As a homage to Sean Connery who passed at the age of 90 just last week the next Alfred Hitchcock movie I decided to watch was Marnie, a film starring him and Tippi Hedren in a romantic mystery that, despite not having the high-octane action of North by Northwest or the nail-biting suspense as Rope, manages to keep you on your toes in a different way.

Sean Connery plays the role of the dashing (and rather gentlemanly, all things considered) businessman Mark Rutland who unexpectedly falls in love with a kleptomaniac (Tippi Hedren’s Marnie.) She tries to steal from his company, he finds her, and instead of turning her over to the police, he marries her and tries to help her due to her mentally challenged behavior.

What takes place is a two hour long film that asks the question and leaves you asking the question, “What is wrong with her?” She’s frightened by the color red, she hates thunder and lightning, and despite sharing a couple of onscreen kisses with Connery’s Rutland and getting married the thought of performing any, you know, marital acts leaves her screaming and deathly afraid.

It’s all very strange and as the tension builds so does the suspense until the film reached its resounding conclusion which actually brought me to tears, can you believe that? I didn’t think I’d find myself actually getting emotional over Hitchcock’s movies but this one…this one got me.

Unlike To Catch a Thief which was ultra-boring, this movie was so well-made. It was like reading a book that I couldn’t put down. It was just…marvelous. The music, the directing, I mean, everything about it was pretty much perfection.

I read some old reviews for the film on Wikipedia which had critics wishing Hollywood legends like Cary Grant and Grace Kelly could’ve played the role of Rutland and Marnie instead of the relative unknowns Sean Connery and Tippi Hedren. Kelly did want to play the role of Marnie but, being the Princess of Monaco at the time, the people of Monaco weren’t too keen to see her in a movie kissing up on another man. And it only made matters worse that she was a sexually challenged thief.

So, the role went to Hedren who deemed it “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.” Kelly would’ve been great as Marnie but oh well…

All in all, this was another fine addition to my mental movie library featuring Alfred Hitchcock. Up next…maybe Frenzy. Or The Man Who Knew Too Much featuring James Stewart. I’ll probably watch that instead.

I’ll give Marnie 4.5 out of 5 stars and 95 out of 100. It wasn’t perfect but it sure was entertaining.

I thank you for reading and I hope you have a beautiful day.