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The Trouble with Harry
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The Trouble with Harry

1955
Comedy, Mystery
1h 39m
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Avg Percentile 52.08% from 1178 total ratings

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(1178)
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Rated 14 Aug 2007
65
25th
The trouble with this movie is not that it's a comedy... the trouble is it's not very funny, and kinda boring. Hitchcock can definitely do funny (see Mr. & Mrs. Smith, or the moments of comedy in almost any of his other films), but here it's too dry, too self-aware, too tongue-in-cheek... too SOMETHING, anyway. But it's not terrible, and makes a nice debut for Shirley Maclaine.
Rated 18 Feb 2012
51
35th
Somewhat quirky; enough so to be interesting. But it's a comedy that mostly isn't funny, and some of the acting is simply horrible. People falling in love over the course of a few hours was just the tip of the inadequate shambles of an iceberg. Not good.
Rated 08 Oct 2007
70
56th
It's no "Weekend at Bernie's".
Rated 27 Jan 2017
69
54th
Plenty to like here. It has some very nice shots, with bright autumn colours bursting from the screen, and the Herrmann score is great. The assortment of curious characters, their attitudes and the chain of events land the weird tone somewhere between Ealing and Coen Brothers, and some of the dialogue is fun. Edmund Gwenn was rather cool, and I liked MacLaine in her first role. It does get a wee bit silly towards the end, though, and I got a bit disengaged. Worth seeing, but not a priority.
Rated 28 Apr 2009
68
30th
Hitchcock set a pretty bad low here, it really wasn't a great exercise in film making in any aspect, I wasn't even amused at any of the humor, just bored. Perhaps 50 years ago people actually laughed at mundane, stupid things, but now this is more likely to give you cancer than a laugh.
Rated 28 Jul 2009
36
10th
I still refuse to believe that this garbage was made by Hitch.
Rated 09 May 2016
80
56th
While the dark nature of the comedy and the nonchalant approach of each character toward death and the handling of a body continuously had me chuckling, it still was not what stuck out most to me in this film. Hitchcock's filming of conversations kept catching my eye. My favorite example of this is the first time we enter Mrs. Wiggs' store. It was how Hitchcock used the scenery of the shop to influence the conversation that I enjoyed so much.
Rated 09 May 2015
50
16th
The humor here felt too silly to work well as a dark comedy. It's an interesting premise, but the execution just wasn't there. I think it may be my least favorite of the Hitchcocks I've seen.
Rated 13 Feb 2014
83
82nd
About the strangest romantic comedy I've ever seen.
Rated 20 Apr 2011
60
19th
"A double-bed!" Gagagoooosh!
Rated 04 Oct 2013
3
30th
in a way the uniformly terrible dialogue makes it sort of twee, but it's obvious that neither hitchcock nor his writers can write funny jokes. or romances. the quirky grave digging plot is the best thing about this, but given that no-one would shut their traps this is mostly a failure.
Rated 20 Apr 2016
20
13th
The trouble with Hitchcock comedies is that they're not funny, same thing as Coen Bros. comedies - they can both produce great humour in a different context but when trying to produce comedy for its own sake they fail miseraby
Rated 24 Mar 2007
70
82nd
Quite funny.
Rated 12 May 2012
62
42nd
If you can sit back and forget that this was made by Hitchcock then it's a charming, sporadically amusing dark comedy. It does drag in the middle as the characters sheer indifference to coming across a corpse in the beginning is where most of the comedy lies, after that it starts to get a bit formulaic but still an entertaining watch.
Rated 09 Nov 2011
42
22nd
No, it's not a morbid and black comedy. It's annoying characters (John Forsythe's Sam is so self-satisfied it’s unbelievable) behaving like children in an extremely dated film. One of Hitchcock's worst. (Pretty elegant storyline though.)
Rated 28 Apr 2009
60
47th
As one of the famed "lost Hitchcocks", I want to like this better than I actually do. Maybe this was much more daring in 1955
Rated 10 May 2010
74
51st
So fucking bizarre. I thought it had a similar vibe to Arsenic and Old Lace. Perhaps I'm just not used to the idea of a black comedy from that time period, as I'm always so delightedly confused and yet amused by the humour.
