The Trouble with Harry (1955)

Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock | 99 minutes | thriller, comedy | Actors: Edmund Gwenn, John Forsythe, Mildred Natwick, Mildred Dunnock, Jerry Mathers, Royal Dano, Parker Fennelly, Barry Macollum, Dwight Marfield, Shirley MacLaine

“I deserve this,” said Shirley MacLaine when she received an Oscar in 1983 for her role in ‘Terms of Endearment’. Probably that sigh didn’t just refer to her play in this tearjerker, but to everything she’d done before that: justice at last for the woman who was nominated for her first Oscar in the 1950s (“Some Came Running” – 1958). Many more nominations would follow, including for ‘The Apartment’ (1960) and ‘Irma La Douce’ (1963). What not everyone knows is that in 1955 MacLaine – she was only twenty then but already a celebrated stage actress for several years – made her debut on the silver screen in the surprising black comedy ‘The Trouble with Harry’, directed by Alfred Hitchcock. When Hitch learned that MacLaine had never appeared in a movie, he is said to have said to the young actress, “Then I won’t have to untie so many knots. You are hired.”

The problem with Harry is that he is dead. His corpse, nestled in the midst of peaceful rural New England, is causing many problems for local residents. Little Arnie Rogers (Jerry Mathers) discovers the body and flees to his mother Jennifer (MacLaine). Moments later, elderly pleasure hunter Captain Albert Wiles (Edmund Gwenn) stumbles upon the corpse and suspects that he accidentally killed it with one of his blanks. Then several other villagers ‘discover’ the body of the dead man, including artist Sam Marlow (John Forsythe), spinster Miss Ivy Gravely (Mildred Natwick) and MacLaine, who recognizes her ex-husband Harry Worp in the corpse. They all fear that they are somehow responsible for his death. Finding out exactly what happened to this murder and hiding the body from the local sheriff turns out to be a lot of work.

In an interview, Hitchcock once said of his fondness for ‘The Trouble with Harry’: “I’ve always wanted to create a contrast by working untraditionally and breaking through clichés. With ‘Harry’ I have taken melodrama out of the pitch-black night and brought it into full sunlight.” Hitchcock read Jack Trevor Story’s novel of the same name and decided it could be an interesting movie. He gave the book to writer John Michael Hayes to turn it into a movie script. Story and his publisher sold the film rights for $11,000. Only afterwards did they find out that the buyer was the famous Master of Suspense from Hollywood.

‘The Trouble with Harry’ is no ordinary Hitchcock. During an interview in 1955, the director said it was a “test film” to determine whether American audiences were ready for more subtle humor compared to traditional comedies. It clearly wasn’t, as the film scored poorly in the United States. In Europe ‘Harry’ was a success. In addition, it was unusual for the film not to revolve around one Hollywood star. Hitchcock thought a famous star would have taken the whole story out of context. That’s why character actors like Edmund Gwenn and Mildred Natwick were cast, supplemented by young talents like Shirley MacLaine and John Forsythe. A mix that works great in this black comedy. They’re a bunch of eccentrics carrying around a corpse, yet each and every one of them—Gwenn and MacLaine leading the way—are exceptionally charming and likeable.

It may not be Alfred Hitchcock’s best-known or best film, but it’s a hidden gem. Everything about the film is right; the beautiful cinematography (the film is extraordinarily scintillating when you consider that it is already over fifty years old) and the soundtrack by Bernard Hermann (the first film he collaborated with Hitch, many more would follow) round it off. Leave it to Hitchcock to put something as macabre as death in a light and sometimes even hilarious jacket. ‘The Trouble with Harry’ is a joy to watch from start to finish.