The Trouble With Harry (1955)

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Written by John Michael Hayes, based on the novel by Jack Trevor Story
Starring John Forsythe, Shirley MacLaine, Edmund Gwenn and Mildred Natwick

The trouble with Harry is that he's dead, and everyone seems to have a different idea of what needs to be done with his body.

In this rare, dark comedy from the incomparable Alfred Hitchcock, murder is not the punchline, but rather the set up to many ludicrous situations. In 1950s Vermont, the citizens of this small town seem to be more concerned with being proper and polite than they do with a dead body. Perhaps a satire of the unachievable expectations of manners in the 50s. But I was born in 1989, so what the hell do I know?

The film itself isn't filled with jokes or slapstick situations. It is the sheer macabre nature of this story that makes it's own humor. Hitchcock's dark sense of comedy is so apparent that I could just imagine him sitting bend the camera, grinning from ear to ear.

The age of this movie will turn many away and as much as I urge people to give this and any other classic movie a shot, I understand completely. Older films are not always for everyone due to the way films have changed overtime. The evolution of humor alone has created such a gap in what people of different generations find funny.

"The Trouble With Harry" is dry, dark and ridiculous. If anything, I would say that you will most likely never see another film quite like it. It speaks about death so nonchalantly that it's no surprise that the writer of the novel and the director were both British. So painfully British.

My Rating: 7/10

All Good Things (2010)

Directed by Andrew Jarecki
Written by Marcus Hinchey and Marc Smerling

Starring Ryan Gosling, Kirsten Dunst, Frank Langella and Lilly Rabe
David Marks was suspected but never tried for killing his wife, Katie, who disappeared in 1982, but things occur in his life that bring suspicion of him back into the investigators attention.

Based on the true story of Robert Durst, the subject of the HBO docu-series "The Jinx", this film made it surprisingly easy to sympathize with the alleged murderer who may or may not have committed these crimes (He did.. he totally did). I have yet to watch the series, but I was taken aback at how humanized they made him seem.

Were it not based on a true story, this movie would have been easy to look over. It is one of the many films that gain notoriety on it's subject matter alone. There was nothing spectacular about anything, from acting to cinematography. It was all very blasé for having such an unbelievable, yet true inspiration.

Pictured: Ryan Gosling being blasé.

It could have been so much more, but perhaps given the time this film was made, certain facts about the case weren't available at the time. It's a good movie. I enjoyed watching it. But this is like "Gone Girl's" little sister filled with teenage angst. Though, I definitely want to watch "The Jinx" now.

My Rating: 6.5/10