The Trouble with Harry (4 Stars)

This 1955 film is one of the lesser known films in Alfred Hitchcock's later years. This isn't a suspense film or a thriller, it's a return to the style of his comedies that he made in the 1920's and 1930's. It almost seems like he's parodying his post-war films. One can never accuse Hitchcock of not having a sense of humour.

A hunter finds a man lying dead in a forest. Rather than being a whodunnit, this film is a who-didn't-do-it. The man has a gunshot wound, so the hunter assumes he has accidentally shot him and buries the body. Later he counts his bullets, realises he can't have done it and digs up the body. A woman in the village confesses to having killed the man, so he buries the body again to protect her. Then another woman confesses. To investigate they dig up the body again. And bury it again. And dig it up again. This is an all-round enjoyable farce. What do you do with a body that everyone claims to have killed?