''The Trouble with Harry'' is a 1955 American

Technicolor Technicolor is a family of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes. The first version, Process 1, was introduced in 1916, and improved versions followed over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black-and ...

black comedy film Black comedy, also known as black humor, bleak comedy, dark comedy, dark humor, gallows humor or morbid humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally ...

directed by

Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English film director. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featu ...

. The screenplay by

John Michael Hayes John Michael Hayes (11 May 1919 – 19 November 2008) was an American screenwriter, who wrote four of Alfred Hitchcock's films in the 1950s. Early life and education Hayes was born in Worcester, Massachusetts to John Michael Hayes Sr. and Ellen M ...

was based on the 1950 novel by

Jack Trevor Story Jack Trevor Story (30 March 1917 – 5 December 1991) was a British novelist, publishing prolifically from the 1940s to the 1970s. His best-known works are the 1949 comic mystery ''The Trouble with Harry'' (which was adapted for Alfred Hitc ...

. It starred

Edmund Gwenn Edmund Gwenn (born Edmund John Kellaway; 26 September 1877 – 6 September 1959) was an English actor. On film, he is best remembered for his role as Kris Kringle in the Christmas film ''Miracle on 34th Street'' (1947), for which he won t ...

John Forsythe John Lincoln Forsythe ( Freund; January 29, 1918 – April 1, 2010) was an American stage, film/television actor, producer, narrator, drama teacher and philanthropist whose career spanned six decades. He also appeared as a guest on several t ...

Mildred Natwick Mildred Natwick (June 19, 1905 – October 25, 1994) was an American actress. She won a Primetime Emmy Award and was nominated for an Academy Award and two Tony Awards. Early life Natwick was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the daughter of Mildre ...

Jerry Mathers Gerald Patrick Mathers (born June 2, 1948) is a former American actor best known for his role in the television sitcom ''Leave It to Beaver'', originally broadcast from 1957 to 1963. He played the protagonist Beaver Cleaver, Theodore "Beaver" Cle ...

and

Shirley MacLaine Shirley MacLaine (born Shirley MacLean Beaty; April 24, 1934) is an American actress and author. With a career spanning over 70 years, she has received List of awards and nominations received by Shirley MacLaine, numerous accolades, including a ...

in her film debut. ''The Trouble with Harry'' was released in the United States on September 30, 1955, then re-released in 1984 once the distribution rights had been acquired by

Universal Pictures Universal City Studios LLC, doing business as Universal Pictures (also known as Universal Studios or simply Universal), is an American filmmaking, film production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered at the 10 Universal Ci ...

. The action in ''The Trouble with Harry'' takes place during a sun-filled autumn in the

Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provinces and territories of Ca ...

countryside. The

fall foliage Autumn leaf color is a phenomenon that affects the normally green leaves of many deciduous trees and shrubs by which they take on, during a few weeks in the autumn season, various shades of yellow, orange, red, purple, and brown. The phenomenon ...

and the beautiful scenery around the village, as well as

Bernard Herrmann Bernard Herrmann (born Maximillian Herman; June 29, 1911December 24, 1975) was an American composer and conductor best known for his work in film scoring. As a conductor, he championed the music of lesser-known composers. He is widely regarde ...

's light-filled score, all set an idyllic tone. The story is about how residents of a small Vermont village react when the dead body of a man named Harry is found on a hillside. The film is, however, not a murder mystery: it is a light comedy-drama with a touch of romance, in which the corpse serves as a

MacGuffin In fiction, a MacGuffin (sometimes McGuffin) is an object, device, or event that is necessary to the plot and the motivation of the characters, but insignificant, unimportant, or irrelevant in itself. The term was originated by Angus MacPhail fo ...

. Four village residents end up working together to solve the problem of what to do with Harry. In the process, the younger two (an artist and a very young, twice-widowed woman) fall in love and become a couple, soon to be married. The older two residents (a captain and a spinster) also fall in love. The film was one of Hitchcock's few true comedies (though most of his films had some element of tongue-in-cheek or macabre humor). The film also contained what was, for the time, frank dialogue. One example of this is when John Forsythe's character unabashedly tells MacLaine's character that he would like to paint a nude portrait of her. The statement was extremely explicit for the time.

