Hitchcock movie. They really needed to take some time to establish why Sean Connery's character is so captivated with mending this horribly troubled woman. There is no sane special healthy connection until the absolute bitter end. Shoot me/depressing/shake it off..
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"Worst..."
VS
"Its by far the best Hitchcock movie."
This is what is so great about the movies in general and Hitchcock in particular. They/he speak to us in different ways unique to our unique selves.
As for me, I rank "Marnie" as neither his worst nor his best. But definitely in his "better." But also "flawed."
Yeah, I'm somewhere in between as well. It's sure not the worst, but it's sure not the best, either. I'd take Spellbound, Psycho, Rear Window, or North By Northwest over this one any day.
That being said, I thought it made much more sense than The Birds.
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How on earth was it clear? It wasn't clear at all how he could possibly be in love with her after knowing her for something like a week, let alone actually knowing that she is a criminal.
Marnie is badly flawed, I truly believe he lost interest in this production and Princess Grace canceled. He went through the motions. And he may not have wanted to do the film with Tippi Hedren . . .
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Widely known? No! She made the claim. That's not widely known. What is widely known, legendary in fact, is that Hitch was obsessed with Grace Kelly. She was his ideal icy blond. Hedren was an also ran.
Grace Kelly was Hitchcock's first choice for the role of Marnie. Do a little research beyond what choose to believe. Even though the chances were slim to none that Grace would accept any movie role at that point in her life, he offered the role of Marnie to her. Grace refused, Hitch offered the role to Hedren. Kelly was his Marnie!
Most of the people who worked on the film saw no hint of what Hedren is claiming.
I don't think we know enough about the casting . . . once Grace Kelly exited the production, I believe the air went out of the production . . . Hitchcock was left with nobody . . . and he may have sought some one other than Miss Hedren . . . who else did he consider? I don't think we have enough info on all the machinations that went on . . . Sean Connery is just perfect in his part . . . no problem with that . . . but the critical feamle lead?--maybe Universal forced Tippi on Hitchcock?
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Mcic,
Spend enough time on IMDb, and eventually you come across fanboys of certain actresses who feel they must trash the "competition" (at least insofar as they define some other actress as the competition). It is a deceptive approach, to be sure.
I happen to think Hitchcock deserves great credit for his overall efforts in casting for his films. This opinion makes much sense, I think, compared to those who think he did such a great job casting THEIR favorite, but somehow sucked when it came to NOT casting their favorite in another of his films.
The truth is while the ones he chose were hardly the only great actresses in the period, I would say it is a very defensible position to believe that Fontaine, Novack, Hedren, Kelly, Bergman, Miles and Janet Leigh were all beyond question above average actresses. The whole "blondes of a type" perception ignores that reality.
I suppose you could say mine is the pro-Hitchcock position on this whole controversy of casting. Let the fanboys argue AGAINST any or more than one of his casting decisions, but that should be with the awareness that they are questioning his casting decisions in general.
I have never watched the entire movie,always fall asleep.
Guess this was only a vehicle to keep Hitch close to Tippi.
Tipp Hedren was under a personal services contract with Alfred Hitchcock after he spotted her doing advertisements in New York. FYI.
shareI'm with you. I DVR'd it yesterday -- had to leave after first 45 minutes -- but tried to watch it later the same day. Gave up with one hour remaining on the clock. Looked like he was redoing elements of "Vertigo" and "North By Northwest." Music seemed identical. Nothing gave me any reason to hang with this loser. Those who claim he was bored by project(without Grace Kelly) may be onto something. Not a huge Hitch fan but this is definitely NOT among his best ("39 Steps," "Dial M For Murder," "Psycho.")
shareI was surprised to find so many people who are "somewhere in between" -- me too! Usually it's either you love it or you hate it. I think this needed no explanation. Someone said it was clear that Mark loved her. I think it's more clear that Hitchcock is fascinated by the theme of a man being infatuated by a frigid woman who doesn't want to have sex with him. What an intriguing and twisted movie.
sharePlease remember he had Grace Kelly scheduled for the film---that's who he really wanted---Hedron was a secondary, or perhaps an even more distant choice, for the role . . . she was available so Hitch used her . . . though he may not have wanted to . . . when Princess Grace canceled, his interest in the production may have waned . . .
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he started work on a script for this right after or even during "Psycho", and offered it to Grace Kelly. when the people of Monaco had a problem with their Princess playing a lying theif, she refused, besides still having an obligation to MGM. this then got shelved after she refused, and Hitch had no other project, so he went and did "The Birds", whisch was his first work with Tippi. after 3 or 4 other possible actresses for this role, Tippi accepted an offer.
"Monsters are such interesting people, my stars, the places you must go, the people you must meet!"
[–] stenney 4 years ago
he started work on a script for this right after or even during "Psycho", and offered it to Grace Kelly. when the people of Monaco had a problem with their Princess playing a lying theif, she refused, besides still having an obligation to MGM. this then got shelved after she refused, and Hitch had no other project, so he went and did "The Birds", whisch was his first work with Tippi. after 3 or 4 other possible actresses for this role, Tippi accepted an offer.