Rated 31 Jul 2015
80
37th
This finds Alfred Hitchcock applying everything he knows about filmmaking to a farcical murder mystery. As a silly comedy that's light on thrills, it's entirely unlike anything that he had made before, but it still feels distinctly like one of his works, which makes it a fascinating watch. Much of the film's success is due to the cast, because they all nail the script's outlandish tone and sly sense of humor. It's just about the bubbliest black comedy ever made
Rated 07 Jul 2010
3
45th
Hitchcock always had sharp wit, and this is one of the blackest of comedies. Unfortunately it's not terribly funny, but it is a light, amusing, and generally fun way to pass the time. The plot doesn't go through too many significant motions, but Hitch seems more concerned with characterizations, and how each person feels obligated and responsible for a murder no one's quite sure of. Notable for Shirley MacLaine's first appearance and gorgeous Autumnal photography.
Rated 14 Jun 2021
72
71st
Somewhere, there is an alternate universe where Hitchcock directs more straight comedies. We don't live in that universe, so we have this and his strains from his other films. Here, the main mover and shaker of the film is a dead body, which shouldn't work, but does.
Rated 08 Oct 2018
65
20th
Mr bean meets Rope
Rated 25 Nov 2019
70
42nd
A really odd film from Hitchcock that's somewhat appealing due to the very nonchalant ways in which everyone deals with a corpse turning up. You can't help feeling that someone with a bit more of a ferociously satirical edge would have done better with this, say Billy Wilder or Luis Bunuel, but it's an entertaining enough diversion with a magnificent turn from MacLaine in her screen debut. Robert Burks's vividly colourful photography of Vermont in the autumn is worth the price of admission.
Rated 27 Jan 2020
70
13th
Hitchcock'un kuşkusuz en ilginç filmlerden birisi. Usta yönetmen kariyeri boyunca en olmadık şeylerden gerilim yaratmayı başarmış birisi olarak,bu kez gerilimi arka plana atarak daha çok bir kara mizah ortaya çıkarmıştır.Devamlı oradan oraya sürüklenen bir ceset ve oldukça absürd tepkiler veren karakterlerin olduğu film, kuşkusuz hitchcock'un özel işlerinden birisi.Seyir zevki açısından yönetmenin birçok filminin gerisinde kalsa da,yine de ilgiye değer bir film.
Rated 23 Jul 2021
62
46th
Comedies, even "black" ones, don't age as well as dramas.
Rated 23 Aug 2021
68
32nd
It's oddly dated as cinema & sitcoms have riffed on hiding a dead body since the film's release. But Hitchcock uses his Greatest Hits: melodrama, romance, suspense, dark humor, and a McGuffin. It starts slow, but ends with a bang once the group figures out what they want to do. And Robert Burks' lovely cinematography exceeds the backlot work that Douglas Sirk did in All That Heaven Allows from the same year. Marginal recommendation if you're becoming a completist of the director's filmography.
Rated 20 Aug 2022
60
35th
When the film ended with, "The Trouble with Harry is over", I was finally able to release my breath that I had been holding in for the previous 100 minutes. Jerry Mathers holds a dead rabbit for a while, gives it to someone else, then receives two blueberry muffins to eat without washing his hands in between. Ew.
Rated 16 Dec 2010
80
93rd
an amazing concept for a comedy, and the beautiful locations and art direction keep it from feeling as stagey as it otherwise would. it's one of hitchcock's least serious efforts, but no weaker for it, and an excellent debut by shirley maclaine.
Rated 08 May 2010
72
33rd
Somehow interesting idea, but "why are they making such fuss about Harry?", just to quote the Shirley MacLaine-character.
Rated 18 Jun 2007
76
15th
The humorous side of Hitchcock comes through here. Plenty of tongue-in-cheek joke-y dialogue here, but it works.
Rated 11 Dec 2009
71
50th
Hitchcock's macabre comic touch deftly makes this kooky little comedy worthwhile.
