Marnie

Rating:
Summary: Good psychological drama
Review: MARNIE was a good Alfred Hitchcock as a "mental movie", featuring a wonderful cast and a heart-touching script. "Marnie", as they call her, is a wonderful actor and is also a good thief, but not as good as a liar. When she is caught in the act by Sean Connery, who plays Mark Rutland, her mental problems seem to have more of an effect on her, but they make this superb movie even better.

So, I hope you enjoy this old hit, because it is one of the best.

Rating:
Summary: Hitchcock Meets Daytime Television
Review: In a plot sounding like it came from a daytime talk show producer's files, MARNIE was ahead of its time, and that has caused it to be misunderstood by most folks. Marnie Edgar (Tippi Hedren) is a compulsive thief and liar, who is hired by Mark Rutland (Sean Connery), and then she decides to rob him. Instead of turning her over to the authorities, Mark impulsively marries her, and promises to get to the bottom of her troubles. A near accident puts Marnie in a tailspin and forces her to confront a forgotten past.

The film marks the 2nd time Hitchcock worked with Hedren and was Connery's first film since he statrted playing James Bond. Hedren gives a pretty good perfomance and has good on screen chemistry with Connery. I think the reason the movie is basically overlooked by most is due to its melodramatic plot. This is not your usual Hitchcock film. Most people don't expect a thriller of his to be short on thrills and long on psychobabble. Still, it's good enough to warrant a look, especially if you like Mr. H's work, but not good if you want an outright thriller Another problem is that some of it seems a bit over the top at times.

Like most Hitchcock DVD's from the Universal vaults, there is a great retrospective documentary, about the film. Unfortunately, without Mr Connery's participation, as great as it is, it still seems incomplete somehow. An extensive publicity/photo archive, theatrical trailer, production notes, a web link, and filmographies finish off the extras on the DVD.

MARNIE is an ok film that is recommended for purchase by fans only and a rental for all others

Rating:
Summary: The picture quality is terrible
Review: The picture quality is really terrible. Buying this DVD is just a waste of money.

Rating:
Summary: I love it. It's horrible, I know, but I do love it
Review: It is time now to write a review for ''Marnie''. I've watched it six times this year already, twice in January and four times since I bought it about three weeks ago. When a movie is good enough to be watched so many times in succession, it's really a six-star film - but as this reviewing system allows only five, I'll rate it five. The trailer gets five stars of its own.
I will confess that the first time through - much as I found the story interesting - this movie did seem to drag a bit. I kept thinking, half this film is Sean and Tippi sitting in the car - or so it seemed - but the second time, I enjoyed it much more and it didn't drag at all. I started to listen to all the good lines which made the ''endless car scenes'' go driving on by with all swiftness, and each subsequent viewing has been even better.
Various observations: In the credits, it says: Miss Hedren's Hairstyles Designed by Alexandre of Paris, and right below that: Colour by Technicolour. I think that is pretty good. I liked the way that Lil, jealous of Mark's love for Marnie, often appears wearing green, sitting on green couches, or having green lamps behind her. I found Lil's character annoying, but it was a necessary annoyance, I suppose, and I've become relatively used to her by now. I also liked the idea conveyed by Marnie walking along a yellow caution line at a railway station in the beginning of the movie. Strutt is a weirdo and the actor was perfect for the part; I wonder what he looked like without the gross tortoiseshell glasses. There is a scene when Marnie paces back and forth in her room, passing the tall posts of her bed every time, as if she is an animal in a cage. The free association scene was good as well, with a couple good lines, one of the best being, ''You Freud, me Jane?'' Cousin Bob the banker dude was quite the perfect weirdo for the part, and Daddy Rutland was a pretty shallow but friendly personage with his one-track mind focused only on horsesandtea. Marnie had some pretty interesting outfits - two pretty Star-Trekky bathrobes as well as a hat like a fur doughnut. Marnie's mother was good with the Southern accent and the little girl Jessie was even more annoying than Lil.
Oh, and before I forget. People are forever griping about the ''tacky rear projection'' in the riding scenes, the ''obviously fake backgrounds'' of the ship and of Rutlands', and the ''tacky zooming in and out'' in Marnie's final attempt at theft from the safe. Let me point out to you that several other Hitchcock films, regarded by the critics and general Hitchcock-appreciating public, have similar moments. In ''The Birds'', ''To Catch a Thief'', ''Spellbound'', and others, there was some very obvious back projection. Big deal. The general idea of rear projection is to make it look like the person or vehicle on the treadmill is moving. It works every time and looks fake every time, no matter what the movie. Accept it and get over it. And in ''Vertigo'', there was a whole lot of zooming going on in the tower scenes. Was that tacky? I don't think so. The zooming accomplished the purpose in ''Vertigo'' and it does the same in ''Marnie''. So in short I don't think it's right to treat ''Marnie'' as a second-rate film with these arguments as the excuses. I think that's exactly what they are - excuses. I think that the people who say all those things got their glasses mixed up and are simply watching it with tinted glasses over their emotional eyes and a clarifying lens over their critical ones. Well... it's their loss - no one has to like anything, but it would be nice if more people did.
I think this review is becoming too long now so I should stop typing before I think of anything else. See this movie at least twice with an open mind. Be like me, an interested spectator in the passing parade - even if you don't get it.

