Review of The Trouble with Harry (1955) by Ninon M — 10 Aug 2017

The Trouble with Harry is one of Hitchcock's rare attempts at a comedy. Naturally it's still a black comedy that literally starts with a dead body. This is the kind of comedy that suits him, though, because he mixes in a little bit of murder mystery and some moments meant to surprise or startle the audience too. It worked great for me, and got me laughing a lot. It becomes a bit of a comedy of errors as people try to do what's right but keep digging a deeper hole instead.

The cast is brilliant, and loaded with faces that you'll recognize. I particularly loved Edmund Gwen who is charming and has superb comedic timing. The entire cast understood the tone of the film, so their conversations all have a lightness to them. It's almost to an extreme where nothing in the film is taken seriously by anyone. I wouldn't say that is a problem, but they are dealing with death and possible murder, so it feels like someone should be taking it seriously.

I must say, I was a little thrown off by the relationships between the characters in The Trouble with Harry. I could not figure out if everyone knew everyone else well or if they were all basically strangers, or what. At times people behaved like they were meeting one another for the first time and needed to learn all about them, and other times they behaved with a lot of familiarity. This confusion made the relationships that developed feel too fast and unearned. Aside from that quibble this was a fun film that I'm glad I've seen.