Marnie

Alfred Hitchcock's Marnie is based on a Winston Graham novel, adapted for the screen by Jay Presson Allen . Like all of Hitchcock's work, it stands as a work marked primarily by it's differences from anything else being filmed at the time. It goes a step farther in dealing with themes that are both timeless and chilling to the bone but were not in vogue in pop psychology until well after this movie came out. It was not a popular movie at the time of its release.

This was a movie that was supposed to bring Grace Kelly out of retirement. She changed her mind, and Tippi Hedron played the lead. After Birds made her a star she was big box office, as was Sean Connery having already been widely known as James Bond. From one point of view it showed us that Connery CAN act, from another, it pointed up certain deficiencies in the female lead. Without Hitchcock, Tippi Hedron (who does resemble Grace Kelly or is at least BLOND) is just a fashion model. But her flat affect works for this character. Add to that, an outstanding performance by Louise Latham, and it becomes a blend that only Hitchcock could have brought together successfully, without making Tippi Hedren look too bad. In fact, you might come out of this thinking that she can act.

The photography was excellent and the musical score was peerless by Bernard Hermann. It ended an era for Hitch.
Two of his long term associates Photography director Robert Burks, and editor George Tomasini bought the farm after this picture. And after Hitch and Bernard Hermann quarreled, it would also be the the last Hermann score to grace a Hitchcock flick.

This movie is one that you will need to see a couple of times to appreciate the finesse of Hitchcock's cinematic techniques. I had such marked antipathy for Tippi Hedren (No I don't KNOW why!)that I might have missed something, if I had not watched it twice. So plan on seeing it once, and keep it long enough to view at least part of it over.

I'll try to give you a bit of a road map to some key elements along the way.

In looking at this film closely, you must make one important assumption. Nothing in Hitchcock is accidental.

From the imagery, at the opening, where Marnie is protective of her purse, (which has some Freudian connotations), to the muted color tones, I repeat, nothing is accidental. The proof is partly in the editing, partly in organized and planned shooting, images and meticulous lighting. For Hitchcock, film is not a recording of a story, it is a creation, obtained whatever way he can. The written story is only a part of the creation, where sights and sounds and images, and symbolism accompany every act, underlining, emphasizing, building suspense and driving the film forward.

Some of Hitchcock?s early training and love of German Expressionism is evident in the contrived lightning flashes, in the was of the color red whenever Marnie goes into a fugue state (and carefully muted elsewhere), and the impressive use of musical themes to set the mood of a scene, or end on a note of optimism. This is a masterful creation, in every sense, a work created by Hitchcock.

One example of a particularly effective scene, that says a lot, without the need for dialog, occurs in the office, where Mark has called Marnie in to work extra on a Saturday.. He has a curio cabinet where he keeps his wife?s collection of Pre-Columbian art. A storm begins, with thunder and lightening. As Mark holds Marnie to comfort her in her terror, a tree branch breaks the window, and smashes the curio cabinet. It breaks whatever bond Mark has with his dead wife, without a word of dialog, freeing him to pursue a relationship with Marnie.

The tag lines for this movie call it a ?sex mystery?. The theme content here deals with frigidity. The psychological content is heavy, and the origins of the state are well documented in the story. But there is no sex in the movie, although there is love and romance. Does this imply once again that Hitch had a problem with relationships, or is it just someone far ahead of the mob who is brave enough to deal with a phenomenon that would in the next few decades explode on the national consciousness? It was an incredible journey to discovery and fits a lot of what has been documented in modern Psychology.

Interestingly enough, the prime cause of Marnie?s condition, is considered to be a murder. But Hitch shows, almost graphically, that the real cause is child molestation. And it was evident, implied, before the murder. But the traumatic event that triggered this psychosis was repressed, although it was more than a molestation, a nearly symbolic event ending the childhood of Marnie, by the death of her innocence.

Marnie is a thief. She steals compulsively. The money is used partly to set up her mother comfortably and partly because it is a compulsive act, an act intending to fulfill the unmet needs of the human being, to whom normal relationships and love are denied. (Sex, I guess) . If there is any question of this, the proof will come at the end of the movie, when Marnie has to put down her horse, who was injured ..and in a daze, goes to the vault to steal money.

THE PLOT

An attractive woman walks to a train platform. Clutching a purse tightly under her arm, a suitcase in her other hand. Flash to the scene of a robbery, where Strutt describes the thief-who we now know is the woman on the train platform. A business associate , Mark Rutland, comes in, and hears of the robbery, intrigued.

?Always pulling her skirt down over her knees like they were a national treasure.? was one of the ways she was described by Strutt.

Flash to Marnie in a hotel room, washing the black out of her hair, and preparing to resume her real identity. She first goes to see her horse Forio. She then goes to visit her mother in Baltimore.

The visit goes badly. Marnie's mother is babysitting for a neighbor, a little blond girl named Jessie (and it is interesting that when Marni starts making up stories to explain her theivery, she says she has an evil cousin Jessie who is trying to get her money). Marni is jealous of the girl, and has a bad moment when she sees red gladiolas in a vase. She brings out an expensive present for her mother. Her mother criticizes her hair, saying making herself blond makes her cheap. Marni asks plaintively why her mother doesn't love her, laying her head on her mother's lap. Her mother tells her she is "painin' her leg", hurt in "her accident" long ago. There is no comfort for Marnie.

