Review of Marnie (1964) by Tom D — 22 Sep 2011

Hitchcock. Connery. How could you go wrong with that combo? That's what I thought and had been wanting to see this film for a while. Sadly I was disappointed. the film starts strong, throwing you straight into the story as it opens on a close up of a bag Marnie is holding, walking by a deserted train station and then cuts straight to an owner of the bank in which she robbed. I like films that just straight into the story and conflict.

But besides a good sequence in which Marnie robs a bank, this is not a suspenseful film. It's definitely low on the Hitchcock list. There are some good parts that can be taken from the film but as a whole its just not entertaining and subpar to many of his previously releases. The sound recording was pretty bad, and I know it is an old movie, but still I've seen many old films that have done a better job. There are a couple very nice shots in the film (a shot that starts in a wide at the top of stairs and comes down to the from door in a close up to reveal an threatening character, a dolly-in zoom-out Vertigo shot to represent going into a flashback and others) but I did not like the cinematography as a whole in this movie. I especially did not like the way the Horse tripping on wall sequence was put together.

The movie is just too weird and unbelievable. There is a lot more to be said about it but I don't want to actually write a full review here.