The Wrong Man

Movie Review: The Wrong Man

Year of Release: 1956
Country of Origin: USA
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Henry Fonda, Vera Miles, Anthony Quayle, Harold Stone

Plot outline: A true story of an innocent man charged for a crime he didn't commit, even though witnesses swear he's guilty (IMDb).

Whilst it may embrace many familiar Hitchcockian themes, such as mistaken identity, mental derangement and transference of guilt, The Wrong Man is markedly different from Hitchcock’s other movies, and could even be mistaken as the work of an altogether different director. The surprising stylistic change of direction is heralded at the start of the movie by the appearance of Hitchcock himself, not in his usual fleeting cameo but as a ghostly silhouette in film noir long shot, to tell us that what we are about to see is based entirely on a true story. The factual nature of the narrative is reflected in the strikingly realist approach which Hitchcock adopts for this movie. It is probable that he had been influenced by the emergence of neo-realism in European cinema at the time - exemplified by the work of the Italian cineaste Roberto Rossellini. Real locations and naturalistic performances are complemented by a very restrained cinematographic style and a meticulous attention to detail, which heighten the sense of realism, to the point of risking viewer antipathy. The Wrong Man is much more a film d’auteur than a typical Hollywood commercial movie. It may have fared very poorly at the box office when it was first released, but it is undoubtedly one of Hitchcock’s most daring and inspired contributions to the art of cinema. Much of the movie’s intense emotional realism comes from Henry Fonda’s convincing portrayal of an innocent family man who is drawn into a Kafkaesque nightmare from which there is, apparently, no escape. Fonda’s talent for playing the ordinary man is put to good use and he really does get across the immense trauma and pathos of a man who is on the brink of losing everything. The subjective camera work (consisting of some very effective point-of-view shots) and Bernard Herrmann’s appropriately subdued score complement Fonda’s performance superbly, helping the viewer to identify with his character's growing anxiety and shame as the net closes in around him. An equally impressive performance from Vera Miles heightens the movie’s tragic dimension, helping to make this Hitchcock’s bleakest and most poignant movie. (JT)

My judgement: *** out of 4 stars