Flash to Rutland's, a firm where Mark Rutland is the executive in charge. Marnie is back, this time her hair tinted brown, looking for a job. Mark thinks he recognizes her as Strutt's probable thief, but is intrigued, and watches her. He is attracted to the bad side, more than a little, and when Marnie breaks down during a thunderstorm, he is there to comfort her.

They start a tentative relationship, going to the race track on Saturday, and one day he takes her home to meet his father. Marnie realizes this relationship is in danger of getting too close, a fear of intimacy is part of her sexual problem. So she makes her move, and steals the money, and heads out of town. Once again, the first stop is her stable.

But Mark is there to meet her. He has anticipated her move, and finds himself intrigued, covering the loss, and trying to find out more about this mysterious, beautiful, and totally screwed up woman. He becomes determined to help her. He gives her a choice. Either return with him and marry him, or go to jail. (Now which would you choose? Sean Connery? Give me a break!)

She marries him, and their honeymoon is a bizarre event. The infamous 'rape' scene doesn't happen, but almost does. And 'almost' only counts in hand grenades and horseshoes. Proof that she is aware of her state, and can no longer deny it, is her attempted suicide.

Rutland is determined to "cure" her, and she refuses to see a psychiatrist. He reads up on "Sexual aberrations of the female criminal mind". And he makes some other discoveries as well. She has a longer history than she admitted, stealing at least $150,000 in 5 years. She told him her mother was dead. And she is repressing a terrible secret.

The questions you have to ask are:

1.Why doesn't Marnie's mother love her? Pay attention to the body language, and the change of speech patterns, when Marnie talks to her mother. Each of these scenes is acutely disturbing.

2. Why does Marnie steal? (and what does she do with the money? Does she discard it with her identities?)

3. Does Mark love her, or is he just trying to dominate and control, or 'train' Marnie? He identifies himself as a would-be zoologist. But then, she starts to appeal to that need to protect and cherish, and nurture. This is a complex male character as well!

4. What will happen, after all, when the secret is revealed?

5. Why is Lil (Dead wife's younger sister)living at the Rutland's home, and what does she want? Watch for the ballroom scene and her standing at the reception line, the only person in red. Beautiful, triumphant, knowing...at first.

Watch for the fox hunting scene, and see how Marnie responds to the hounds tearing at the fox, and flash to the laughing faces of the wealthy class. This is an absolutely brilliant scene.

THE CAST

Tippi Hedren as Marni Edgar. She really is better that I led you to believe, evoking real terror in some of the key scenes, projecting a cool detachment and alienation in others. She doesn't quite pull off a soft side, which would have improved the performance tremendously. She is deep in the shadow of better actors though. The character is complex, but the actress was not.

Sean Connery as Mark Rutland, the man who stops Marni's criminal career and compulsion, by marrying her. I have to get over my infatuation to watch, but when I do, I am as ever impressed by his ability to control a scene, both with emotional power and intensity. Of course the accent doesn't quite work as American pseudo-Aristocracy, but you forget that almost immediately as the plot develops.

Diane Baker as Lil Mainwaring, Rutland's sister in law from his previous marriage (his wife died) and Marni's rival for Mark's affections. The story was originally interpreted with a triangle motif, where two men would be competing for Marni's affection. The change left this role of less importance emotionally, but critically important to the plot development.

Maertin Gabel as Sidney Strutt. This is the first victim of Marni's compulsive acts of thievery. And a somewhat repulsive ogler of women he seems to be. One is not overwhelmed with sympathy...as it was meant to be.

Louis Latham as Bernice Edgar , Marni's mother. One of the best supporting performances filmed, this lady is incredible in this role. She projects the sense of isolation she feels, and the choices she has made. Overwhelmed with guilt, paralyzed by fear, anger and pain, she exists in her own world. Amazing performance.

Bob Sweeney as Cousin Bob. Very minor character, and a touch of humor in a movie that has little that is really funny.

Mariette Hartley as Susan Clabon-an office worker at Rutlands. She projects warmth and friendliness, in an environment that shows the contrast to Marni's persona, which is closed, cool and isolated. It was an exceptional touch by Hitchcock to develop Marni's character by contrasts.

Milton Seltzer as Man at the track. This guy, in one scene, professes to "know" Marni. She must deny it. But in just a few knowing looks, he seems to bear out Marnie's belief that "all men are pigs".

Alan Napier as Mr Rutland. This is pure Hitchcock, injecting a bit of class humor into his mix, by making the American "aristocracy" achieve their distinction by acting British, wearing three piece suit while lounging around the house, and all the rest. Another humorous touch that was needed.

Bruce Dern as The sailor. Now this performance though short, is actually pretty amazing. It is I am sure deliberately ambiguous. The implication is that he was molesting the young Marnie, but in fact he goes out to comfort her when she is afraid of the thunderstorm. Was he molesting her? By her response, though, we have a clear indication that this is not the first time this had happened to the 6 year old, if not by him, then by someone else.

Henry Beckman as First Detective.

S. John Launer as Sam Ward. Who?

Edith Evanson as Mrs Turpin. (Neighbor with a gun)


Final Recommendation

This is one of Hitchcock's best, believe it or not! It is perfectly crafted, far ahead of it's time, and thoroughly entertaining.

A Word on the DVD

This one comes from the 'Collector's Edition', and to my knowledge, Criterion has not produced this one yet. I will be there in line when they do. There is no commentary, but there is a feature called The Trouble with Marnie that includes interviews, some history of the film, and some anecdotes. The feature itself is well presented, with captioning. Not a bad package, all in all.

To quote Hitchcock himself You might call Marnie a sex mystery-that is, if one used such words".