The Trouble with Harry (1955)

Director:

Alfred Hitchcock

Writers:

John Michael Hayes (screenplay)
Jack Trevor Story (novel)

Release Date:

3 October 1955 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

A comedy about a corpse.

Plot:

The trouble with Harry is that he's dead, and everyone seems to have a different idea of what needs to be done with his body...

Plot Keywords:

Artist | Suspect | New England | Dead Body | Macguffin

Awards:

Nominated for 2 BAFTA Film Awards. Another 1 nomination

Cast

Edmund Gwenn	...	Capt. Albert Wiles
John Forsythe	...	Sam Marlowe
Mildred Natwick	...	Miss Ivy Gravely
Mildred Dunnock	...	Mrs. Wiggs
Jerry Mathers	...	Arnie Rogers
Royal Dano	...	Deputy Sheriff Calvin Wiggs
Parker Fennelly	...	Millionaire
Barry Macollum	...	Tramp
Dwight Marfield	...	Dr. Greenbow
Shirley MacLaine	...	Jennifer Rogers
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ernest Curt Bach	...	Ellis (uncredited)
Alfred Hitchcock	...	Man walking past Sam's outdoor exhibition (uncredited)
Philip Truex	...	Harry Worp (uncredited)
Leslie Wolff	...	Art Critic from the Modern Museum (uncredited)

Directed by
Alfred Hitchcock

Writing credits
John Michael Hayes		(screenplay)
Jack Trevor Story		(novel)

Produced by
Herbert Coleman	....	associate producer
Alfred Hitchcock	....	producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Bernard Herrmann		(music score by)

Cinematography by
Robert Burks

Film Editing by
Alma Macrorie

Art Direction by
John B. Goodman		(as John Goodman)
Hal Pereira

Set Decoration by
Sam Comer
Emile Kuri

Costume Design by
Edith Head

Makeup Department
Wally Westmore	....	makeup supervisor

Production Management
C.O. Erickson	....	unit production manager (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Howard Joslin	....	assistant director

Art Department
Gene Lauritzen	....	construction coordinator (uncredited)

Sound Department
Winston H. Leverett	....	sound recordist (as Winston Leverett)
Harold Lewis	....	sound recordist

Special Effects by
John P. Fulton	....	special photographic effects

Visual Effects by
Scott Dougherty	....	digital restoration producer: Cinesite (uncredited)
Jerry Pooler	....	digital restoration supervisor (uncredited)
Tiffany Smith	....	digital restoration coordinator: Cinesite (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Bobby Greene	....	first assistant camera (uncredited)
Leonard J. South	....	camera operator (uncredited)

Other crew
Richard Mueller	....	technicolor color consultant
Saul Steinberg	....	title illustrator (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Alfred J. Hitchcock Productions
• Paramount Pictures

Distributors

• Paramount Pictures (1955) (USA) (theatrical)
• Les Films Paramount (1956) (France) (theatrical)
• Paramount (1956) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Paramount Pictures (1963) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• American Broadcasting Company (ABC) (1967) (USA) (TV) (original airing)
• Universal Pictures (1984) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• MCA Home Video (1985) (USA) (VHS)
• Universal Pictures (1999) (Germany) (VHS)
• Universal Home Video (2001) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Universal Pictures (2001) (Germany) (DVD)
• Universal Pictures (2001) (Germany) (VHS)
• CIC Vídeo (19??) (Brazil) (VHS)
• MCA/Universal Home Video (????) (USA) (VHS) (199?)

Other Companies

• International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE)  this picture made under the jurisdiction of (as I.A.T.S.E.)

Runtime:

99 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.50 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Portugal:M/12 | Spain:13 | Brazil:12 | USA:Approved (certificate no. 17335) | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG | Chile:14 | Finland:K-12 | Ireland:PG | Peru:14 | UK:PG | USA:PG | West Germany:12 | Canada:PG

Filming Locations:

Barre, Vermont, USA

Company:

Alfred J. Hitchcock Productions

Trivia:

Due to the indifferent weather conditions in Vermont, boxes and boxes of autumnal leaves were shipped back to California where they were painstakingly pinned onto trees on a studio soundstage.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the second-to-last scene there is a large wet spot on Jennifer's blouse. A few seconds later, the wet spot is completely gone.

Quotes:

[Upon finding the Captain dragging a body along the ground]
Miss Graveley: What seems to be the trouble, Captain?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Odyssey 5: Trouble with Harry (#1.12)" (2002)

Soundtrack:

Flaggin' the Train to Tuscaloosa

Outlandish black comedy from Hitch, a failure when released as it was probably a little ahead of its time.

The Trouble With Harry is a comedy film about a dead body. Alfred Hitchcock makes the macabre concept deliciously funny and entertaining in his unique style. Helping Hitchcock to turn this unlikeliest of premises into an enjoyable film are Bernard Herrmann (providing fabulous music scoring), and a cast of winning actors who judge to perfection how far to push their tongues into their cheeks.

A dead body turns up on a patch of grass near the top of a wooded New England hill. Various people have reason to believe that they're responsible for the man's death. Septugenarian ex-sea captain Albert Wiles (Edmund Gwenn) is worried that he might have accidentally shot the man while hunting for rabbits. Old spinster Miss Gravely (Mildred Natwick) fears that when she whacked the man over the head with her shoe, she may have done more damage than she intended. And single mother Jennifer (Shirley MacLaine) has even greater cause to feel responsible, for she is the dead man's wife. During an argument, she smashed a bottle over his head and is now almost sure that he died as a result. Local artist Sam Marlowe (John Forsythe) decides to help his neighbours to cover up the crime, but after burying and digging up the corpse several times, the truth behind "Harry's" death is finally revealed.

No Hitchcock film divides viewers more than this one. Some consider the film a masterpiece of understated black comedy; others deem it a plot less, pointless time-waster. The film was a fairly massive box office flop at the time (audiences obviously felt from the movie poster that they were going to see a murder mystery, and were disappointed to actually find themselves experiencing a bizarre, off-kilter black comedy). In retrospect, I'd say The Trouble With Harry is a great film that was probably a good two decades ahead of its time. The performances are wonderfully outrageous, especially the elders (Gwenn and Natwick) who give perceptive comic turns that actors nowadays just don't seem to have the range to do. Forsythe and MacLaine are delightful too (the latter in her movie debut), and Royal Dano rounds off the cast as a gullible cop who nearly finds out that the other four have been up to no good. There's no doubt that The Trouble With Harry is an acquired taste; but if this taste is to your liking then you're in for a delectable treat!