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The online film magazine Combustible Celluloid offers new movie reviews, DVD reviews, film reviews, actor interviews, actress interviews, director interviews, film books and all things cinema related for the thoughtful and passionate. Online for ten years! Over 3000 reviews!

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The Trouble with Harry (1955)

Rating: 4 Stars (out of 4)

It's Better than No Lemonade...

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

Buy The Trouble with Harry on DVD

You either love or hate this comedy classic, and I love it. I've seen it more times than just about any other Hitchcock, and I was thrilled to see it re-mastered and letterboxed for the first time. John Forsythe stars as a New England painter who falls for a young widow (an adorable Shirley MacLaine in her film debut) just about the time a dead body is discovered in the pastel-colored autumn hills. Each of the characters thinks he's responsible for the man's death and various attempts are made to cover it up. Some of the dialogue is oddly quotable, such as the line about lemonade. It's dark comedy at its darkest and funniest. It was Hitchcock's first collaboration with composer Bernard Herrmann. Jerry Mathers ("Leave It To Beaver") and Oscar-winner Edmund Gwenn (Miracle on 34th Street) also star. What's up with that closet door?

Starring: Edmund Gwenn, Shirley MacLaine, John Forsythe, Mildred Natwick, Mildred Dunnock, Jerry Mathers, Royal Dano, Parker Fennelly, Barry Macollum, Dwight Marfield
Written by: John Michael Hayes, based on a novel by Jack Trevor Story
Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock
MPAA Rating: PG
Running Time: 100 minutes
Date: June 7, 2001