Marnie (1964)

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

When watching Alfred Hitchcock's "Marnie", one gets the sense that there is much more that went on in the novel it was based on, almost as if Hitch made a lot of excises or additions to the original script (I'm not positive on this...only a guess). As a result, the overall narrative is a bit disjointed in places and sparse in others. Luckily, the acting and themes in the movie are solid enough to make it a very interesting picture to watch.For a basic plot summary, "Marnie" focuses on Marnie Edgar (Tippi Hedron), a compulsive liar/thief who eventually gets caught by Mark Rutland (Sean Connery). In trying to help Marnie discover why she is so psychologically disturbed, Mark uncovers a secret about Marnie's mother (played by Louise Latham) that must be revealed before any true progress can be made.In terms of overall execution, this film is a little lacking, especially considering the usual Hitchcock standard. Not until the last 20 minutes or so do you really get 100% sucked into what is transpiring. Before that, it is a collection of "fits and starts".Fortunately, the themes (obsession, childhood trauma, sexual tension, etc.) of "Marnie" are fascinating enough to keep you watching without getting bored. Just when you think that Marnie can't do anything crazier or be any stranger, she usually does just that.Thus, I consider "Marnie" a Hitchcock success largely in part due to the source material (i.e. it would be tough to really screw this one up). For roughly an hour and 45 minutes of the movie, I was set on a three-star rating. The final scenes, however, easily are the most compelling and bump it up a full star.

Mark (Sean Connery) blackmails a kleptomaniac into marrying him, and then not only forces himself on her, but also forces her to confront her past, and learn why she is so terrified of the colour red.Marnie, the character, is damaged goods.Marnie, the film, is damaged goods also.It's a character-driven story, but every character is either unlikeable, or uninvolving. Marnie is a good, but not *great* Hitchcock flick, and, especially at that time, coming right after things like Psycho, and The Birds, and North By Northwest, and Vertigo, good wasn't good enough. A lot of fans probably were not expecting a more low key, subtle, psychological romance thriller, which is what we got with Marnie. No elaborate chases on My. Rushmore, no killer with split personalities. It was too much of a departure for some. While it is a beautiful looking, well filmed effort (excluding some atrocious backdrops, which occasionally look like a painting one might see in a dentist's office) its pacing also lags, and Sean Connery (in a hideous looking hairpiece) is just simply there. He's not bad here, but he seems to be miscast to me, like he was given the role in hopes plot a James Bond/ Hitchcock crossover success.Marnie is still worthwhile, but not a film I am in any hurry to rewatch, and not a good starting point for someone not already a fan of Hitchcock.