Rated 22 Feb 2011
70
57th
Hitchcock makes a funny one. Deliciously morbid. Not unlike the Ealing-comedy 'The Ladykillers'. At times a bit dated and silly.
Rated 02 Jan 2013
81
55th
Could you call this a gentle black comedy? The colours are fantastic, the plot bizarre and the humour will probably not make you laugh out loud but this is very genuinely wicked as well as quirky and likeable.
Rated 07 Nov 2012
81
35th
81.000
Rated 21 May 2009
20
44th
Where to begin? Or the tougher question: where to leave off? The shorter list, certainly, would be what is not the trouble: firstly and foremostly the Vermont autumn, with its fiery Van Gogh palette. Perhaps the chief reason why this Hitchcock "black comedy" dates so badly is that the movie is all attitude.
Rated 07 Jun 2008
63
45th
A good premise, but forced characterization without an especially interesting story. Pretty funny if you're sleepy enough though.
Rated 26 Mar 2009
91
77th
paraphasing hitch here: like drops of blood floating on a blue stream in the midst of the woods. laced with witty dialogue, effective music, beautiful fall foliage and a standout performance by Edmund Gwenn. this is an atypical Hitchcock film...atypical because: 1. it's a comedy, granted a comedy centered around a dead body. 2. it works so well because of, in part, its somewhat genteel nature....
Rated 31 May 2009
7
8th
The trouble with dancing toilets
Rated 14 Jun 2010
1
17th
Boy, this is unfunny. I love Hitchcock's sense of humour, but he's handed it to entirely the wrong cast. It seems like they play it almost too seriously. Perhaps had this been one of his British films, it would've been far better.
Rated 06 Feb 2011
70
69th
"The Trouble with Harry" is a deliciously wicked black comedy. The protagonistic quartet is lovely (including sweetheart Shirley MacLaine in her acting debut) and the movie ranges from macabre farce to suspenseful mystery. Not the definitive Hitchcock film but a pretty good one for sure.
Rated 24 Apr 2008
85
84th
A very quirky black humor Hitchcock entry, in blazing autumn colour. See a very young Shirley McLaine playing a widow with a small son. So who bumped off Harry? Who cares? Everyone, it seems. :-)
Rated 26 Jun 2012
8
62nd
A surprisingly pleasant story of a bunch of people in a small village working together to hide the death of a man they found in the woods while not giving the slightest care to the fact that someone died. The dialogue is quite funny while the overall absurdity of the characters' actions and thoughts adds in a layer of surrealism to it.
Rated 09 Jun 2011
80
59th
Mr. and Mrs. Smith was a good comedy. The Trouble... is OK enough but at the top of his career Hitchcock could have made something better. Another one made for his own fun.
Rated 01 Apr 2016
61
55th
The small town aspect, where kids run over open fields and stately Vermont houses stand on the cusp of a hill and nature is glistening in its brightest autumn colors and neighbors drop by on the front porch for friendly flirtation, is certainly alluring.
Rated 28 Jul 2014
60
54th
watched: 2014, 2023
Rated 18 Sep 2013
81
68th
80.500
Rated 13 Apr 2009
4
71st
"A lighter film for Hitchcock but with a wonderfully sewn narrative and some good performances."
Rated 14 Jun 2011
70
53rd
good music and unexpected manner by master increased its rate
Rated 11 Mar 2014
5
18th
Feels very dated and a bit stagey like an amateur dramatics production but amusing in places
Rated 28 May 2009
60
24th
It's pretty funny in parts, but is quite boring in others.
Rated 12 Jul 2010
68
32nd
Weird and lacking. Witty at times, but never hilarious.
Rated 17 Feb 2013
40
20th
Disturbing and not particularly funny. Shirley MacLaine's acting is rather bad. At least the colors are beautiful.
Rated 25 May 2011
55
21st
A consistently amusing but weird and relatively unfunny dark comedy from Hitch that suffers from the fact that it would be done much better in the future. Also, the characters' apparent ignorance of the gravity of death is distracting -and I don't buy that it was just part of building a comedic situation. And yet, middlebrow Hitchcock is still Hitchcock and I enjoyed this dumb little film, despite its obviousness, sometimes in spite of myself.
