User reviews

This is a very underrated Hitchcock film that features amazing performances from it's two stars, Henry Fonda and (especially) Vera Miles. It is a sad, cynical offering from the Master Of Suspense that has a familiar theme (the title says it all), yet it also is perhaps one of Hitch's most unusual works.

The films runs more like a documentary in it's approach, and it feels inherently 'real'. The casting of 'everyman' Fonda in the role of Manny Balestero, a man accused of crimes he did not commit, works very well as we can feel empathy for Fonda and place ourselves in his position. Ditto with Miles. She is so convincing in her role as the mentally fragile wife Rose that her scenes are almost uncomfortable to witness. Portraying a person self-destructing is one of the hardest tasks an actor can face, but Miles does it subtly and movingly. It is a brilliant performance that ranks alongside Bergman's role in 'Notorious' and Wright's 'Charlie' in 'Shadow Of A Doubt' for best female acting honors in a Hitchcock film.

'The Wrong Man' has a sentimental, tender yet dark atmosphere. The sentimentality is perhaps due to the fact that the central action revolves around a family grouping in this film.There are no elaborate scenes of courtship and romance as in 'Vertigo' or sexy double entendres seen in 'Notorious'- Instead, we get the feeling that this is a real, normal family we are watching unravel at the seams due to the crimes of another.

Appropriately slow-moving to keep in check with Hitch's low-key approach for this one. New York in the 1950's was possibly never photographed so darkly real as it is here. Boasting great performances from the two leads, this is a must-see Hitchcock.

THE WRONG MAN is a bleak Alfred Hitchcock movie filmed in suitably low-key style with crisp B&W photography and two very deeply felt performances by HENRY FONDA and VERA MILES.

Hitch's fear of police (traumatic experience as a youth) serves him well in crafting the kind of intimidation a man feels when he's unjustly accused of a crime he hasn't committed. Eyewitnesses place him at the scene of the crime and the police are ready to lock him up and put him away in prison.

The only one who believes in him (or his innocence) is his wife, VERA MILES, but she begins to undergo serious mental stress as the situation seems to get more and more hopeless. Eventually, she is driven to the brink of insanity and her heart hardens toward her husband. Vera Miles is excellent in the role, subtle and completely believable.

What distinguishes THE WRONG MAN from other Hitchcock films is that it's all filmed in a brisk, documentary style that leaves no room for the usual gimmicks. It's about as straightforward in its story-telling manner as any of his films has ever been, based on a true life incident in the life of a man falsely accused.

Summing up: Well worth watching, but not unless you're willing to be more than a little depressed by the somber mood.

Before i watched The Wrong Man, a lot of people were saying bad things about it, saying it was one of hitchcock's masterpieces gone wrong... and that the acting was wooden and the rest of it, but whatever you do, do not listen to any negative comments about this film!! it is absolutely brilliant !!! It was Hitchcocks first and only documentary style thriller and it works beautifully i think !!! It's based on a true story and i love the opening sequence when Hitchcock tells you about it being a true story... it is very different to any other Hitchcock film you've ever and i think will ever see, but it's brilliant. In my opinion he should have done more films like this.... Also Henry Fonda is absolutely wonderful as Manny... the whole way he handles the situation is wonderful to watch.... Also Vera Miles is amazing as the distressed wife... her perhaps best performance on screen !!

Over all my last words to you would be ... don't listen to negative reports go out and see this film !! it's brilliant and definitely a new and unique Hitchcock Film !!!!!!!!

A must see for all Hitchcock fans !!!

Based pretty much on the actual events & people of a miscarriage of justice that took place in Queens County, New York in the early 50's. The names of most of the people who took part in the event are unchanged in the movie and the location shots where the actual events took place add a touch of dark realism to the movie. The basic plot revolves around a musician who worked at the world famous Stork Club who was mis-identified by witnesses and arrested because he resembled an armed robber. Hitchcock dwells on the slow descent into helplessness and powerlessness that a citizen endures as he wends his way through the NYC (or any other) criminal justice meat grinder. There are chilling shots of his transport , by paddy wagon, into the Ridgewood Felony court and the Long Island City House of Detention. The lawyer he hired, Frank O'Connor, (his real name) went on to become District Attorney of Queens county and was later heavily involved in the infamous Kitty Genovese case. Not your typical Hitchcock film but one well worth seeing if for no other reason than to see one of Henry Fonda's better performances as the quietly stunned Christopher Emmanuel (Manny) Balestrero who sees his life, career and family endangered by forces he has little control over.

