The Trouble with Harry

The Trouble with Harry (1955)

Timing: 1:39 (99 min)

6.997/10
801

7.394/10
9462

7/10
44000

All about film

Video 2

Photo 31

Actors and characters

Release date

1955-10-03

Country

United States

Production

Paramount, Alfred J. Hitchcock Productions

Genre

Comedy, Mystery

Budget

$1 200 000

Revenue

$7 000 000

Website

Director

Alfred Hitchcock

Actors

John Forsythe, Shirley MacLaine, Edmund Gwenn, Mildred Natwick, Mildred Dunnock, Jerry Mathers, Royal Dano, Parker Fennelly, Barry Macollum, Dwight Marfield
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Producer

Alfred Hitchcock

Operator

Robert Burks

Composer

Bernard Herrmann

Artist

Audition

Editing

Alma Macrorie
All team (26)

• Shirley MacLaine's debut role. The film was shot in Vermont.
• Heavy rain interfered with location shooting in Vermont, so many scenes were filmed on sets built in a local high school gymnasium.
• Hitchcock anonymously purchased the rights to the novel for $11,000.
• Hitchcock can be seen walking past a millionaire's parked limousine while looking at Sam's paintings.
• Hitchcock anonymously purchased the rights to the novel for $11,000.
• Hitchcock can be seen walking past a millionaire's parked limousine, looking at Sam's paintings.
• Prolonged rains interfered with filming in Vermont. Many outdoor scenes had to be shot on sets specifically built in the local school gymnasium, but the dialogue recorded there proved unusable due to the loud drumming of raindrops on the metal roof, and much of the dialogue had to be re-recorded later.
• While filming this movie, director Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980) wanted to see how audiences would react to a film without so-called stars in the cast. He believed that a star in the cast hindered the development and flow of the plot. In addition, he wanted to see how the American public would react to a more subtle black humor than they were accustomed to in his films.
• For three decades, the film was not shown in theaters because Alfred Hitchcock bought the rights to it (and to four other films from the same period) and left it as an inheritance to his daughter, Patricia (1928-2021). Among film fans, they became known as the “five lost Hitchcock films.” Their theatrical screenings resumed in 1984. The director's other “lost” films are considered to be “Rope” (1948), “Rear Window” (1954), “The Man Who Knew Too Much” (1955), and “Vertigo” (1958).
• Alfred Hitchcock singled out Shirley MacLaine (something he didn't do with other leading actresses who worked with him), spent a lot of time with her, and they had breakfast together every morning before filming. Hitchcock wasn't courting her; he simply believed she needed to be well-fed. MacLaine had once been a nearly penniless chorus girl from Broadway, but her acquaintance with Hitchcock changed everything. As a result of the attention the director paid her, she gained almost 7 kg during filming, to the point where the studio even called her and told her to stop eating so much, or her career would "end before it even began."
• Philip Truax (1911-2008)'s last on-screen appearance in a minor role.
• Due to the cold weather in Vermont, many boxes of autumn leaves were sent to the studio in California, where they were carefully attached to the branches of trees in the soundstage.