Rated 07 Feb 2009
81
78th
The subtlety of Hitchcock's humour is not ideal for a light comedy. However, it somehow works if one can disregard the fluffy elements.
Rated 22 Feb 2012
60
52nd
Not particularly laugh-out-loud funny, but very light-hearted and gently amusing throughout. What makes it easy to watch is how likeable the characters are, especially Edmund Gwenn, who steals all of the scenes he's in. This film also has some of my favourite Hitchcock cinematography. The idyllic small-town setting and the autumn colours look absolutely spectacular. Wherever that place is, I want to live there.
Rated 29 Dec 2008
60
43rd
Weird movie. Kind of funny, but hard to know whether to laugh.
Rated 16 Nov 2009
3
44th
technicolour confusion
Rated 20 Dec 2009
81
48th
A funny, dark little movie.
Rated 14 Jul 2011
79
71st
This movie is a testament to the versatility of Hitchcock; it shows what he could have done if he wasn't so constricted by the demands of the audience. Brilliant musical score, first class acting and a beautiful scenery... Actually I have a nagging suspicion that he made the whole movie just to be able to shoot those wonderful leaves in Vermont.
Rated 12 Nov 2012
75
75th
very odd for hitchcock. the absurd scenes were unexpectedly entertaining, there are quite a few overly silly and badly acted ones inbetween, though.
Rated 25 Dec 2010
79
63rd
78.750
Rated 06 Aug 2014
72
30th
For someone so famous for making a particular kind of film, Hitch liked to experiment and try something new. This is straight up dark comedy, in construction almost resembling an absurdist play for that matter, but something is missing. It's a pleasant enough film, with gorgeous location shots and breezy performances, but it's not laugh-out-loud funny and there's not quite enough bite to it. For a film revolving entirely around the disposal of a corpse, it just goes down too easily.
Rated 05 Nov 2012
70
43rd
Some cringeworthy humor. It's one of those love it or hate it black comedies... My least favorite Hitchcock film.
Rated 13 Jan 2010
50
33rd
I really wanted to like this movie and I thought it was just ok. But how weird is it that the Beaver is in a Alfred Hitchcock movie. Actually, even though the cast was unknown at the time, they all really brought something to the table in the future. I'm not saying that this was a bad film, cause it wasn't, it just wasn't up to par with anything else Hitchcock had done. Not all as funny as it should have been either.
Rated 10 Sep 2008
74
61st
A fun, subversive "lesser" Hitchcock; showcases his British wit better than any of his other American films.
Rated 02 Jan 2010
80
41st
written on a bet that hitch couldn't make a movie with a dead man as the main character.
Rated 14 Jul 2018
79
49th
B+
Rated 01 Mar 2019
74
1st
74.00
Rated 01 Jan 2022
3
0th
Weird part of Hitchcock's filmography, but entertaining. Funny characters, but a little too long in the tooth. Beautiful scenery and interesting premise.
Rated 20 Sep 2022
75
60th
Befuddling to me I'm meant to find this a bizarre outlier like playful morbidity isn't ingrained in the works of Hitchcock. Sure its alot more frivolous but it cranks that knob such that its a gleeful farce, corpse rendered prop and sometimes forgotten in the goings-on of life. Also some stunning Autumnal cinematography.
Rated 02 Oct 2022
60
37th
i would like for this film to be a beautiful colourful painting instead :)
Rated 16 Apr 2023
70
72nd
Amusing whodunit comedy filled with two romantic stories and a dead body constantly buried and dug up. What's not to like here?
Rated 25 Jan 2024
50
9th
This isn't necessarily BAD, but it has two fatal flaws, which are that it is shockingly boring for a Hitchcock and not very funny for a comedy. It has moments, and some elements of the screenplay are cute, but for a 100 minute movie it feels a lot longer and the there just aren't enough laughs or suspense or anything to really justify it. Disappointing, but the film is beautifully shot with amazing use of autumn colors.

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