^This makes sense as opposed to what so many others were saying that Grace Kelly was chosen over Tippi Hedren as Marnie.
Considering how obsessed Hitchcock became with Tippi Hedren, it didn't make sense to me that he would make "The Birds" with Hedren, turn back to Grace Kelly knowing it would be in vain, then suddenly (supposedly reluctantly) turn back to Hedren.
I watched this for the first time last night and was sitting stunned at how awful it was. The whole part with the horse . . . wtf?
It kind of came together at the end, but the rest of it was a mess. I didn't get how Sean Connery could be so attracted to this nutcase who ripped off his company (in a way that was calculated, not on a whim).
Jaan Pehechan Ho
I don't know what you're talking about: "The whole part with the horse", there were several scenes with horses and they were all excellent. They helped build and develop Marnie's character a lot and touched on the theme of animals and instinct again, something referred to a lot. I can't see what you don't understand about this.
I liked this movie a lot, I gave it a 7 but I would have given it an 8 for sure if it had been edited better because it went on for too long for the drama that it had and got a little boring at times. If it had been 1:40 instead of 2:10 it would have been an amazing movie.
Not Hitchcock's best, but only a person with very poor taste would say it was Hitchcock's worst.
The guy probably means that the horsebackride sequence was rather poorly filmed and edited. Which it was.
"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan
I think he's referring to the scene in which the horse takes a spill over a fence, iirc.
Marnie, an experienced horsewoman, also goes down with the horse. This isn't exactly uncommon in cross-country riding, especially if you're going to jump solid fences instead of knock-down jumps like what you see in stadium jumping.
But she gets up and the horse doesn't. Without looking at the leg, not touching or feeling for a broken bone, or having a vet come look at it as any sane person would do, she flies into irrationality and starts screaming for a gun to put it out of its misery, then executes the poor thing when it might just have bowed a tendon.
Now, I get that Marnie is innately hysterical. It's what makes her the nut she is, and what kept me from liking her even a little. But shooting a horse when you think it might have a broken leg, without even looking to see if you're right? That's pathetic.
For the record, one of my mares kicked another mare and brought her to the ground, so I've seen a horse I love in physical pain, but I certainly wasn't ready to execute the poor animal if there had been hope. Am I an experienced horsewoman, yes, but I certainly wouldn't put myself into a vet's role (even though I was a nurse as well) unless the nearest vet had been a hundred miles off.
If someone calls this a plot hole, it really isn't; it's just bad writing.
Always feel free to attack someone as a substitute for thinking.
Once you watch 'The Girl' about the making of this you'll change your mind.
share[–] ninthcentury 2 years ago
I think he's referring to the scene in which the horse takes a spill over a fence, iirc.
Marnie, an experienced horsewoman, also goes down with the horse. This isn't exactly uncommon in cross-country riding, especially if you're going to jump solid fences instead of knock-down jumps like what you see in stadium jumping.
But she gets up and the horse doesn't. Without looking at the leg, not touching or feeling for a broken bone, or having a vet come look at it as any sane person would do, she flies into irrationality and starts screaming for a gun to put it out of its misery, then executes the poor thing when it might just have bowed a tendon.
Now, I get that Marnie is innately hysterical. It's what makes her the nut she is, and what kept me from liking her even a little. But shooting a horse when you think it might have a broken leg, without even looking to see if you're right? That's pathetic.
For the record, one of my mares kicked another mare and brought her to the ground, so I've seen a horse I love in physical pain, but I certainly wasn't ready to execute the poor animal if there had been hope. Am I an experienced horsewoman, yes, but I certainly wouldn't put myself into a vet's role (even though I was a nurse as well) unless the nearest vet had been a hundred miles off.
If someone calls this a plot hole, it really isn't; it's just bad writing.
I completely agree with you. I only hope that nothing bad actually happened to the horse in real life. And it was purely excellent editing and some special effects that made the horse look hurt.
KinksRock, I share your views exactly. The part with the horse was just laughable. And Tippi's acting - just dippy and dreadful.
shareI know it's far from his best but Marnie is my favourite Hitchcock movie.
shareI THINK ITS GREAT
shareFar from being the worst
His reason and probably his nature was when he explained why he tamed the jaguarundi and said, "To trust me."
Agree with the OP. Much of it would have made more psychological sense if the story at least had the Connery character eventually shown to be a manipulative and abusive villain. The upbeat ending was so highly contrived it gives the viewer a cheap sense of satisfaction, if only to superficially even out what was for almost two hours a ridiculous and uneven story. The worst Hitchcock movie I know of (though The Man Who Knew Too Much 1956 version comes close). Herrmann's score seemed to parody itself with the material it attempted to emotionally anchor. No wonder he and Hitch had to part their ways during the making of Hitch's next dud two years later.
Life is a state of mind.