Plot

The quirky but down-to-earth residents of the small hamlet of Highwater, Vermont, are faced with the freshly dead body of Harry Worp, which has inconveniently appeared on the hillside above the town. The problem of who the person is, who was responsible for his sudden death, and what should be done with the body is "the trouble with Harry". Captain Wiles is sure that he killed the man with a stray shot from his rifle while hunting, until it is shown he actually shot a rabbit. Jennifer Rogers, Harry's estranged wife, believes she killed Harry because she hit him hard with a milk bottle. Miss Gravely is certain that the man died after a blow from the heel of her hiking boot when he lunged at her out of the bushes, while still reeling from the blow he received at the hands of Jennifer. Sam Marlowe, an attractive and nonconformist artist, is open-minded about the whole event, and is prepared to help his neighbors and new-found friends in any way he can. In any case, no one is upset at all about Harry's death. However, they all are hoping that the body will not come to the attention of "the authorities" in the form of cold, humorless Deputy Sheriff Calvin Wiggs, who earns his living per arrest. The Captain, Jennifer, Miss Gravely and Sam bury the body and then dig it up again several times throughout the day. They then hide the body in a bathtub before finally putting it back on the hill where it first appeared, in order to make it appear as if it was just discovered. Finally it is learned that Harry died of natural causes; no foul play at all was involved. In the meantime, Sam and Jennifer have fallen in love and wish to marry, and the Captain and Miss Gravely have also become a couple. Sam has been able to sell all his paintings to a passing millionaire, although Sam refuses money, and instead requests a few simple gifts for his friends and himself.

Cast

Production

The Trouble With Harry title from trailer

Primary location shooting took place in

Craftsbury, Vermont Craftsbury is a town in Orleans County, Vermont, United States. The population was 1,343 at the 2020 census. The town includes the unincorporated villages of Craftsbury, Craftsbury Common, Mill Village, and East Craftsbury. History The state ...

. 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. Several scenes in the film had to be shot in a rented high school gym because of persistent rain. In the gym, a 500-lb (226-kg) camera fell from a great height and barely missed Hitchcock, and the sound of the rain on the roof of the gym necessitated extensive post-production re-recording. Other locations included Morrisville and Barre, with the shooting lasting up to December of that year. Full details on the making of the film are in Steven DeRosa's book ''Writing with Hitchcock''. The paintings by the character Sam Marlowe were painted by American abstract expressionist artist

John Ferren John Millard Ferren (October 17, 1905 – July 1, 1970) was an American artist and educator. He was active from 1920 until 1970 in San Francisco, Paris and New York City. Early life John Ferren was born in Pendleton, Oregon on October 17, 1 ...

, who was present during principal photography in Vermont. While there, he instructed John Forsythe in the correct painting technique for his on-screen work. Hitchcock was particularly interested in Ferren's work, for his vivid use of color, which he thought would be resonant with the autumnal colors of New England. The sketch of the corpse, Harry Worp, was done on location by Ferren's wife, Rae Ferren, also a fine artist. Hitchcock and Ferren very much enjoyed collaborating, and as a result of this first project together, he was invited several years later to design the "special sequence" core to the 1958 Hitchcock film ''Vertigo''. The panoramic drawing for the opening credits was done by

Saul Steinberg Saul Steinberg (June 15, 1914, Rm. Sărat, Romania – May 12, 1999, New York City) was a Romanian-born American artist, best known for his work for ''The New Yorker'', most notably ''View of the World from 9th Avenue''. He described himself ...

. Alfred Hitchcock's cameo is a signature occurrence in most of his films. In ''The Trouble with Harry'', he can be seen 22:14 minutes into the film as he walks past a parked limousine while an old man looks at paintings for sale at the roadside stand. The corpse, Harry Worp, was played by Philip Truex (1911–2008), who was the son of character actor

Ernest Truex Ernest Truex (September 19, 1889 – June 26, 1973) was an American actor of stage, film, and television. Career Truex was born in Kansas City, Missouri. He learned acting at an early age after his father, a doctor, treated actor Edwin Melvin, w ...

