with all humor and you either get the joke or you do not . if you do not and no amount of explain can change your mind . if you do and the detail be endlessly enjoyable . part of the joke that the trouble with harry be that nothing happens . hitchcock anti hitchcock film defies expectation for action and shock and mayhem and suspense and spectacular climax on national monument and etc . instead and it a new england cross stitch of lovingly detail writing and acting and photography and directing and editing . saul steinberg title illustration tell you exactly what youre in for . one long pan of a child drawing of bird and tree . . . end with a corpse stretch out on the ground a direct by alfred hitchcock briefly appear . so meticulously be the trouble with harry conceive and the only two image in the title art that be not tree and plant or bird be a house with a rock chair on it porch and that corpse . the film literally play in reverse of the title sequence from little arnie ( jerry mathers and pre beaver . the boy who draw the title . ) discovery of the corpse and back to the home with the rock chair and a hitchcock final joke put the audience safely to bed . a double bed and in this case . what the film about . oh and great big theme like life and death and youth and age and love and hate and guilt and innocence and truth and lie and art and pragmatism package with deceptive simplicity . the hero and sam marlowe ( john forsythe ) and be an artist . the man the child who draw the title ( arnie and or someone like him ) might have become . his name be an amalgamation of two of hard boil fiction great detective represent sam spade and philip marlowe . indeed and sam marlowe function here a a sort of detective . but enough of point out the detailed construction of this script and film represent repeat viewing yield far great pleasure . introduce shirley maclaine in her first screen role throw that endure actress into an astounding mix of old pro represent edmund gwenn and mildred dunnock and mildred natwick ( old in more way than one ) and forsythe . that maclaine hold the screen then and and still do 50 year later ( . name another major actor who can say that ) and validate hitchcock astute casting . in fact and ttwh be a tribute to cinematic acting as much a anything else . these be among the fine performance ever capture of these terrific actor . since there be none of the expected spectacular hitchcock sequence and nor his nail biting tension and all that leave be for the actor to fully inhabit their character . that they do with brilliance and efficiency and breathtaking comic timing . no pratfall here . just nuance . edmund gwenn and mildred natwick be the real star . have hitchcock say so and the film would never have be produce . their scene ( they receive a much if not more screen time together than forsythe and maclaine ) be possibly the most delightful ( and yes and romantically and sexually tense ) ever film of courtship in middle and old age . perfectly realize in every intonation and gesture . occasionally laugh out loud funny . theirs be parallel by the courtship of the young star and forsythe and maclaine . love at both end of life and young and old and and love wonderful humor and mysterious redemption and even in the face of death that inconvenient corpse on the hill . perhaps the most surprising and powerful undertow in the trouble with harry ( one hesitate to name it because it handle so delicately ) be sex . it be only barely present in the line give the character and but the subtext be always there . occasionally and it boil over into an infinitely subtle burlesque and a in the exchange between gwenn and forsythe about cross miss gravely ( get that name . ) threshold for the first time . the look in gwenn eye and the repressed joy and romantic hope in his face even at his stage of life be bliss . the coffee cup and saucer for a man finger while the ribbon for miss gravely newly cut hair ( wiggy cut it in the general store mildred dunnock in another unbelievably subtle performance muttering and well and i guess it will grow back . ) while arnie dead rabbit and live frog while the constantly shift implication of guilt in the death of harry up there on the hill while the character struggle to regain innocence by do the right thing while the closet door that swing open for no apparent reason ( never explain ) while the character revelation of the truth about themselves while their wish grant through sam negotiation with the millionaire art collector from the city all portray within the conservative but ultimately flexible confines of their new england repression and stoicism ( yes and the film be also a satiric comment on 50 morality ) these detail and more finally yield a rich tapestry of our common humanity and observe at a particular time and place and through specific people catch in an absurd yet utterly plausible circumstance . nothing happen . only somebody who doesn not know how to look and listen really observe and like an artist or creator could reach that conclusion about the trouble with harry . only a genius and like hitchcock and would have the audacity to pull the rug out from under his audience expectation at the height of his career by offer a profoundly subtle morality play in the guise of a slightly macabre hallmark card . when the final revelation arrives and in the last line that take u home to the marital bed where love culminates and all human life begin yours and mine and draw from u a happy smile of recognition and so hitchcock great secret be reveal and more blatantly in this than any of his film . life and death and all of it in between be a joke . don not you get it . it there in all his picture . nowhere more lovingly and less showily present than in the trouble with harry . thank you and hitch .