I have to say, usually in this country it's an African-American man who gets arrested as the 'Wrong Man', but this Hitchcock film is indeed based closely on a true story. It's interesting to ponder why Hitch announces that fact at the outset, and I suppose it's because therein lies the true horror: that at any time, while minding our own business, we might be arrested and accused of crimes we haven't committed. We might be have our freedom taken, get locked up in a cage, and find ourselves at the mercy of the judicial system. The scenes where Henry Fonda is imprisoned are absolutely brilliant, as are the ones of him on trial, looking around the courtroom, and noticing the trivial little behaviors of those around him, while his own life hangs in the balance. The pace of this movie is a little slow at times, but a part of that is intentional, and heightens the realism. The police procedures may have you shaking your head, as will the notoriously unreliable eyewitness testimony. There is a bit of a twist in the story concerning Fonda's wife, played by Vera Miles, which I didn't expect. It's not Hitchcock's best work, but it is the most direct statement of his concerning this motif which appeared in so many of his films, and certainly worth watching.

The Wrong Man (1956)

There's no question Alfred Hitchcock has pulled off something amazing here, a kind of experiment. Entirely based on true events, and without any sense of chase, romance, or high intrigue, and without special effects or even witty dialog, he makes you feel for the main character, Henry Fonda, a man accused of a crime he did not commit.

It's often pointed out that Hitchcock had an enormous fear of the police, and of being accused when innocent. This shows up in many of his films, but never more clearly or more painfully than here. To watch is an adventure in frustration, almost to the point you have to turn it off. But of course, you can't just get up and leave. You have to know what happens.

And the turns of events are so reasonable and yet so unbearable, you just want to get up there and say, do this, do that! It's weird to say, this is not an enjoyable movie. But it's a very good one, maybe flawless in its attempt to trap you as much as the main character was trapped. The surrounding cast is terribly believable, the cops, the wife, the kids. And it unfolds with such dramatic relentlessness. The camera angles (thanks to Robert Burks) are psychologically intense (and edited for discomfort). And the music (Bernard Herrmann, soon to score Psycho) only adds more tension.

Beautifully. As an exercise in precision, and in sticking to the facts, this is as good as a dramatic (non-documentary) film can get. Wikipedia has a small amount of helpful information, and tcm.com has a lot (click on articles or reviews on the left for a range of texts). But of course, watch it straight. See some period New York City scenes (from streets to jails to what looks like the amazing 57th St. bridge at dusk). A wonderful, if not uplifting, movie.

The name of Alfred Hitchcock, the Master of Suspense, is and will be eternally linked to his most well-known masterpieces such as "Psycho" or "The Birds"; sadly, this has left "The Wrong Man" in the obscurity as an overlooked gem that in fact deserves to be seen and appreciated by film enthusiasts worldwide.

The true story of Emmanuel Ballestrero (played superbly by Henry Fonda) and his unfair imprisonment when he is accused of a crime he did not commit, is represented faithfully in Hitchcock's "The Wrong Man", with all its frightening realism.

The most important thing about this movie must be the fact that it is based on a real life tragedy, this is a big difference from the rest of the Hitchcock's work. The Master adds more realism to the movie by keeping a low profile direction, almost in a documentary style. Gone are the camera tricks, the contrived plots and the suspense; in "The Wrong Man" we have a scary noir-esquire tale of crime in its more realistic way. In fact, Hitchcock himself decided to turn his cameo into an "introductory speech" because he felt that a cameo would take away the realism of the movie.

As I wrote above, the script is very simple, and without plot twists or a clear McGuffin to look at; nevertheless, the master guides us through the suffering of this man as he is humiliated by the police in sheer realism. Hitchcock takes away his characteristic dark humor and gives us a grim tale of injustice, probably fueled by his own terrible fear of police. This fear is latent in every frame, and the fear of imprisonment is particularly shown in all its scary magnitude when Ballestrero is locked for the first time, the camera gives depth to his prison and Fonda's expression is superb.

Henry Fonda gives one of his best performances ever, as the quiet every man who works as a musician in a bar. It is a very realistic performance that alone worths the price of the movie. I dare to say that this is probably Fonda's best role. The rest of the cast is average but its understandable because the movie is completely focused on Fonda, all of them give very natural acting that fits the tone of the movie. Notable exception is Vera Miles, who gives a Tour-De-Force in his representation of Ballestrero's wife, who suffers a nervous breakdown when his husband is in jail. Vera's acting is outstanding and her performance shows the mental decay that Mrs. Ballestrero suffered in real life with scary realism.

