The Trouble With Harry (1955) - Hitchcock's blend of dark humour and murder mystery!

When the name, Alfred Hitchcock is heard, you immediately think of one of the most respected film makers, being in the 1950s and 60s essentially what Christopher Nolan is to modern film goers. No matter what he was doing, you had to see it because of Hitchcock's amazing talents behind the camera. But the one thing you may not think of is him producing dark comedies among his espionage fuelled thrillers. But that's just what he did occasionally. And after sitting through The Trouble With Harry, it's clear that Hitchcock's talents spread far across multiple genres.

It's easy to take advantage of the many comedy films nowadays that utilise dark humour as regular occurrence, we have remember how much of a controversy jokes around death use to be. Even as far back as 1926 when Buster Keaton's The General was looked down upon for making jokes about soldiers dying. And while people's attitudes towards dark humour had begun to change by the time of 1955, it still wasn't common for a story about dealing with a dead body to be handled in a humorous manner. But overall, the story is so simplistic but effortlessly fun to enjoy. It may not have the wizzes and bangs of most modern films, but sometimes you just want to see characters dealing with a situation.

The humour in this film is primarily based on the situation being handled, and how each character reacts. It doesn't have to rely on the standards jokes we see nowadays which principally get built around cheap laugh tracks or modern comedy cliques. And that might be a deterrent for some who want the humour to constantly drive the story. The level of humour in this film isn't going to be everyone's taste, but if you are able to ignore the spacious gaps between moments of laughter, you get some very comical reactions to the fact that all 4 of our leads either think they've accidentally killed this man, or are simply trying to decide what to do with the corpse. The constant burying/digging it up scenario adds to the chaos.

Now would I say this is among Hitchcock's best? No, I personally would say Hitchcock's strengths lie with thrillers and mysteries, which is evident in this film, but this film doesn't demonstrate his strengths in comedy. The moments of comedy as stated before are spaced out and not to everyone's taste. Where Hitchcock really succeeds is the beautiful camerawork and first class performances by his cast. The cinematography is sublime, with crisp and vibrant photography throughout. The music by Hitchcock's regular collaborator, Bernard Herrmann is beautiful soothing. Focusing a lot on the idyllic autumn setting, the innocence of the characters, and how shocking and out of the blue this mystery death is.

And while this film isn't rib achingly hilarious, this film still demonstrates many of Hitchcock's incredible talents. The story keeps you invested with what our cast will do next with this dead body, and the cinematography and music are still sublime over 65 years since it's release. If you want to get into Hitchcock's classic work but don't want to dive straight into the gritty, espionage thrillers, I'd say this film is a light starting point.

SCORES

Story - 3.5/5

Characters - 3/5

Production - 4/5

Acting - 5/5

Music - 5/5

Total - 8.2/10