Tonight's Movie: The Trouble With Harry (1955)

I've been gradually working my way through a small stack of films I've never seen directed by the great Alfred Hitchcock.

The autumn season made it the perfect time to finally check out THE TROUBLE WITH HARRY (1955), which was shot in Vermont in the fall of 1954.

I'd put off seeing this film as I'm not the world's biggest fan of Shirley MacLaine, plus I'd heard it was "offbeat" -- I mean, it's focused almost entirely around a dead body?!

Well, I've now seen it and can say it was very definitely offbeat, but in the most delightful ways. I was almost surprised that I found it quite entertaining, even heartwarming. It sounds absurd to describe it that way, but Hitchcock really accomplished something unique with this film.

And more than that, Shirley MacLaine was perfect for this role, and some of her line deliveries made me laugh out loud, which I don't often do when watching movies alone at home. I was actually glad she was in the cast.

The plot, such as it is, concerns various people in a small rural village stumbling -- some of them quite literally -- over a body on a hill outside town.

The people who come in contact with the body include a retired sailor, Albert Wiles (Edmund Gwenn); a handsome young artist named Sam (John Forsythe); a young mother, Jennifer (MacLaine), and her little boy Arnie (Jerry Mathers); and an older woman, Ivy (Mildred Natwick), for whom the discovery of the body leads to unexpected late-life romance.

None of these folks are particularly concerned or disturbed to find a dead man in their midst; indeed, the identity of the corpse comes as a relief to Jennifer, as he's a difficult person from her past.

But who killed him, and why? What should be done with the body? And will the Deputy Sheriff (Royal Dano) unfairly suspect one of the townspeople is the murderer?

It's a bizarre little 99-minute movie about absolutely lovely people with a problem on their hands. I was amused that at various times it reminded me of "feel good" films as diverse as CHRISTMAS IN JULY (1940) and DONOVAN'S REEF (1963).

The CHRISTMAS IN JULY connection comes when a millionaire (Parker Fennelly) stumbles across Sam's art; rather than asking for money, Sam has each of his friends (including Mildred Dunnock as a storekeeper) name what they'd like most before he whispers his own request to the man. Each person wants something simple yet meaningful.

THE TROUBLE WITH HARRY also reminded me of DONOVAN'S REEF insofar as it's what I think of as a near-plotless "hangout" movie with a fun group of people. It's even got occasional John Ford player Natwick in the cast!

And how fun is it that Hitchcock utilized Edmund Gwenn 15 years after my favorite Hitchcock movie, FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT (1940)?

The clever script was written by John Michael Hayes from a novel by Jack Trevor Story. Among the funny quotes was MacLaine's deadpan "He looked exactly the same when he was alive, only he was vertical."

Vermont was filmed in its autumnal glory by Robert Burks, with a superb Bernard Herrmann score to accent the action.

I watched THE TROUBLE WITH HARRY on Blu-ray.

Anyone open to trying something completely different from the norm should check out THE TROUBLE WITH HARRY...and this is definitely the perfect time of year to watch it.

Among the Hitchcock films remaining in my stack: LIFEBOAT (1944), UNDER CAPRICORN (1949), THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH (1956), and TOPAZ (1969).

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