As you probably have noticed, the perfect description for this movie is "scary realism", that is what "The Wrong Man" is, a realistic portrait of a tale of injustice and how a man had to go through hell just because the justice had picked, the Wrong Man 9/10. Overlooked gem.

I have seen a majority of Hitchcock's films, and though "The Wrong Man" may not be in the same league as movies like "Shadow Of A Doubt", "Notorious", "Vertigo" and "Rear Window", it's a classic in it's own right.

I have read some of the critic's reviews of this film, stating how it was a failure as a "Neorealist" film. While it is certainly true that the film was inspired by the Italian Neorealistic movement, it was equally inspired by the elements of classic film noir. There are three major elements that makes this film such a chilling, engrossing, uneasy film to watch: 1) Alfred Hitchcock's masterly command of this genre, combined with its stark realism; 2) the way both Hitchcock and Henry Fonda make us identify with the character through his entire ordeal; and 3) the way Hitchcock makes it appears as if this could happen to anyone, given the right set of circumstances.

Few circumstances are more compelling than a good man unjustly accused of terrible crimes. And few filmmakers illustrate this concept better than Hitchcock.

In New York, the Catholic Italian musician of the Stork Club Christopher Emanuel "Manny" Balestrero (Henry Fonda) is a simple man, married with his beloved wife Rose (Vera Miles) and having two sons. On 14 January 1953, his wife needs an expensive teeth treatment, and Manny goes to the insurance company, trying to raise a loan. However, he is wrongly identified by a clerk as the man who robbed the place twice, being arrested and sent to jail. His friends pay the bail and he tries to prove his innocence. Meanwhile, Rose has a nervous breakdown, caused by her mistrust on his innocence, and is sent to an institution for treatment.

"The Wrong Man" is a very sad and touching story of the injustice against an innocent man, affecting the health of his family. Henry Fonda is amazing in the role of an ordinary man, who accepts passively the situations, believing in God and praying for strength and justice. Vera Miles is fantastic in the role of a wife who believes she has part of the guilty for the action of her beloved husband. This movie was filmed in many authentic locations, and is a very different work of Alfred Hitchcock. Maybe due to the theme being so serious, Hitchcock appears only introducing of the story, and does not have any other small participations as he usually does in his movies. The black and white photography, with shadows, and the score of Bernard Herrmann, complete the magnificence of this great underrated movie. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): "O Homem Errado" ("The Wrong Man")

Note: On 10 November 2024, I saw this film again.

Christopher Balestrero (Fonda) is mistaken for a bank robber and has no evidence to support his innocence.

The first film of the greatest British director to be based on a true story Alfred Hitchcock gleefully sets the viewer up for the ride by standing in the middle of an unknown place and telling us so. As the screen fades and we meet Henry Fonda in his home with Vera Miles and kids we have a set up for a tantalizing story of mistaken identity and criminal injustice.

Initially the build up is fairly sluggish as Christopher is leading a pretty standard family portrayal and after ten minutes or so we follow the main character into the bank to enquire about a loan and then the ante is generated.

The bank recognizes the face of Christopher to be the face of a recent robber in the area, and after skilfully denying the application, the bank turn him away. A wonderfully shot pickup at his very home and Chris is involved with the police who order him to walk into stores and back out so the cashiers and workers can identify him. This tactic by the police is certainly different from your stereotyped police perception in modern crime films and as with Hitchcock's fear of the Police, they certainly generate a calm but underlining authority over everyone.

The plot continues to spell out challenges for Fonda's character who suffers torment and pain physiologically and physically in the hands of the police in prison. One excellent moment comes when Hitchcock places Fonda against the wall in his cell, giving the feeling of horrible claustrophobia and uses the camera to swivel around and around, giving off haziness and a delicious sense of nausea.

Fonda does well in the lead role, capturing the personality of a known innocence but struggling to deal with the new surroundings and predicament he is in. He is however not as captivating in this role as other big names in Hitchcock films, such as Cary Grant.

What was a great surprise however was Vera Miles as Chris' wife. In almost a supporting role she is quietly accurate as a troubled wife and her decent into madness would make Hamlet look silly. This spices up an added sense of drama and contributing to the real story scenario, it is a credit to the actress.