Production credits

Musical score

''The Trouble with Harry'' is notable as a landmark in Hitchcock's career as it marked the first of several highly regarded collaborations with composer

. In an interview for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' on June 18, 1971, Hitchcock stated that the score was his favorite of all his films. Herrmann rerecorded a new arrangement of highlights from the film's score for

Phase 4 Stereo Phase 4 Stereo was a recording process created by the U.K. Decca Records label in 1961. The process was used on U.K. Decca recordings and also those of its American subsidiary London Records during the 1960s. Phase 4 Stereo recordings were crea ...

with Herrmann calling the arrangement ''A Portrait of Hitch''. A song sung by John Forsythe's character, "Flaggin' the Train to Tuscaloosa", was written by

Raymond Scott Raymond Scott (born Harry Warnow; September 10, 1908 – February 8, 1994) was an American composer, band leader, pianist and record producer. Known best in his time as a composer of production music, Scott is today regarded as an early ...

and

Mack David Mack David (July 5, 1912 – December 30, 1993) was an American lyricist and songwriter, best known for his work in film and television, with a career spanning the period between the early 1940s and the early 1970s. David was credited with writing ...

. Forsythe is not the performer, however. A "cash-in" song titled "The Trouble with Harry" was written by

Floyd Huddleston Floyd Huddleston (August 19, 1918 – September 27, 1991) was an American lyricist, screenwriter, and television producer. He wrote hundreds of songs, often for movies, and was nominated for an Academy Award in 1974. Career Huddleston was born ...

with Herb Wiseman and Mark McIntyre. A recording of the song by Ross Bagdasarian Sr. (using the pseudonym of "Alfi & Harry") was released as a single in early 1956, reaching No. 44 on the US ''Billboard'' chart and No. 15 on the UK singles chart. A competing version by

Les Baxter Leslie Thompson Baxter (March 14, 1922 – January 15, 1996) was an American composer, conductor, and musician. After working as an arranger and composer for swing bands, he developed his own style of easy listening music, known as exotica and s ...

reached No. 80 on the ''Billboard'' chart. The title aside, the record had no connection with the film.

1998 re-recording

Originally released on October 3, 1955, the original soundtrack was re-recorded in 1998 and released on CD that same year, under the

Varèse Sarabande Varèse Sarabande is an American record label, owned by Concord Music Group and distributed by Universal Music Group, which specializes in film scores and cast recording, original cast recordings. It aims to reissue rare or unavailable albums, as ...

label. All the original music, composed by

, was re-recorded at the City Halls,

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

, Scotland, on April 29, 1998, performed by the

Royal Scottish National Orchestra The Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO) () is a Scottish orchestra, based in Glasgow. It is one of the five national performing arts companies of Scotland. Throughout its history, the Orchestra has played an important part in Scotland’s ...

, under the direction of

Joel McNeely Joel McNeely (born March 28, 1959) is an American composer, conductor, arranger, musician, lyricist, and record producer. A protégé of composer Jerry Goldsmith, he is best known for his film and television scores. He won the Primetime Emmy Aw ...

. The re-recording was originally released on CD in the United Kingdom on July 27, 1998 and in the United States on October 6, 1998. It was later re-released in the UK on May 16, 2014 and in the US on July 21, 2014.

Track listing

Reception

The

world premiere A premiere, also spelled première, (from , ) is the debut (first public presentation) of a work, i.e. play, film, dance, musical composition, or even a performer in that work. History Raymond F. Betts attributes the introduction of the film ...

of ''The Trouble with Harry'' was in Vermont (where it was shot), with revenue donated to victims of a recent flood. Contemporary reviews were middling to positive.

Bosley Crowther Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. (July 13, 1905 – March 7, 1981) was an American journalist, writer, and film critic for ''The New York Times'' for 27 years. His work helped shape the careers of many actors, directors and screenwriters, though some ...

