The Trouble with Harry (1955) | Presenting Hitchcock Podcast

Gooooood evening. In this months episode of Presenting Hitchcock, Cory and Aaron sit down with a cool glass of cider and discuss “The Trouble With Harry.”

The Picture:

Picture Title: Dial M for Murder

Written by: John Michael Hayes, adapted from the novel by Jack Trevor Story

Starring: Edmund Gwenn, John Forsyth, Shirley McLaine, Mildred Natwick, Mildred Dunnock, Jerry Mathers and Royal Dano

Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock

Year Released: 1955

The Trailer:

Our Favourite Trivia:

DIRECTOR CAMEO: Walking past the old man’s limousine when Mrs. Wiggs looks out the window

This movie was one of the infamous “five lost Hitchcocks” re-released in theaters in 1984 after thirty years. The others are Rope (1948), Rear Window (1954), The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), and Vertigo (1958).

Hitchcock bought the rights to the original novel anonymously for just $11,000.

This movie was Hitchcock’s experiment to see how audiences would react to a non-star-driven movie. He was of the opinion that oftentimes having a big star attached actually hindered the narrative flow and style of the story. He also developed the movie to test how American audiences would react to a more subtle brand of humor than they were used to.

After The Skin Game (1931), Strauss’ Great Waltz (1934) and Foreign Correspondent (1940), this was Edmund Gwenn’s fourth and final film with Alfred Hitchcock.

Primary location shooting took place in Craftsbury, Vermont. Assuming that the town would be in full foliage, the company showed up for outdoor shots on September 27, 1954. To the filmmakers’ shock, there was hardly any foliage left; to achieve a full effect, leaves were glued to the trees.

Location filming in Vermont was hampered by heavy rainfall. Many exterior scenes were filmed on sets constructed in a local high school gymnasium, but much of the dialogue recorded there was inaudible due to the rainfall on the tin roof, and much post-recording was necessary.

Several scenes in the film had to be shot in a rented high school gym because of the persistent rain. In the gym, a 500-lb (226-kg) camera fell from a great height and barely missed hitting Hitchcock, and the sound of the rain on the roof of the gym necessitated extensive post-production re-recording.

Hitchcock insisted on using a real actor for the body of Harry. The corpse was played by Philip Truex (1911-2008), who was the son of character actor Ernest Truex. This cameo as the deceased title character is his last appearance in a movie

Sam Marlowe’s paintings were by American abstract expressionist artist John Ferren. His wife, Rae Ferren, was also an artist and drew the sketch of Harry Worp. The panoramic drawing for the opening credits was done by Saul Steinberg.

Lyn Murray, who was scoring To Catch a Thief (1955) at the time, suggested Bernard Herrmann for The Trouble with Harry (1955), and this was the beginning of the long professional relationship between Hitchcock and Herrmann. Hitchcock said this score was his favorite of the seven movies they did together.

Although a perverse sense of humor permeates all of his movies, this was only Alfred Hitchcock’s second outright comedy (his first was Mr. & Mrs. Smith (1941)). Perhaps because American audiences of the 1950s were uncomfortable with “black comedy”, this was one of Hitchcock’s few box-office failures upon its initial U.S. release.

The Random Draw for Next Picture:

Next up, we’ll be discussing “The Ring”

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