Genre – Black Comedy
Time: 1 Hours 40 minutes
Platform: You Tube; Amazon Rent
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Edmund Gwenn (Capt. Albert Wiles). John Forsythe (Sam Marlowe). Mildred Natwick (Miss Ivy Gravely). Shirley MacLaine (Jennifer Rogers). Jerry Mathers (Arnie Rogers)
Plot: A boy is out in the woods, carrying a toy gun and he hears shots. Curious, he comes to a clearing where he sees a dead man. Captain Albert Wiles has been out hunting for rabbit and he thinks that he was the one who surely killed the dead man. The boy runs back to town, and brings his mother Jennifer Rogers; she examines the dead man, shrugs it off saying he is better off dead and goes back to town. The prim spinster Miss Ivy is sure she killed the dead man as he had made advances towards her. A painter on holiday Sam Marlowe, joins in the fray and helps the captain to bury the body. There is a suspicious Deputy Sheriff who is sure there is something wrong going on under his nose…
The film starts with the young boy Arnie discovering the dead body. Everything else that follows can be called as Hitchcock’s idea of macabre comedy as the body is buried, taken out, reburied – to suit the whims and fancies of the two men who are sure that they are concealing an accidental murder, based on the words of Miss Ivy and Jennifer. Now the men, want to protect the two women and what better way than to have an evening with them? As expected, things start going haywire.
Some viewers found the film shocking for what they felt were very explicit dialogues. Like the one where Sam tells Jennifer that he would like to paint her in the nude. Or the old Captain suggesting that Miss Ivy is an extremely well wrapped woman and someone has to open the wrapper some time or the other.
The dead man is the farthest from their thoughts. “Respect for the dead” assumes a totally new dimension here.
To say more will be a crime and this black comedy is available on You Tube for free at the below link
The film would be amiss without the frivolous music of Bernard Herrmann who formed an enduring partnership till The Birds. The stunning locales in autumn with the leaves drying up are beautifully photographed by Hitchcock’s constant cinematographer Robert Burks. The film is quite dialogue heavy but crackling with macabre wit and innuendo. Don’t miss it; watch it before it’s taken off You Tube.
In her first ever screen appearance Shirley MacLaine is absolutely confident but it is Edmund Gwenn and Mildred Natwick who steal the thunder, as the old couple who start a hesitant romance as they have a common ground to cover – a grave for a dead body 😊.
Script – 5 out of 5
Story – 4 out of 5
Direction – 5 out of 5
Photography – 5 out of 5
Total – 4.8 out of 5
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