starring Henry Fonda, Vera Miles
directed by Alfred Hitchcock
105 minutes
Jazz musician Manny Balestrero (Henry Fonda), goes to inquire about borrowing some money against his wife Rose's (Vera Miles) insurance policy. She needs some dental work and the Balestreros are short on cash. Not long after that he is accused of robbing the insurance company at gun point, as well as several other businesses in his neighborhood.
The employees who were present at the time of the robberies, most notably the ones at the insurance company, all insist that he was the robber. The police arrest and charge him with the crimes. Rose, plus his sister and brother-in-law, rally around him and get him out on bail.
Manny and Rose try to find people who can confirm there's no way he robbed the insurance company. They think they are making some progress only to discover that the ones they were counting on to testify (as to Manny's whereabouts on the days of the robberies) have since died. Rose feels like she has failed her husband and has a nervous breakdown. Manny, not knowing what else to do, has her institutionalized.
The real armed robber strikes again while Manny's case is in court. Manny is exonerated but it takes a couple years for Rose to return to close enough to normal to return home.
Thoughts
I saw this film at the AFI Silver Theater. It was part of the Hitchcock / Herrmann series that the theater currently has going.
The movie opens with Alfred Hitchcock, shown in silhouette, explaining that the movie is a retelling of actual events. Hitchcock often makes a cameo appearance in his films but his appearance at the beginning of this film is the only appearance he makes in this one.
I wasn't crazy about how they ended the movie with text on the screen explaining that Rose was able to come home after a couple years. Her situation seemed like a key plot point in the latter part of the film. I can think of reasons why they might have handled it this was but I still feel a bit unsatisfied with that part of the movie.
Another aspect of the end of the movie that bothered me is who Manny chooses to blame for what happened to him. He blames the man who actually committed the robberies. He doesn't express any anger or frustration with the police or the witnesses who insisted that he was guilty. I imagine that the real Manny probably have a fair amount of anger towards them as well as the real robber.
There is plenty of tension in this movie but I didn't find it as satisfying as some of Hitchcock's other films. He does a good job of keeping the story going. It felt like there were some inconsistencies but the story flowed smoothly enough that I didn't dwell on them very much as I was watching the movie.
Notes
This is the first film in which I have seen Henry Fonda in almost two decades. The only other films in which I have seen since 2000 are The Lady Eve (1940) and Fail Safe (1964).
This is the third film in which I have seen Vera Miles in the past 12 months. The other two films in which I saw her were The Searchers (1956) and Psycho (1960). She was also in an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents that I watched in the past 12 months, 1.01 Revenge. She also appeared in two episodes of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour. She co-starred with Jeffrey Hunter in the first of those two episodes. Her character in The Searchers was romantically paired with Hunter's character. She appeared in one episode each of The Outer Limits (1963) and The Twilight Zone (1959) and two of Four Star Playhouse.
Nehemiah Persoff played the part of Manny's brother-in-law. I saw him just last week in an episode The Twilight Zone (1959), 1.10 Judgment Night.
This is the 15th film that Alfred Hitchcock directed that I have seen.
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