The plot moves slowly with a few action sequences and bearing in mind this is a real event that was inevitable but for Hitchcock you expect more and the film is almost a sad let down because of it.

Nevertheless this is still well shot with a glorious exploration of the law order with some wonderful performances and excellently set up scenes.

Hard to watch by design, "The Wrong Man" impresses with its technique and stark dissimilarity from what we associate with director Alfred Hitchcock. But novelty does not equal brilliance.

Henry Fonda is the title character, a club musician named Manny Balestrero mistakenly pegged for a hold-up man while trying to borrow some money from his wife Rose's (Vera Miles) life insurance policy. The arrest forces Manny to not only prove his innocence but fight to keep his family intact.

"Bleak and dour" is the best way to describe this movie. "Every step a journey in darkness" is the trailer's tagline, and it is only a slight exaggeration. Hitchcock even does a voice-over telling us how unusual a story this is for him to tackle, because "every word" of it is true.

The problem with "The Wrong Man" is the way it makes real life feel like a trip to the dentist's. Fonda feels wrong in the central role, not because he is not a convincing everyman but because he seems so uncomfortable in his own skin. Even before he is charged with anything we watch him regard his surroundings with a strange, strained, sheepish smile. Prison doesn't seem much of a change.

Hitchcock fans might enjoy this detour into Kazan territory (minus the method acting) for the way it sets up some unique camera work. Sequences of Fonda's head revolving inside a lens and later of him seen through a cell latch hole get much of the attention, but just as interesting, and more in keeping with the realistic aesthetic, are the numerous POV and high-angle shots that play up the claustrophobia in less showy ways.

I have a hard time understanding how people might view "The Wrong Man" as an underrated masterpiece. The central story is too thin, takes way too long to develop, and is resolved with offhanded ease following one of the least interesting trial sequences ever shot. Hitchcock himself seems to lose interest in it, going full-tilt into a second story about Rose's mental meltdown. Miles certainly has effective moments in her spotlight scenes, enough to make one wonder what she would have done with the part she was offered in "Vertigo", but her crack-up as written is too abrupt and capped by a laughably pat end frame.

Once you get used to his no-frills performance, Fonda is interesting to watch in his offbeat way, and the secondary players are all good. Especially worthy of notice are Harold J. Stone as the lead detective in the Balestrero case and Doreen Lang as maybe the most awful of the many awful witnesses gathered by police.

That the police make so many mistakes is undoubtedly the point Hitchcock wants to make here, and there are times where the frightening arbitrariness of life grabbing one by the throat is made very real. "Just when you thought it was safe to walk into the insurance office" could be this film's tag line.

But after a few scenes of this, I was ready to move on. Hitch, alas, was not, and "The Wrong Man" suffers for it.

Although the theme of "The Wrong Man" could apply to several of Hitchcock's more famous thrillers, this movie is unique in holding closely to a series of events as they actually happened. That means there is a lot less of some of the usual Hitchcock features, such as his famous set pieces or his subtle humor. They are replaced by a different kind of suspense, still done with Hitchcock's usual craftsmanship.

Henry Fonda and Vera Miles play a factual ordinary couple whose lives are thrown into turmoil when the police confuse the husband with a man who has been committing a series of robberies. The first part of the movie concentrates on the nightmare he undergoes in being interrogated, jailed, and arraigned. Fonda's convincing acting, along with Hitchcock's detail-oriented filming, enable the viewer to feel the anxiety and helplessness of an innocent man being horribly misjudged. In the second part of the movie, as Fonda gets ready to go to trial, the ordeal finally starts to take its toll on his wife.

Although this has to be ranked as a minor work compared to Hitchcock's long list of masterpieces, it is a worthwhile film in its own right, as long as you have the right expectations in watching it. It can be quite uncomfortable to watch these things happen when you know that it all really occurred, and Hitchcock uses his skill to help us see just what an ordeal it was.

This is a terrific, dark, taut thriller from Hitchcock, based on a true story. Not his usual ostentatious style, but it plays on the theme of a wrong man caught up in extraordinary events beyond his control (REAR WINDOW, NORTH BY NORTHWEST, PSYCHO).

It may be Hitchcock's most cynical film. Henry Fonda plays a man falsely accused of armed robbery. He is a quiet man, whose life gets turned upside down as a result.