Rating:
Summary: A Stylish Romance-Thriller
Review: This film gets 5 stars just because Sean Connery is so bloody gorgeous! He plays a rich businessman who is attracted to kleptomaniac Tippi Hedren. He marries her and forces her to confront the reason for her obsession. It's a sensual, romantic, and stylish thriller. Sean Connery is in his prime; powerful, sexy, and tender. Tippi Hedren is beautiful and suffers bravely to overcome her problems. Connery and Hedren have great chemistry on-screen and make this a riveting, fun film.

Rating:
Summary: Tippi Hedren Shines
Review: I am writing this review, with the intent to let everyone know, just how wonderful this film actually is. And while i sit here, trying to think why people would say opposite, I come back to the thought that this film is a jewel indeed.
As you probably know, this is a psychological thriller by the great Mr. Hitchcock. Marnie, a woman now with many problems due to a tragic mishap that happened during childhood, who gets tangled in a trap by Mark Rutland ( played by connery), and ultimately breaks in the realm of insanity that is brought on by the great fear of the color red, lightening, and male relationships.
The best thing about this film is of course Ms. Hedrens performance. Being only her second film to the great " the birds" Tippi takes on this rather complicated role, with great poise and ease. This performance is hailed by many, and even studied in many performing art schools around the country. Who else could pull off such a fantastic role, with such beauty, passion, dignity, and grace? Only Ms. Hedren.
Hitchcock certainly made a great descision in placing her in his starring role.
Connery, was also wonderful, and played the character of Mark Rutland, eligable, handsome, possessive, and dominating, well to a T. One of his best films in my opinion.
So i sign off with high praise for this movie, ahead of its time in many ways, with the purpose to hopefully intruige you into watching it, for not only the wonderful story, suspense, and acting, but for the sheer thrill of the ride that only hitchcock could give... Thanks and God Bless!

Rating:
Summary: solid cast & direction
Review: Very watchable and engrossing movie about a woman with a past that slowly comes to light. Sean Connery shows us why he became James Bond, with deft seemingly careless acting. Tippi Hedren does credit to the role that was originally slated for Grace Kelly (at that time Princess Grace). Hitchcock was an excellent director, and this movie is full of his personal touches -- everything from his cameo appearance as a train passenger to his almost lurid fascination with mental illness.

Worth watching and perhaps buying.

Rating:
Summary: "...Hitchcock's intentions were admirable."
Review: Hedren is a compulsive theif with a serious hang-up, and Connery plays her employer, obssessed over her while trying to cure her. One of Hitchcock's lamest films is still fascinating but the ending is a dissapiontment. Connery has no charm and Hedren often comes off as mousey and annoying. Cartooninsh set pieces and bad miscasting, but Hitchcock's intentions were admirable.

Rating:
Summary: A Flashy Soaper
Review: MARNIE is little more than high-gloss soap opera trash given a Freudian spin, touched up here and there by director Hitchcock, and--somewhat surprisingly--extremely well played by its two leads. The story concerns a neurotic but beautiful Tippi Hedren who is both completely frigid and into compulsive theft--but instead of shop-lifting she prefers to become an employee of a well-heeled company and then crack the safe. Unfortunately she does it one time too many and is caught by company owner Sean Connery, who is intrigued enough by the whole thing to blackmail Tippi into a marriage. He swears, of course, that he won't lay a hand on her... Right? Right.

In spite of some rather good performances, the script is on the far side of ridiculously trashy and the famous Hitchcock touch is more like a stranglehold. It is watchable, but only just. If you want to see the master director as he enters a final down-turn in his career, MARNIE will suit your purpose admirably; other wise--Miss It.

Rating:
Summary: An outstanding DVD release of a flawed, yet important film
Review: Truffaut has called this one of the great flawed films in the history of cinema, which seems to me a very astute observation. While the final ten minutes offer some of the most innovative moments in Hitchcock's work, this film suffers from a tendancy, characteristic of many of the director's later works, including Spellbound, Vertigo, and Psycho, to psychologize characters and situations. Hitchcock is at his best when the point of his filmmaking is the action, not in the superficial sense which we encounter today in Holllywood, but action understood as a complex and changing web of worldly relations (for example, as in The 39 Steps or Notorious). Nonetheless, inspite of its flaws, Marnie is profoundly moving at times. Once again, Universal has engineered an outstanding DVD, complete with a luminous widescreen transfer and an original documentary. If you are a fan of Hitchcock, I would also recommend that you watch Tippi Hedren's screen tests for The Birds, included on Universal's DVD release of that film. If there was ever any question regarding the ambivalence of Hitchcock's relationships with his leading ladies, one need only watch these absorbing, yet profoundly disturbing screen tests, in which Hitchcock, in a stern and chilling tone, orders Tippi Hedren to try on various dresses and poses. As with Kim Novak in Vertigo, one senses a certain desparation in Hitch's direction of Hedren, in both The Birds and in Marnie. Tippi Hedren, like Kim Novak, is no Grace Kelly, just as Grace Kelly was no Ingrid Bergman or Madeleine Carroll. Nonetheless, this is an interesting film and a highly recommended DVD special edition.