Not Coming to a Theater Near You

The Wrong Man / USA / 1956

Many of my favourite Hitchcock movies have a markedly alluring artifice to them that appears to be a consequence of the director’s determination to shape his visual compositions in an exceptionally meticulous manner. Hitch always seems to know what he wants to focus upon and how he intends to attract his audience’s attention towards specific aspects of his frame, frequently ignoring continuity or the need to make actions reflect reality in order to craft striking visuals that serves to enhance the subtext of his story.

Hence, while there isn’t really anything particularly wrong with The Wrong Man, it still feels like an interloper within Hitchcock’s body of work, at least from my perspective. While Hitchcock’s willingness to use a few locations that served as the setting for the real-life events that the film chronicles infuses his film with a certain level of authenticity, the atmosphere also seems slightly peculiar in comparison to many of Hitchcock’s more famous films, which all have a strange synthetic beauty within their design. During much of the film, I never attained the distinctive sensation that Hitchcock’s hand was guiding my vision, as I often found my attention drawn towards the setting itself, rather than anything specific. As well, I have a tough time deciding whether the casting of Henry Fonda is successful. Again, Fonda isn’t doing anything harmful to the film and his personality allows the audience to feel great sympathy towards this man’s plight, but his persona doesn’t really lend itself to any of the typical anxiety (which is usually only fairly mild anyway) that the viewer often feels towards Hitchcock’s leading men, which usually only enhances the unease that Hitchcock is creating within his film.

However, the pleasant surprise within the film was the unexpected performance of Vera Miles as Manny’s suffering spouse, Rose, who becomes racked with unnecessary guilt over her husband’s incarceration. Miles effectively conveys Rose’s inability to contend with the apparent futility of the individual’s attempt to struggle against the system without shifting into strident hysterics and thus assumes much of the mental anguish and conflict that Fonda’s Manny appears largely immune towards. In my mind, it’s probably Miles’ performance that saves the film from becoming just a mediocre movie.

by Chiranjit Goswami | Source: Warner Brothers DVD
31 Mar 2008 6:43 PM | Submit Comment