Marnie (1964)

Director:

Alfred Hitchcock

Writers:

Winston Graham (novel)
Jay Presson Allen (screenplay)

Release Date:

22 July 1964 (USA)

Genre:

Mystery | Romance | Thriller

Tagline:

"You don't love me. I'm just some kind of wild animal you've trapped!"

Plot:

Mark marries Marnie although she is a habitual thief and has serious psychological problems, and tries to help her confront and resolve them.

Plot Keywords:

Thief | Robbery | Money | Horse | Past

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Tippi Hedren	...	Marnie Edgar (as 'Tippi' Hedren)
Sean Connery	...	Mark Rutland
Diane Baker	...	Lil Mainwaring
Martin Gabel	...	Sidney Strutt
Louise Latham	...	Bernice Edgar
Bob Sweeney	...	Cousin Bob
Milton Selzer	...	Man at Track
Mariette Hartley	...	Susan Clabon
Alan Napier	...	Mr. Rutland
Bruce Dern	...	Sailor
Henry Beckman	...	First Detective
S. John Launer	...	Sam Ward
Edith Evanson	...	Rita, Cleaning Woman
Meg Wyllie	...	Mrs. Turpin

Runtime:

130 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Spain:18 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:PG (Manitoba/Ontario) | USA:PG (1984) | USA:Approved | Portugal:M/12 | Brazil:12 | Norway:15 (TV rating) | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Italy:VM14 | Norway:16 (1964) | Peru:14 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 (re-rating) (1993) | UK:X (original rating) | West Germany:16 | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

30th Street Station - 3001 Market Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

Bernard Herrmann's last score for a Hitchcock film.

Goofs:

Plot holes: Marnie always goes into these flashbacks whenever she sees the color red - red flowers, a drop of red blood, the red jacket of the fox hunter - yet the fact the entire house (and the stairs most noticeably) is carpeted in bright red seems to have no affect on her.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Sidney Strutt: Robbed! Cleaned out! $9,967! Precisely as I told you over the telephone. And that girl did it. Marion Holland. That's the girl. Marion Holland.
First Detective: Can you describe her Mr. Strutt?
Sidney Strutt: Certainly I can describe her: five-five, 110 pounds, size 8 dress, blue eyes, black wavy hair, even features, good teeth.
Sidney Strutt: [detectives unable to restrain laughter] Well what's so damn funny? There's been a grand larceny committed on these premises.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Lady in Question Is Charles Busch (2005)

A memorable mystery drama for the way in which Hitchcock squeezed and twisted suspense out of the simplest materials…

The childhood roots of Marnie's problem were certainly the fulcrum of the plot; but they were also a vital strand in her character, the main force of her motivation…

Marnie Edgar (Tippi Hedren) is a psychologically scarred gray-suited serial thief who would take a job in an office, win liking and trust by her good looks, manners and work; then steal the safe and move to another part of the country, changing her look, her name, and her identity…

This what she does when she went to work for Mark Rutland (Sean Connery), a wealthy sadist businessman; but he replaced the stolen money, tracked her down, and blackmailed her with two alternatives: to go to jail or to marry him…

Only, besides Marnie's traumas and aftermaths, she was cool, desperately detached, and couldn't find in herself any affection for any living thing except fondness for horses… Sexually, she was extremely cold, and her marriage was not consummated... And she was continually afraid of thunderstorms and couldn't handle the red color…

I don't want to spoil some of other brilliant little touches, but Marnie had always said she was an orphan, and Mark tracked down her icy mother (Louise Latham), and brought the two face to face… There was a beautifully acted scene here when the two met up again and Bernice who even now could show no more affection to her daughter than Marnie could to her husband…