Marnie can be considered the last of a strong run in the second half of Hitchcock's career. It was his last featuring an icy blonde, much of his technical team, a score by regular collaborator Bernard Herrmann and the films that followed were more politically motivated and not of the same quality. At the time Hitchcock was on an amazing run, making four films in a row that are certain classics. Marnie differs from these films in that it is first and foremost a drama, one with little mystery or suspense and much more focus on psychology.Our title character is a thief who moves from job to job, donning different guises and stealing from them when she has gained trust. Despite her behaviour Marnie is a tough individual to get a grasp of, leaving us wondering why she carries out such acts. We gain little insights into Marnie's life throughout. She had no father, a mother who was distant and seems disturbed by the colour red. We know that it must add up to something. As a result this is by far Hitchcock's most character focused film. Marnie is the centrepiece and trying to figure her out is the core story, everything that takes place is built around the character. Tippi Hedren does an acceptable job playing such a difficult part but she seems out of place. Her emotions sound forced and she makes the character appear a little too passive at times. She simply struggles under the weight of such a role.The story takes shape when Mark Rutland, a wealthy publisher whose company she works for, finds out that she robbed from his safe and reveals to her that knows everything about her past habits. Things take a strange turn when Mark blackmails her into marrying him in order to keep her from going to jail. Mark does seem likable at first and we initially wonder what his reasoning is. But I struggle to believe that he's so attracted to Marnie that he's willing to jeopardise his image in order to uncover some type of trauma in her past. Not to mention that some of his sexual action towards her can make him difficult to sympathise with or understand. Sean Connery plays the role with all the sophistication and charm you could want which certainly adds appeal, but even then I don't think he gets that deep into the character. Much of the films strength lies with how it looks at its themes. This is a very psychological story and touches on issues that were seldom studied in films at the time. The idea of trauma controlling someone's personality and that person's inability to understand why that is. Much of the plot deals with Mark thinking that he can figure out Marnie's psychological issues and stop her compulsive lying and stealing. These parts of the film are the most interesting, we get glimpses into the characters mind-sets and can begin to understand their feelings. More of this would have been beneficial to the film on the whole. As the majority of the characters are hard to relate to or figure out we need to some insight into their situations. Instead we're left cold because it's hard to get a grip of their motivations.The direction is pretty good, Hitchcock doesn't try anything to fanciful but that works here. There are some really ropey effects during the horse-riding moments and the red fades do look daft, but I think that can be forgiven for the time period. The pacing is very well handled. Despite the films length and it's slower pace, there were never any passages were it became boring or unfocused. The sets, lighting and costumes all look effective too. I do enjoy the films colour scheme in fairness, its use of more muted colours matches the tone it is going for. And I know the film is going for more straight-up drama, but I find the lack of mystery and suspense slightly disappointed considering this story is perfect for both. In the end my biggest issue with Marnie is that it is rather unmemorable. It's the type of film you enjoy whilst watching but find it difficult to recall anything that outstanding afterwards. It's well directed but nothing out of the ordinary. It's competently acted but nobody stands out. We never really feel involved with these characters like we should do. I get the impression that Hitchcock loved the idea behind it all yet struggled to bring it into one flowing narrative. I give it credit that its story is an intriguing one and it manages to tackle some fascinating themes effectively, but beyond on that it is very much by the numbers. Not one of Hitchcock's best, not one of his worst, just very much middle ground.

This movie really can't be classified into one category, such as a straight psychological thriller, a suspense thriller, a detective story, a mystery, a romance, etc. Whereas most Hitchcock movies put less focus on the characters and more focus on the suspense, Marnie puts most of the focus on one character and less focus on the suspense. This movie is highly personal and psychological. This movie stars 'Tippi' Hedren, Sean Connery, Diane Baker, Louise Latham, Mariette Hartley, Martin Gabel, and Alan Napier. Hedren plays the role of Margaret "Marnie" Edgar, a strange woman with psychological problems who is a professional thief, a liar, has multiple identities, and has an intense fear of men, thunderstorms, and even the color red. To sum up the plot in a nutshell, she empties her employer's safe, escapes, and changes her identity and appearance. Sean Connery plays the role of Mark Rutland, owner of a publishing company that Marnie applies for a new job at. Marnie robs him as well. He tracks her down. However, Rutland is infatuated with her. Rather than turning her in to the authorities, he convinces her to marry him, sort of like blackmail. While on their honeymoon, he realizes that she actually has a fear of men and fears intimacy. Frustrated, he gets more aggressive with her, resulting in her attempting suicide. Her intense fear of men is rooted in a traumatic childhood experience she had.Marnie is quite slow to start with, but quickly builds up to many gripping scenes. Sean Connery was currently in 1964 considered as 'hot property'in the film industry for his role as James Bond, and in Marnie his 007 character is still there in the background for all to see. Connery's performance is simply excellent and it is hard to imagine any other actor playing this part. Tippi Hedren of course, being the leading star, performs excellently and manages her role with great imagination. One aspect of older films that I've never liked much is the melodramatic music, which to me feels like the aural equivalent of purple prose, underlining and explaining every emotion. I'd guess that it's a holdover from silent cinema, when the lack of recorded sound meant a pianist in the auditorium had to provide the emotional cues. It's telling that Marnie's most suspenseful scene, with two women in a business office, one a safe-cracker, the other a cleaner, has no music. Although the search for love, approval and an attempt at emotional closure makes Marnie different from other Hitchcock films, it is still very "Hitchcock" and well worth viewing.Overall rating: 9 out of 10.