10/28/2018 1 Comment The Trouble With HArry (1955) I absolutely hated this film. I found it boring and expected a lot more. With that being said, I did watch Vertigo right before I watch The Trouble With Harry, so that could be why I was underwhelmed. The Trouble with Harry is about this guy named Harry who is killed and many of the town's residents wonder if they are responsible, including the man's ex-wife, Jennifer (Shirley MacLaine), and Captain Wiles (Edmund Gwenn), a retired seaman who was hunting in the woods where the body was found. As the sheriff (Royal Dano) gets involved and local artist Sam Marlowe (John Forsythe) offers his help, the town slowly figures out the mystery. I was completely uninterested by this, I mean, we get it. Everyone is partly responsible, besides Sam, no reason to draw this out. Also, why are we digging this body up so many times- I get for the story plot but don’t understand why. Oh and the millionaire. I get why he was there. I liked how Sam gave everyone a little something. But, why? Why is this in the film. I was a little annoyed by Captain Wiles. He was a fine character, just not one I particularly liked. There was nothing that he did that I can recall that I did not like, except for the entire movie. The only part that was interesting to me was the romance, and it really wasn’t the type I am super into. After reading several reviews of the movie, I guess I did not get the joke that Hitchcock was going for. Maybe it was making a jab at his other suspense films or digging the body up multiple times, I’m not quite sure. But the problem is that I found nothing amusing about a dead body that no one seemed to know what to do with. I lost count of the number of times Harry was buried and dug up again. I imagine that there is a type of person who really enjoys this film and I respect that.
I thought that the movie was well directed and had several great shots. I thought the one of the gang walking away from the grave site with the shovels at beginning of nightfall was iconic. I thought that having the Doctor was a choice. I understood what he did to advance the plot, but he was just kind of there. Nothing more, really. In theory, this movie should have been my favorite. It has mystery, romance, a makeover, and a happy ending. I honestly do not know why it wasn’t due to all of my favorite things. As I said, I understood all of the choices that Hitchcock made. I just didn’t particularly like them.
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