Hitchcock spares us nothing of the horror of the predicament of Fonda's situation. He shows many of the details of how Fonda is accused, arrested, and tried in real time, so we are as fully worn down as the protagonist.

The plot was quite unbelievable by 1950s standards that Hitch needed all the realism he could muster. For example, Hitchcock himself introduces the film in a prologue, to verify that it is indeed based on a true story. Also, don't look for his trademark cameo - he did shoot a scene where he was a customer in a store, but that scene ended up getting cut. Hitchcock personally interviewed all of the participants in the real live drama. And the doctor at the sanitarium is played not by an actor, but by a real doctor.

I think pretty much every lesser known Hitchcock film has a whole society of people who call it "one of Hitchcock's great unsung masterpieces," and The Wrong Man is no different. The wrong man theme is one of Hitchcock's favorites and he has used it a great many times to create some of his most suspenseful films, and he uses that and almost nothing else to create the considerable suspense in this film.

Hitchcock had a genuine fear of the police, and you can see it in many of his films, this one more than most. Henry Fonda delivers a wonderful performance as a regular man who just wants to be a good man and a good husband, but suddenly finds himself embroiled in this case of mistaken identity. The film is structured differently from a lot of his other films, which often showed a man forced into isolation by misplaced accusations, only to slowly reveal himself to be a hero and gradually get the girl, who paid him no attention at the beginning of the film.

(spoilers) In this film, Christopher Balestrero (Henry Fonda) is never a hero nor does he try to be, and his wife not only does not gradually grow more and more fond of him despite the accusations against him, but she grows more and more distant due to the accusations.

Hitchcock personally introduces the film in his only speaking role in any of his movies (he introduced his television series episodes, but mostly as comic relief), and warns that the movie is completely true and absolutely frightening. It is a successful adaptation of a true story, although clearly highly polished to satisfy the studio. Definitely one of Hitchcock's more notable efforts.

After sitting through The Wrong Man, it puzzles me greatly why this film isn't seen by more, or rated as highly as some of Alfred Hitchcock's masterpieces. True, he does seem to be subverting his style slightly for the story, which is at the core a tragedy of a man falsely accused (and maybe not with the same tension we'd expect like in Strangers on a Train or Psycho). But to me it shows him really with an experimental edge that just seemed to really strike me. This is Hitchcock going for something Kafkaesque ala the Trial, and on that level the film is downright scary at times.

Though Henry Fonda's Manny Balestero is told of his charge after being arrested, the whole 'procedural' nature of the film's story, of how the system can be the damnedest thing, makes it downright gripping. Like with the Master's other films, one can see the suspense at times almost sweating through the frame, and the kind of Cold-War era paranoia that works magnificently (like when Manny is at the insurance office, where the plot thickens), along with the sort of Joseph K. quality to the lead of being presumed guilty more than being presumed innocent.

But there is also something very powerful, and challenging, about the casting of the lead. In a sense Hitchcock was one step ahead of Sergio Leone, who would do something similar with Once Upon a Time in the West (though Leone was going for a lot more twisting the genre screws). It's a filmmaker saying, 'look, I'm giving you Henry Fonda, maybe the most, if not one of the most, good-hearted movie stars from the 40's- Grapes of Wrath, My Darling Clementine, The Lady Eve, etc- but I'm putting him in a situation where he's in this strange scenario of not playing himself, or rather being in a society that is brutal and unflinching'.

Fonda was the perfect choice considering the material, and while it is based on a true story and Fonda is terrific at his role, that Hitchcock leaves out certain details of his innocence (says the trivia on IMDb) adds a certain level to the subject matter. Maybe he is guilty and we just are too gullible to think it? How long can all this doomed atmosphere continue? On an existential level almost Hitchcock delivers a kind of very recognizable world with the terror on a different but just as engaging level as his 'popular' films.

If Fonda is our fatefully unlucky protagonist, Vera Miles is equally compelling as his wife, who can't seem to take what has been going on with her husband. If there is some sense of pitch black satire amid the "true-story" drama of the story, she is the representation of paranoia affecting a seemingly good person. Why this happens exactly to Rose Ballestero, her descent into a kind of closed-off madness, isn't made entirely clear (again, Kafka), and the conclusion to the film brings something that I was hoping would happen, and did, and makes for something far more challenging than if a standard Hollywood director would've tackled the material.

