The trouble with Harry - 1954

It's a Alfred Hitchcock film, and that says already a lot, but it's also one of my favourites. It's not among his most famous films, but I love it. It's part crime story, mystery, and comedy of errors style. In the opening credits it even says "introducing Shirley MacLaine", which is perfect because I also love her, she's great, and she's great here too.
I love this film because it's very quiet, because nothing happens and yet it's so captivating, with this Harry being half a mystery and half a joke :-)
This is what happens.
Little Arnie sees a dead man up a hill, and runs home. Old captain Miles sees him after he had been hunting rabbits, and thinks he killed him. Miss Gravely sees Wiles moving the body, and inquires about the circumstances.
Wiles-Did you know him, Miss Gravely?
Miss G-No, doesn't live around here.
W-Well, he died around here, that's what counts now
M. G-Embarassing
!!! You see what I mean? :-) Then Wiels wants to hide him and she agrees. "I feel better for telling someone as warm, tender, understanding as yourself": flirting over a dead man's body, but she appreciates and invites him home for blueberry muffin and coffee, and maybe some elderberry wine, then she has to step over the body to go away...
The little boy comes back with her mom to see him. Mrs Rogers knows him as Harry, and appears to be glad that he's dead, and she takes her son home for a lemonade. Dr Greenbow comes and Wiles thinks "Couldn't have more people here if I'd sold tickets", which is what we were probably all thinking at that point. The doctor is reading and doesn't see him. A poor man comes up and takes his shoes, and I don't understand why he didn't take his socks too, that kind of shoes are not comfortable without socks. Mr. Marlowe goes up the hill to paint, sees the body and draws his face. Wiles shows himself and they discuss both what happened and the captain's date! Doc comes again, and after stumbling again over it, this time he sees him, says "I beg your pardon" to the body and keeps going. To learn more about Harry, Mr. Marlowe goes to Mrs Rogers, to whom he has never spoken before, and tells her she's beautiful, wonderful, and "I'd like to paint you nude" without even bothering with introducing himself. She fixes him some lemonade, she has a real thing for lemonades; Mr Marlowe asks her about Harry, and very quietly she explains that he's her second husband, Arnie's father's brother. She left him and went away, but he found her and came to take her home, so she hit him on the head and he went away.Wiles and Sam Marlowe bury Harry, then talk about the dead rabbit that Arnie had given to them. Realising that if he shot the rabbit he didn't kill Harry, they dig him up. They look and Sam declares that Harry doesn't have a bullet wound, it looks more like a blow with a blunt instrument. ( :lol: it's 1954 and guns didn't make the mess they do now to a body..)and they bury him again. Wiles invites Miss Gravely to his home, and she says that it was her who killed Harry, that she had hit him over the head with the leather heel of her hiking shoe because he annoyed her, he mistook her for his wife and assaulted her, pushing her into the bushes, so she hit him hard. "Mrs Rogers knocked him silly and you finished him off". At this point Miss Gravely digs Harry up again, then they both go to Jennifer Rogers and discuss the matter and then they all go up to bury him again. After that Sam, Jennifer, Miss Gravely and Wiles are met by Mrs Wiggs who tells them that a millionnaire wants to buy all his paintings. As payment, Sam asks for strawberries for Jennifer, a chemical set for Arnie, a cash register for Mrs Wiggs, a hope chest full of hope for Miss Gravely, a good shotgun with plenty of ammunition, some corduroy britches, a plain shirt and a brown hunting cap for Wiles. Sam proposes to Jennifer, then the deputy sheriff comes with the news that the tramp told him he got his new shoes off a dead body, he calls the state police and then sees Sam's drawing of the dead. It takes him a while, but finally Sam realises that to be able to marry Jennifer has to prove that she's free. So they go and dig him up again. Doc comes once more but this time he's not reading and takes a good look at him, only it's late and dark and he can't see, so they agree to carry him to Jennifer's house and the doc will see him there. They clean his clothes and wait for Doc. The deputy comes to ask about the drawing and Sam changes it there and then :lol: When Doc comes, he tells them it was his heart, he died of natural causes, so Jennifer explains to him everything, telling him they'll put Harry back where it was. Next day they put him up the hill, waiting for Arnie to come. The plan is: Arnie will see the body and run to tell his mother, and at that point Jennifer will call the deputy :-)
"The trouble with Harry is over" appears on the screen :-)

Ita: La congiura degli innocenti