Mais qui a tué Harry?

Amusing and lighthearted suspense story about the apparition a corpse on the countryside and there being many suspicious , causing all sorts of troubles for peaceful neighbors in a rural community . Problems take place in a quiet New England little town when a man's bothersome body is found in the forests . The trouble is that almost everyone in town thinks that they had something to do with his death . As Sam Marlowe (John Forsythe) , Mrs. Rogers (film debut of Shirley MacLaine , and she is marvelous as usual) , Captain Wiles (Edmund Gwenn's fourth and last film with Alfred Hitch) and Miss Gravel (Mildred Natwick , John Ford's usual actress) , all of them are suspicious people and carry out several tricks and antics to disappear the evidences , in fact , Harry gets dug up three times throughout the film . Meanwhile , Deputy Sheriff Calvin Wiggs (Royal Dano), the closest thing to law enforcement in their town attempts to finds out about Harry (Alfred Hitchcock insisted on using a real actor for the body of Harry).

Enjoyable mystery movie involves a motley group of characters who hold numerous tricks in order to disappear a corpse as well as find alibis . Entertaining suspense movie packs humor , intrigue and ordinary Hitch touches . This agreeable and often hilarious picture has some 'Black comedy nature' and results to be an unexpected change of pace from master of suspense . Alfred Hitchcock's films have become famous for a number of elements and iconography : vertiginous height , innocent men wrongfully accused, blonde bombshells dressed in white, voyeurism, long non-dialogue sequences, etc. However in this film there aren't these particularities but contains a fun intrigue and amusing situations . Hitch was famous for making his actors follow the script to the word, and in this movie the characters use their dialogue taken from an interesting as well as fun screenplay by Jon Michael Hayes based on the novel by Jack Trevor Story . Alfred Hitchcock's movies were known for featuring famous landmarks such as Mount Rushmore in North by Northwest and the Statue of Liberty in Sabotage ; however here only appears a quiet small town and some colorful outdoors . Hitch apparently decided to leave this movie location unspecific and without recognizable landmarks and filmed in Vermont , though it was hampered by heavy rainfall , as many exterior scenes were actually filmed on sets constructed in a local high school gymnasium . Alfred Hitchcock once said of this film and of ¨Family plot¨ : ¨they are treated with a bit of levity and sophistication , I wanted the feeling of the famous director Ernst Lubitsch making mystery thrillers ." The film was unavailable for decades because its rights -together with four other pictures of the same period- were bought back by Alfred Hitchcock and left as part of his legacy to his daughter. They've been known for years as the infamous "5 lost Hitchcocks" among film buffs, and were re-released in theaters around 1984 after a 30-year absence. The others are ¨The Man Who Knew Too Much¨ (1956), ¨The rear window¨ (1954), ¨The rope¨ (1948) and ¨Vertigo¨(1958). When Music Composer Lyn Murray was working on the music score for ¨Catch a thief' (1955), Alfred Hitchcock was already looking for a composer for this film, which was to be his next. So Murray suggested Bernard Herrmann. Bernard arranged his whimsical themes from this film into a concert suite he called "A Portrait of Hitch". This was the beginning of the long professional relationship between Hitchcock and Herrmann. Colorful and glimmer cinematography in Vistavision by Robert Burks , Alfred's ordinary cameraman , showing nice autumn outdoors .

The motion picture was well directed by Alfred Hitchcock . Originally designed by Hitchcock as an experiment in seeing how audiences would react to a non-star-driven film and was one of Alfred's favorites of all his films . Although this was a failure in the US, it played for a year in England and Italy, and for a year and a half in France. Rating : Better than average . Well worth watching .

What is most notable about The Trouble with Harry is that it is a very early example of an American black comedy. At the time, black humour was mainly the reserve of the British, most notably films from Ealing studio, such as Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949). Laughing at murder was not something American audiences really understood or appreciated at this time, so it would be fair to say that this movie only ever got the go-ahead due to the considerable clout its director Alfred Hitchcock had at the time. As it was, it is one of the few out-and-out comedies that he ever made. He almost always included humorous moments and comic characters in his more typical thrillers but with this one, they took centre stage and the thriller part of the plot was marginalised to the point of irrelevance. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it was not a big hit in the United States but it did do well in Europe and it did subsequently turn a profit.

It is an unusual film. The humour is really very silly. The characters never behave believably at any point. It's about the discovery of a dead body in the countryside; several characters think that they must have been responsible his death. In some ways it felt like a proto version of the TV series Twin Peaks. Not only is the story propelled by the discovery of a dead body but both share the quirky small-town characters and absurd humour. They also share a remote idyllic setting for their murder mystery, in this case New England. The leafy golden woodlands certainly make for a pleasant landscape. John Forsythe plays the central character, a bohemian artist. Better was Shirley McLaine in her first starring role, as the wife of the dead Harry. She gives an effortlessly sweet and likable performance. Hitchcock soundtrack regular Bernard Herrmann chips in with a playful reworking of a typical Hitchcock thriller score; the music really fits the picture.

The Trouble with Harry isn't really laugh-out-loud funny to be perfectly honest. But it is one of the strangest films that Hitchcock ever made. It shows again that he was always willing to experiment with off-beat ideas. It must have been quite a puzzling film at the time of its release.

Lovely colourful photography of Vermont. A fantastic adorable debut from Shirley Maclaine that earned her a Golden Globe. Amusing, endearing performances by all characters. And a large dose of Hitchcockian humour that begins with the credits. However the doctor who reads while walking and stumbling was a bit over the top.

Everyone who had something to do with Harry just can't figure out if he should stay buried or dig him up. From there, Hitchcock's black comedy brings about tension and giggles. Seems that everyone had a reason for wanting Harry out of the picture, only trouble is, Harry is more trouble dead than alive. A light film for Hitchcock, but it does contain the transference of guilt theme, and the guilt bounces all over our main players. A small gem of a film that often gets overlooked, watch this one and you'll be charmed by the trouble that Harry causes.

When I read the box at the video store, I thought it sounded a little silly, but since it was directed buy Hitchcock, I decided to give it a try. I was glad I did!

This film does a good job at showing what life is like (in a twisted way) in a small American town. Of course the whole thing is a black comedy about a corpse, but it's great fun, and suspenseful too, especially when Calvin is in the room, questioning everybody. I didn't understand why the door kept opening, but maybe it was just a joke - normally the door would signal a killer entering or something like that - but the door is never any cause for alarm.

All the actors are good, especially Gwenn, and Mrs. Gravely was so endearing. Don't ignore this lesser known Hitchcock movie. It's a treat to watch and is genuinely funny.