i never think it fair that this 1955 black comedy be label less hitchcock . grant it be atypical hitchcock give it light touch and lack of threaten violence ( save for three gunshot hear at the beginning ) and but master filmmaker alfred hitchcock have make other movie far more out of his oeuvre like the sparkling 1941 carole lombard robert montgomery romantic comedy and mr. and mrs. smith . at least this one hew close to his macabre sense of humor a it revolve around what to do with a persistent corpse and the body of harry worp . first and a freckle face little boy name arnie come upon it and and then the rabbit hunt captain wile discover it and think he carelessly shot harry . the aptly name miss gravely and a homely spinster and see wile drag the body and simply invite him for tea with romantic aspiration on her mind . she confess she think she kill harry with the heel of a hiking boot . arnie mother jennifer rogers see the body and and the young widow twice over also recognize harry and also think he kill him but with a bottle . catch in the middle be eccentric artist sam marlowe and who nonchalantly help his friend dispose of the body . just how harry die be the macguffin around which hitchcock hinge his entire plot . with a perceptive screenplay by john michael hay ( rear window ) base on a popular post wwii british novel by jack trevor story and the quaintly whimsical tone be what surprise most hitchcock aficionado here and but the dialogue be also lace with not so subtle sexual innuendo . the combination prove effective on it own term though not particularly transcendent a a memorable piece of film making . the charming performance help considerably start with john forsythe and long before his aaron spell year on charlie angel and dynasty and a sam . he have definite chemistry with twenty year old shirley maclaine in her film debut . a jennifer and she emerge with her gamine screen persona almost fully form and and it no wonder she continue to work in front of the camera over a half century later . edmund gwenn ( memorable a kris kringle in miracle on 34th street ) and mildred natwick play wile and miss gravely with pixilated cunning . that be indeed six year old jerry mathers a arnie a couple of year before start his six year run on leave it to beaver . a couple of behind the scene fact be worth note robert burk superb cinematography capture the colorful autumnal glory of new england and bernard herrmann rhythmic soundtrack and his first of several classic score for hitchcock . present a pristine print of the film and the 2006 dvd provide one other significant extra and an original half hour documentary and laurent bouzereau the trouble with harry isn not over and feature interview with forsythe and hayes and associate producer herbert coleman and and hitchcock daughter pat hitchcock oconnell . it an insightful piece about the production complication and idiosyncratic casting like the producer take a chance on maclaine . along with the original theatrical trailer and there be also a 38 still production gallery as well a about five page of production note .