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The Trouble With Harry

The Trouble With Harry

List Price: $19.98
Your Price: $17.98
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Perfect for a late summer day
Review: If you find yourself longing for simpler times, and the long hot summer days are growing tedious making you wish for autumn, then pop this film in and enjoy! The plot is fairly simple--A dead body that everyone thinks they've killed and keep burying, and subsequently unburying brings 4 neighbors together. But that doesn't do it justice. The characterizations are great--particularly Shirley MacLaine as frankly relieved widow, and Edmund Gwenn as the tugboat captain who starts the whole thing going with his illicit rabbit hunting. The scenery is fantastic--lots of exterior shots of New England in Autumn, and Hitchcock captures the feel of small town Vermont wonderfully. If you are expecting something akin to "Psycho" or "Vertigo", you'll be disappointed. But if you are in the mood for a charming -yet-perverse comedy, you'll come away smiling.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Hitchcock's very "off center" black comedy
Review: In the classic "Twilight Zone" episode "Five Characters in Search of an Exit," viewers are introduced to just that: a ballerina, an Army officer, a clown, a tramp, and a bagpipe player seeking to escape from a cylindrical prison. At the end of the show, it is revealed that they are actually dolls that want "out"" from their round "home".

While the four major characters in "The Trouble with Harry" are not dolls, they are definitely trying to "escape" from a prison of sorts, a prison of guilt over Harry's death of which they feel responsible. In a series of coincidences/mishaps stars Edmund Gwenn (a former ship captain), John Forsythe (a painter), Shirley MacLaine (single parent), and Mildred Natwick (a spinster) either "kill", "bury", or "resurrect" the dearly departed. But, Harry proves to be an illusive corpse.

None of the eccentric characters shows much remorse because Harry wasn't a very likeable person; in fact, there is a lot of witty repartee between them as they discuss that to do with him.

While this is far from one of "The Master's" best, it benefits from delightfully droll performances, a light-hearted Bernard Herrmann score, and post card-like images of New England, the film's setting.

Rounding out the cast are a pre-"Beaver" Jerry Mathers as MacLaine's son, Mildred Dunnock as a local shopkeeper, and Royal Dano as the shopkeeper's police deputy son.

Dano had a long career as a character actor and can be heard as the voice of Abraham Lincoln at the Disney theme parks' "Hall of Presidents".

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Hitchcock's very "off center" black comedy
Review: In the classic "Twilight Zone" episode "Five Characters in Search of an Exit," viewers are introduced to just that: a ballerina, an Army officer, a clown, a tramp, and a bagpipe player seeking to escape from a cylindrical prison. At the end of the show, it is revealed that they are actually dolls that want "out"" from their round "home".

While the four major characters in "The Trouble with Harry" are not dolls, they are definitely trying to "escape" from a prison of sorts, a prison of guilt over Harry's death of which they feel responsible. In a series of coincidences/mishaps stars Edmund Gwenn (a former ship captain), John Forsythe (a painter), Shirley MacLaine (single parent), and Mildred Natwick (a spinster) either "kill", "bury", or "resurrect" the dearly departed. But, Harry proves to be an illusive corpse.

None of the eccentric characters shows much remorse because Harry wasn't a very likeable person; in fact, there is a lot of witty repartee between them as they discuss that to do with him.

While this is far from one of "The Master's" best, it benefits from delightfully droll performances, a light-hearted Bernard Herrmann score, and post card-like images of New England, the film's setting.

Rounding out the cast are a pre-"Beaver" Jerry Mathers as MacLaine's son, Mildred Dunnock as a local shopkeeper, and Royal Dano as the shopkeeper's police deputy son.

Dano had a long career as a character actor and can be heard as the voice of Abraham Lincoln at the Disney theme parks' "Hall of Presidents".

