The Trouble With Harry

The Trouble with HarryWhen Alfred Hitchcock set out to direct a comedy, I'm not sure how much success he was expecting, but The Trouble With Harry has some undeniably hilarious moments. The script has some very clever moments, although quite a few of the jokes would fall flat for current, jaded audiences. For instance, a punchline about a double-bed just doesn't have the punch it once did.

The movie overall revolves around a corpse, making for a somewhat morbid experience, although all of the characters involved with said corpse seem unusually jaded, leaving only the villain, the deputy Calvin Wiggs, to express sincere shock at the presence of death.

This juxtaposition of truth from the villain appears in several movies I've seen lately, and I'm beginning to wonder if there's a name for it, or if it serves some kind of purpose. During the movie, one doesn't identify with the villain. One fears him for the sake of the heroes. But to look back and realize that one identified more with the perspective of the "bad guy" seems to say something.

I don't imagine the director was attempting to alienate the audience, as we, I, clearly identified with the couple falling in love in the foreground. I feel anxious for their success, and anxious that they neither appear to be the murderer, nor actually are. What I do imagine, is that the director intended the audience to temporarily identify with an unusual perspective. We are meant to root for the lovers, possibly never realizing that we're basically rooting for an entire group of sociopaths for the sake of humor.

I shall ponder.

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