I can only imagine this was an excuse to shoot the lovely autumn countryside in the newly created Vista Vision, for that is about all it has going for it. It's a black comedy from the master of suspense, which only manages to prove why he was not called the master of comedy, and has a catalogue containing very few of those titles.

A number of people discover a dead body on the pretty hillside. A rabbit hunter, a single mother, an elderly woman, and an artist. No one knows how Harry was killed, but at various points in the film all consider that they may be guilty, or that they might be seen to have motive in the eyes of the authorities, and as such join a pact to cover up the deed - but not before changing their mind countless times - so that the body is buried and dug up and buried and dug up and buried again.

Written like that the scenario certainly has promise for a black comedy, but plausibility was overlooked for humour, and being some of the weakest you will ever find, sees the film fail on both counts.

Let me explain the title before the review. Weekend at Bernie's was a 1989 comedy involving two low end employees who inherit the care of their dead boss creating an illusion of keeping him alive from the real killers.That ruse took a whole weekend. The Trouble With Harry a delightful dark comedy only took one entire autumn day. Opening scenes show the viewer, the breathtaking landscape of Northern New England. The long-lived Captain Albert Wiles (Edmund Gwenn) is spending his mornings in the picturesque hills of Vermont's Green Mountains hunting for rabbits. The Captain fires three shots and comes to a clearing and sees a well dressed man lifeless on the ground. A few moments later little Arnie Rogers (Jerry Mathers) walks up the body examines it and continues walking then runs off we presume to tell his Mother. Captain Wiles wants to move the corpse but others stumble upon the body.Even the bespectacled, nerdy Dr. Greenbow trips over the body as Captain Wiles quips," Couldn't have had more people here if I'd sold tickets. Next thing you know they'll be televising the whole thing." One person who sees the Captain at the scene is spinster Ivy Gravely (Mildred Natwick)who vows to keep his unfortunate secret.The Captain meets with Jennifer Rogers (Shirley MacLaine) the widow of Harry who doesn't seem to care he's dead. Another person who gets involved with Harry is Struggling Artist Sam Marlowe (John Forsythe)as Captain Wiles tells the whole event to Sam in detail. Our Four quirky down to earth characters will spend much of the movie determining what to do with Harry or what's left of him. Just get a pair of gloves and two good shovels and start digging. The film is shot in glorious color. Hitchcock captures the Vermont countryside with the fall foliage in full bloom. The chemistry between the actors was so natural as Forsthye was the man of reason behind this wild escapade of hiding a dead body in this innocent looking New England village. I didn't realize that this was Shirley MacLaine's first movie role. Love the comedic dialogue with MacLaine's cadence against Captain Wiles with his hilarious comebacks as Jennifer's says, "I've never been to a homemade funeral before." The elderly Captain Wiles replies, I have...It's my third, All in one day." Speaking of funerals, This was Gwenn's second to last film before he passed at the age of 81. Just a delightful comedy over a grave situation as our four discover that it "Aint over till it's over."

I'm going to keep my review short. I enjoyed this film, and found enough humor mixed with a fairly good plot line. I think the film is worth watching, and a must for any Hitchcock fan. However a significant theme of the movie in the beginning that I enjoyed was how nonchalant everyone acted about Harry's death/dead body. And it does continue throughout the movie, with characters shrugging off the troubles, and acting as if it's a slight inconvenience. However in the beginning everyone that stumbles up to Harry's' body hilariously doesn't care, but later it's discovered that's they already knew, and were pretending. This ruined the earlier jokes for me, and made the film less funny to me from then on. 7/10