Hitchcock, Psychosis, Romance and Suspense

Another one of Alfred Hitchcock amazingly filmed psychological thrillers is the 1964 film Marnie . Based off of a book of the same name by author Winston Graham, the set of the film reportedly had tons of stress and problems yet remains a classic film and the professed favorite of leading actress Tippi Hedren. The film uses elements of sex, drama, mystery, and cinematic effects to create the thrilling atmosphere Hitchcock is known for.

The film is about Marnie Edgar (Hedren), a psychologically distressed woman who has many unnatural fears including thunderstorms, the color red, and close relationships and the trusting of men. She is also a compulsive thief and has a long history of stealing from the businesses she works for. She persuades Sidney Strutt (Martin Gabel) to give her a job and then ultimately steals everything out of his company safe and leaves. One of Strutt's best customers is Mark Rutland (Sean Connery), a widower who owns a printing company and remembers the young woman who Strutt reports stole the money from him. When Marnie comes to work for Rutland's company, he keeps watch over her and when she steals from him, he tracks her down and blackmails her into marrying him. Living with the Rutlands is Lil Mainwaring (Diane Baker), the young sister of Mark's late wife who is jealous that Marnie married Mark instead of her. She connives to expose Marnie to Mark and to everyone else, which Mark has to keep under wraps. Throughout their strained marriage, Mark is determined to discover what is the reason behind Marnie's deep psychological problems. He tracks down Marnie's mother (Louise Latham), a former prostitute, and at last, a long kept, dreadful tale of murder and intrigue is revealed with Marnie at it's center.

The movie is not considered a financial success though its expressionist style and the cinematic techniques it used are generally considered to be ahead of their time, perhaps the reason the movie was not widely positively received. Diane Baker was not allowed to read the script before signing on to the film, but instead was merely told it was a Hitchcock film with Tippi Hedren in the lead role. Hitchcock wanted Grace Kelly to be the leading lady for this film, but the citizens of her new homeland Monaco were outraged at the thought of their princess playing a psychologically disturbed kleptomaniac. Hitchock then went with Hedren who he had previously directed in The Birds but during shooting, Hedren and Hitchcock had a major falling out which lead to the end of their friendship.

For more opinions on this film, there are a variety of sources you can access. Turner Classic Movies has a synopsis and tons of goodies that can be found here on the film's homepage. Web site thedistractedglobe.com has this article, which reviews, analysis, and gives a brief history of the film. Frank's Movie Log has this short, to the point review. The Movies and Frontier's blog has this review about the lasting quality of the film, and finally, dearcinema.com has this article about how Marnie differs from Hitchcock's other films.