The Trouble with Harry (1955)

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Starring Edmund Gwenn, Shirley MacLaine, John Forsythe, Mildred Natwick, Micred Dunnock, Royal Dano, Jerry Mathers. [PG]

A blithe but bland change of pace for Hitchcock swings into black comedy territory as the body of a fellow named Harry turns up on the side of a hill just outside a small Vermont town, and although no one knows for sure what happened to him, multiple residents swear that they’re inadvertently responsible. Some amusing performances and macabre inventions maintain interest, but it’s a stodgy, slow-moving affair lacking big crescendos or surprises as payoff; the “trouble” is that the gorgeous (if artificial) environs, including the blazing colors of autumnal trees, vastly outshine John Michael Hayes’ tongue-in-cheek script. The leaves of those trees, it should be noted, were shipped in from Vermont and pinned to the fake trees on the soundstage where the movie was shot. Ends on a self-satisfied note more worthy of shrugs than smiles. MacLaine’s film acting debut.

61/100