasant watch but nothing more.
Trailer
I recently revisited the film and found it pleasant and maybe even liked it a little bit better than I did in my youth.
Shirley MacLaine is just as cute as a bug’s ear in this. She was such a breath of fresh air for the time!