Marnie (1964)

Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock | 130 minutes | drama, thriller, romance | Actors: Tippi Hedren, Sean Connery, Diane Baker, Louise Latham, Martin Gabel, Bob Sweeney, Milton Selzer, Mariette Hartley, Alan Napier, Bruce Dern, Henry Beckman, S. John Launer, Edith Evanson, Meg Wyllie

“If you don’t like ‘Marnie’, you don’t like Hitchcock. If you don’t like ‘Marnie’, you don’t like movies.” At least that’s what the film critic Robin Wood says in the documentary ‘The Trouble with Marnie’, which can be found on the DVD of the film from Universal’s Alfred Hitchcock Collection. ‘Marnie’ is often seen as Hitchcock’s last true classic, especially because it was the last film where Hitch collaborated with the people who helped him from films like ‘Psycho’, ‘North by Northwest’ and ‘Vertigo’ into a to make success; composer Bernard Hermann, editor George Tomasini and cinematographer Robert Burks. The films that the master of suspense would make after ‘Marnie’ would all lack the magic that made their predecessors classics. Even Hitchcock couldn’t do it alone!

‘Marnie’ is an adaptation of Winston Graham’s book of the same name. Marnie (Tippi Hedren) roams around from town to town. She takes on a new identity and a new look over and over, lies the whole thing together and once she’s got her loot, she leaves just as quickly as she came. In Philadelphia she has set her sights on the safe of the publishing house Rutland & Co. However, the owner Mark Rutland (Sean Connery) recognizes her; he does business with Marnie’s previous victim. However, he decides to play along. Mark has his own plans with Marnie.

The closer he gets to her, the clearer it becomes to him that something is deeply wrong with her. For example, she has a curious fear of thunder and the color red. Just after Marnie robs Rutland’s safe, Mark finds her. Instead of reporting her to the police, he forces Marnie to marry him. For the tormented woman there is no other choice. Once married, Mark decides to get to the bottom of what’s wrong with his wife. Why can’t he touch her? When unraveling the mystery, he is also bothered by his jealous sister-in-law, who prefers to keep Mark to herself.

Hitchcock wouldn’t be Hitchcock if he didn’t cross certain boundaries. In ‘Marnie’ it is mainly the themes (sex and mental disorders) that were controversial at the time of the premiere. Freudian themes have always appealed to Hitchcock and of all his films this fascination is most evident in ‘Marnie’. Rumors have it that Hitchcock – who saw his secret love for Hedren unrequited – his lead actress hasn’t made it easy on set. The director was so incensed that the actress didn’t want a relationship with him that he tried to antagonize her in her career in various ways after ‘Marnie’. Hitch could make or break you as an actor, Hedren – Melanie Griffith’s mother – knows all about that.

Hedren was initially second choice. Hitchcock wanted the film to generate a glorious comeback from one of his other muses, Grace Kelly. But the court in Monaco – Grace was now married to Prince Rainier – held back. Hedren got the part, but isn’t talented enough to take on such a complex and demanding role. She therefore falls heavily through the basket. Fortunately, that lack is partly compensated by Sean Connery, who plays one of the best roles of his career as the charming but manipulative Mark Rutland. It says enough that you can muster more sympathy for his character than for the actual protagonist Marnie. If Connery had faced a better and more convincing actress, the contrast between the unstable and vulnerable woman and the dominant, manipulative man would have been much stronger. In the supporting roles, Diane Baker (known from ‘The Silence of the Lambs’, among others) and Louise Latham (‘The Sugarland Express’) stand out as Mark’s jealous sister-in-law and Marnie’s repressive mother respectively.

There are still a few downsides to ‘Marnie’. The feminists among movie viewers will not be too happy with the brazen sexism on display. Mark truly believes that the frigid Marnie is his prey, his property. While the poor child really just desperately needs psychological help. Moreover, with its 130 minutes, the film is quite long – although that might have been less noticeable with another actress in the lead role. Also, the decor feels somewhat cheap and fake. All in all, it can be concluded that ‘Marnie’ is certainly not Hitchcock’s best film. Nevertheless, it remains a film by the master and is a must, especially for people who love his other work.