Using real locations in NYC, the great many character actors that make up the police and everyday people (there is some very good casting in the insurance office scene), and a musical score that is decidedly vintage Herrmann, Hitchcock uses this sort of documentary realism to heighten his own subjective approach (all the images of prison bars, the film-noir type lighting and staging, the use of space in the rooms). It all works to help the story, which goes against the grain of the 50's era thriller, and it works extremely well.

In fact, for my money, I would rank this among my top five or so favorites in Hitchcock's whole oeuvre. It's a bold statement to be sure, but for the particular cinema fan, this brings on entertainment on a truly dramatic scale and, until a certain point I won't mention, is unrelenting.

I think this movie would have been universally praised if Hitchcock had used an assumed name to direct it, since a lot of the negative comments are to the effect that it is not a typical Hitchcock. And that is the case, since this is a straightforward telling of what is presented as a true story of a man falsely accused of robberies. And there is no twist at the end. However, there is some truly great work here. Consider the opening credit scenes that have Henry Fonda (as Manny Balestrero) playing the bass in a small orchestra in New York's Stork Club. At the start of the sequence there is a ballroom full of dancers and, as the credits go on, one scene morphs into another with each successive scene having fewer dancers. By the end of the credits we are down to closing time and Manny is heading home. Brilliant opening credits auguring good things to come.

The movie has some of the of the best black and white cinematography ever. Whether it is a car moving across a bridge through light and shadows or a close-up of a woman's eye peering suspiciously at us, the cinematography alone held my attention.

Fonda and Vera Miles do a great job in playing how a man and his wife react to false accusations, with Fonda playing the innocent who is trying to deal with a bad situation in a most responsible and rational manner and Miles cracking under the pressure. Fonda says a lot with his eye movements--a quick glance to the side or a disbelieving stare tell us a lot. I always wonder who gets the credit for such effective use of what movies can uniquely portray. Is it the director, the cinematographer, the art director, the actor?

For me the emotional involvement was established by considering how I would react to such a case of false accusation and arrest. And, equally importantly, how would I handle dealing with a wife buckling under the pressure. Probably not as well as the Fonda character. The backdrops are rather grungy--stark bare walls, crumbling plaster, exposed lamp cords, claustrophobic jail cells, sparsely furnished court rooms. Interesting to note that this was filmed a decade before the Miranda warning requirement. You get so used to seeing that in crime dramas that you miss it when it is not there.

The Bernard Hermann score is not as prominent as many of his are. Much of it is played on the bass; a tie-in to Manny's profession?

Love Hitch. Rear Window is astonishing. Vertigo is remarkable. But his best films toy with viewpoint and film technique. With an excellent script he can provide the additional satisfaction of cultural commentary or layered meaning.

This offers little in the way of any of those things. The script is the major problem. For 40 minutes all development proceeds along a single anticipated line: each new test will positively i.d. Manny (Fonda) as the culprit in a string of crimes. But when you give your movie the title "the Wrong Man," you've tipped off the audience about both the theme, and the protagonists culpability. You don't need such a sober, laborious setup! It's so plodding that your mind is already trying to read allegorical meaning into it after ten minutes. The score literalizes obvious points and underscores mundane visuals (shoes?) with tension. The music cues might have worked in a half hour television format, which is I suspect where the problem originates.

For various reasons Fonda and Vera Miles would never be the leads in another Hitch movie. Miles got pregnant. Fonda is miscast. He may be the least Italian person you could give the part to. He's too articulate and middle-class to play someone mired in red-tape because he can't explain himself better. This is also due to the minority-erasing casting of Fonda. It would be feasible that a non-white person would have a hard time explaining themselves. Fonda, who disliked the Method just recites the script sincerely. His performance has no arc whatsoever. Emotionally, his reaction to being arrested and humiliated is not so different from riding a bus. Nothing registers; it's like looking at a prop for 90 minutes. If he can't get excited about his own fate, how can a viewer? Mad magazine spoofed this back in the sixties as the dullest treatment of an endless series of ordinary moments. It was an unusually perceptive piece.

There are several moments in Hitch's career where he tries to escape his genre and meets resistance. There's the mediocre comedy Mr. and Mrs. Smith. There are his historical pictures Jamaica Inn and Under Capricorn. And then there's this; an attempt to play one of his favorite themes straight, without a wink to the audience.

It feels like an early test of naturalistic filming that he'd show off again in Psycho. It's a very anti-Hollywood film. It's filmed very crisply. Coming from anyone other than Hitchcock, it might have worked.