Review: Marnie


Businessman Sean Connery falls in love with his employee of the title (Tippi Hedren), finds out she’s an habitual thief with deep psychological problems, and tries to cure her. Diane Baker plays Connery’s protective sister-in-law, Louise Latham is Marnie’s stern and unfeeling mother. A young Bruce Dern can be seen in a key flashback, and yes, that’s a very young Melody Thomas Scott (Nikki on “Y&R”) in a brief part.


This 1964 Alfred Hitchcock (“Strangers on a Train”, “Vertigo”, “The 39 Steps”, and “Spellbound” being among his best) near-miss is one of his more thematically complex films, for sure. Unfortunately the intriguing title role is left in the truly incapable hands of miscast Hedren, who single-handedly drops the film down a peg. Connery is excellent and charismatic (in my view he’s an especially underrated actor, just watch him in this, “The Hill”, “The Untouchables” or the little-seen “The Offence”), and Baker shows so much more talent in her support role than Hedren that one can only wonder what she would have done in the lead. Baker was always an underrated talent.


It’s more than watchable, if a bit more serious than usual for Hitch, but Hedren is a big black hole at the centre and the film never quite gets around her. Like I said, a near miss from The Master. The screenplay is by Jay Presson Allen (“Cabaret”, “Funny Lady”), from a Winston Graham (“The Walking Stick”) novel. Probably best left to Hitchcock completists and film buffs, but it’s far from his worst.


Rating: C+

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