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Interesting and overlooked film.
Review: More than likely if you have seen this film you are a fan of Hitchcock. I doubt this film is seen by the more casual film viewer. While by no means Hitchcocks greatest film it is a very good one. The light humor and budding relationships between Forsythe & Maclaine and Gwynn & Natwick work well in this murder mystery. The scenery is beautiful. I agree with one of the previous viewers, the theatrical trailer is cheesy. I guess the producers of this DVD could not locate the orginal 1955 trailer. The scenery in this film is, also as stated by others, beautiful. This film should be viewed by any Hitchcock or mystery fan.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: a masterpiece...
Review: My favorite of Hitch's films and one of my all-time favorites. Made the year I was born (1955), Harry endeared himself to me upon my very first viewing. From the delightful characters to the gorgeous Vermont scenery, Harry is a true classic. I cannot think of a more enjoyable film. If you have not seen Harry, you owe it to yourself to do so: it is a treat.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Offbeat but wonderful Hitchcock
Review: Shot in a blaze of Autumn colors in Barre and Craftsbury Common Vermont, "Harry" is Hitchcock's black comedy. The story opens with young Arnie Rogers ("The Beaver" Jerry Mathers) discovering a corpse lying in a open field. He runs home tells his air-head mother Jennifer (Shirley MacLaine) what he found. Jennifer thinks she did Harry in, but so does Captain Wiles (Edmund Gwenn) and Ivy Gravely (Mildred Natwick) and as a result, Harry gets buried and dug up so many times we lose track. The film is about how these diffident denizens of a small Vermont town relate, gradually revealing more and more about themselves. The dialog is wonderful, but you have to like films that move slowly with lots of conversation, if you do, you will love "Harry." The photography is magnificent, the beauty of Vermont pours through. Vermont still looks just like it did when "Harry" was filmed, fantastic.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Offbeat but wonderful Hitchcock
Review: Shot in a blaze of Autumn colors in Barre and Craftsbury Common Vermont, "Harry" is Hitchcock's black comedy. The story opens with young Arnie Rogers ("The Beaver" Jerry Mathers) discovering a corpse lying in a open field. He runs home tells his air-head mother Jennifer (Shirley MacLaine) what he found. Jennifer thinks she did Harry in, but so does Captain Wiles (Edmund Gwenn) and Ivy Gravely (Mildred Natwick) and as a result, Harry gets buried and dug up so many times we lose track. The film is about how these diffident denizens of a small Vermont town relate, gradually revealing more and more about themselves. The dialog is wonderful, but you have to like films that move slowly with lots of conversation, if you do, you will love "Harry." The photography is magnificent, the beauty of Vermont pours through. Vermont still looks just like it did when "Harry" was filmed, fantastic.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: One Honey of a Movie. Funny, and beautiful too!
Review: The ensemble acting in this film is superb. All the actors are well cast, but together they are something superior even to the sum of its parts. One can single out the leads (Forsythe, Natwick, Gwenn, and MacLaine) for special brovos, but it is the ensemble that makes the difference.

The film has several remarkable firsts, chief among them being that this is the first film score by Bernard Hermann for Alfred Hitchcok. And a super score it is! You will find it lighter than the scores for Psycho or North by Northwest, but every bit as good!

The film is the Hollywood debut for Shirley Maclaine, but on seeing her performance you would not realize it is a debut; she is already the consummate actress!

The color in this film (especially given the sharpness and detail of its DVD presentation) is glorious. This must be about the best film appearance of New Hampshire fall color!

And the plot? Hitchcock at his spryest. We have always known, of course, that Hitchcock is a master at comedy; this film is the proof of that cinematic pudding.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: The Trouble with the DVD
Review: The transfer itself is pretty great, although they could have managed to touch up a few pretty obvious scratches. The film itself is funny, made more so by the knowledge the viewer has that Hitch is pulling the strings. But John Forsythe's lead performance and some weak early scenes involving him and Shirley MacLaine keep it from being one of the master's strongest outings (which of course still makes it superior to most). My real problem with the DVD are the extras. They just seem sloppy and tossed together. The "theatrical trailer" is actually a bad circa 85 ad for the MCA release of the VHS with the most cheesy voiceover. The recommendations section includes a listing for "The Torn Curtain". And the documentary is put together in such a slipshod manner that it mentions Edmund Gwynn once, and only in passing, to say that it was a good cast. Wondering about Mildred Natwick? You won't get any information here -- she doesn't even merit a mention in the Cast and Filmmakers section. In fact, more time is spent on the actor who "played" Harry rather than any other actor save Forsythe and MacLaine. And, by the way, what's Shirley MacLaine doing that's so important that she can't sit down for an interview? The only real positive about the doc is that it devotes a section to Bernard Herrmann.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I'm the 11-year old Below
Review: THE TROUBLE WITH HARRY is a morbid [dark] comedy, full of witty dialogue and offbeat performances. It is a masterpiece of dreary atmosphere(set in a beautiful fall country setting)and wonderful realization. It is endearing and feel-good, morbid and dark, and funny yet subtle, too. Alfred Hitchcock does good with this film. Edmund Gwenn is perfect, John Forsythe is intelligent, Mildred Natwick is endearing, Shirley Maclaine is wonderfully offbeat, Jerry Mathers is cute, and Mildred Dunnock is marvelously bland. The soundtrack is very whimsical and sets the mood perfectly. I recommend it to everyone. Also, if you can get hold of the novel of the same name by J. Trevor Story, it is excellent also with many funny additions.


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