the trouble with harry be a comedy film about a dead body . alfred hitchcock make the macabre concept deliciously funny and entertain in his unique style . help hitchcock to turn this unlikeliest of premise into an enjoyable film be bernard herrmann ( provide fabulous music scoring ) and and a cast of win actor who judge to perfection how far to push their tongue into their cheek . a dead body turn up on a patch of grass near the top of a wooded new england hill . various people have reason to believe that theyre responsible for the man death . septugenarian ex sea captain albert wile ( edmund gwenn ) be worried that he might have accidentally shoot the man while hunt for rabbit . old spinster miss gravely ( mildred natwick ) fear that when she whack the man over the head with her shoe and she may have do more damage than she intend . and single mother jennifer ( shirley maclaine ) have even great cause to feel responsible and for she be the dead man wife . during an argument and she smash a bottle over his head and be now almost sure that he die a a result . local artist sam marlowe ( john forsythe ) decide to help his neighbour to cover up the crime and but after bury and dig up the corpse several time and the truth behind harry death be finally reveal . no hitchcock film divide viewer more than this one . some consider the film a masterpiece of understated black comedy while others deem it a plot less and pointless time waster . the film be a fairly massive box office flop at the time ( audience obviously felt from the movie poster that they be go to see a murder mystery and and be disappoint to actually find themselves experience a bizarre and off kilter black comedy ) . in retrospect and i would say the trouble with harry be a great film that be probably a good two decade ahead of it time . the performance be wonderfully outrageous and especially the elder ( gwenn and natwick ) who give perceptive comic turn that actor nowadays just do not seem to have the range to do . forsythe and maclaine be delightful too ( the latter in her movie debut ) and and royal dano round off the cast a a gullible cop who nearly find out that the other four have be up to no good . there no doubt that the trouble with harry be an acquired taste while but if this taste be to your like then youre in for a delectable treat .