, in a mixed verdict for ''

'', wrote: "It is not a particularly witty or clever script that John Michael Hayes has put together from a novel by Jack Trevor Story, nor does Mr. Hitchcock's direction make it spin. The pace is leisurely, almost sluggish, and the humor frequently is strained ... But it does possess mild and mellow merriment all the way. The performers are beguiling in a briskly artificial style, and there's an especially disarming screwball blandness about the manner of Miss MacLaine." ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' called the film "a blithe little comedy" with Edmund Gwenn "a delight" in the lead role. ''

Harrison's Reports ''Harrison's Reports'' was a New York City–based motion picture trade journal published weekly from 1919 to 1962. The typical issue was four letter-size pages sent to subscribers under a second-class mail permit. Its founder, editor and publish ...

'' called it "a whacky, off-beat type of film, well directed and acted and quite amusing throughout", though the review cautioned that "it may be received with mixed audience reaction" because of the subject matter. Richard L. Coe of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' called the film "an odd one—sparkling cider spiked with arsenic and a sprig of poison ivy. Although I can recognize its drawbacks, I must confess it almost made me drunk with perverse pleasure." ''

The Monthly Film Bulletin The ''Monthly Film Bulletin'' was a periodical of the British Film Institute published monthly from February 1934 until April 1991, when it merged with '' Sight & Sound''. It reviewed all films on release in the United Kingdom, including those wi ...

'' called the film "a ''comedie noire'' that brilliantly maintains its precarious balance between humour and bad taste", adding, "The humour is of a quiet and concentrated kind, with the corpse of the troublesome Harry kept persistently in the foreground, and John Michael Hayes' shrewdly witty script affords Hitchcock opportunities for some typically witty macabre and sardonic invention."

John McCarten John McCarten (September 10, 1911, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – September 25, 1974, New York City) was an American writer who contributed about 1,000 pieces for ''The New Yorker'', serving as the magazine's film critic from 1945 to 1960 and B ...

of ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'' was negative, writing, "Alfred Hitchcock, whose work has been going steadily downhill ever since he arrived in Hollywood, skids to preposterous depths in 'The Trouble With Harry.'" The film was a

box office disappointment A box-office bomb is a film that is unprofitable or considered highly unsuccessful during its theatrical run. Although any film for which the combined production budget, marketing, and distribution costs exceed the revenue after release has te ...

, earning only $3.5 million in the United States. Although the movie was a financial failure in the U.S., it played for a year in England and Rome, and a year and a half in France. The film rights reverted to Hitchcock following its initial release. It was little shown for nearly 30 years, other than a showing on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

's ''Saturday Night at the Movies'' network television broadcast in the early 1960s, though there were some theatrical exhibition in 1963. After protracted negotiations with the Hitchcock estate,

reissued it in 1983, along with ''

Rear Window ''Rear Window'' is a 1954 American mystery film, mystery thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and written by John Michael Hayes, based on Cornell Woolrich's 1942 short story "After-Dinner Story, It Had to Be Murder". Originally released ...

'', ''

Vertigo Vertigo is a condition in which a person has the sensation that they are moving, or that objects around them are moving, when they are not. Often it feels like a spinning or swaying movement. It may be associated with nausea, vomiting, perspira ...

'', and '' The Man Who Knew Too Much'', which in turn led to

VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

and eventually

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

and

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

versions for the home video market.

Notes

References

External links

* * * *
Profile of Hitchcock
at ''Senses of Cinema'' website, giving particular attention to ''The Trouble With Harry'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Trouble With Harry 1955 films 1950s American films 1955 black comedy films 1950s comedy mystery films 1950s comedy thriller films 1950s English-language films American black comedy films American comedy mystery films American comedy thriller films Films based on British novels Films based on mystery novels Films directed by Alfred Hitchcock Films produced by Alfred Hitchcock Films scored by Bernard Herrmann Films set in Vermont Films shot in Vermont Films with screenplays by John Michael Hayes Paramount Pictures films VistaVision films English-language black comedy films English-language comedy mystery films English-language comedy thriller films