Alfred Hitchcock

notes on...

WITH HARRY TROUBLE THE

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Hitchcock’s obsession with murder and the macabre seemed to take over the majority of his work and often created spellbinding and suspenseful results. But in 1954, Hitchcock produced a film that put a different viewing filter over his dark vision. Though a death lies at the very heart of The Trouble With Harry, never before has Hitchcock been so jovial and comedic about the subject matter. In all honesty, the most accurate description of the film would be a romantic comedy, perhaps showing a more tender side to Hitchcock than the often perceived actor-ranching director. The Trouble With Harry plays like a mirror image of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express.

Words... Adam ScovellDesign... Avalon Lyndon

The Harry in question is a dead man found by a small number of people in a picturesque town in New England. Instead of the usual whodunit, The Trouble With Harry plays the game of finding who didn’t do it, with almost every character we meet suspected

to have accidentally killed him. What hits you in the film’s first moments is the wonderful colour and landscape framing Harry’s body. The beautiful,autumnal vista of the New England countryside is set to Bernard Herrmann’s evocative, Vaughan

piece of composition that is so typical of Hitchcock. Next to find him is Captain Wiles, played by the cuddly Edmund Gwenn. Believing himself to have shot Harry by accident while out hunting, he is the first to take the blame. Following suit are Mrs Wiggs and

Williams-like soundtrack. The opening is as fresh as a September morning, just with a corpse added into the mix. Harry’s body is first found by a small boy. The scene is framed in a wonderful shot of Harry’s feet book-ending the boy, the kind of quirky

“an escape to a world where even

death can be a triviality”

childhoods can create schizophrenic murderers. This is a world of selling paintings to passers-by, strolling in the countryside and inviting neighbours over for blueberry muffins and elderberry wine. The characters seem more inconvenienced by the death of Harry than genuinely unnerved; it’s more of a Disney outlook. You are envious of these characters’ lives, even despite the situation currently causing a kerfuffle on their doorsteps. Though not as dark or menacing as some of Hitchcock’s other work, The Trouble With Harry is a quiet and cosy film that simply wants to evoke a gentle chortle. This is a perfect piece of escapism and, for once, it’s an escape to a world where even a death can be a triviality.

Jennifer Rogers (in Shirley Maclaine’s screen debut). Helped by Sam the artist, the Captain decides to bury him. What follows is a stop-and-start narrative that gradually ticks off the suspects, with Harry having to be dug up from his secret grave in the woods several times. If this is all sounding too macabre, perhaps more detail on the romantic side of the fence will show the true warmth of the film. Romance blossoms thanks to Harry’s death and it appears that his character brings more happiness dead than alive. But there’s nothing particularly twisted about this. Even as it is revealed that one of the characters is actually Harry’s spouse, Hitchcock creates a beautiful hyperreality where even death is something jovial. This isn’t a world where abusive

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