Pas de printemps pour Marnie

Critically-drubbed suspense-melodrama from Alfred Hitchcock has eternally-lackluster Tippi Hedren playing the mysterious, troubled Marnie, a frigid kleptomaniac (!) whose modus operandi is to disguise herself, change her name and rip off a series of trusting employers; her latest boss, a peculiarly cast Sean Connery, takes a liking to her and hopes to cure Marnie of her ills. Lack of chemistry between the intentionally-icy Hedren and too-patient Connery just about kills the romance angle (is he turned on by her fear of sex? And, if so, what's in his background to make an obviously virile man want to play doctor to this skittish kitten?). The movie's production is smothered with sterile gloss, and every new set-up is plastic and unconvincing. Still, the supporting cast is quite good (particularly Diane Baker) and the resolution is there, for those who manage to stick with it. **1/2 from ****

Although Tippi Hedren as the title character in Marnie is a compulsive thief and sexually frigid, you have to ask yourself what's wrong with Sean Connery taking up with this dame. Especially since he has an attractive widowed sister-in-law in Diane Baker so obviously interested in him. Like Spellbound and Vertigo, Marnie deals with psychological problems of the main character. Could Sean Connery have seen Spellbound and decided to become an amateur psychiatrist having been impressed with the way Ingrid Bergman cured and fell for Gregory Peck. Or like in Vertigo did he become obsessed with another Alfred Hitchcock blond as James Stewart did with Kim Novak. Bits of both those vastly superior Hitchcock films are found in Marnie. Though both Connery and Hedren try their best this unbelievable plot just defeats them. There are also some bad production values, so atypical for a director like Hitchcock.

"Marnie" is one of the least essential-to-watch Hitchcock films: he plays one ingenious trick on the audience (the robbery and the cleaning lady), but apart from that one sequence, there are hardly any memorable set-pieces or flourishes (the screen going red a few times does not count). Like "Suddenly, Last Summer", the entire film hinges on what-happened-that-fateful-day. But unlike SLS, where the ultimate revelation is genuinely shocking, the ending of "Marnie" leaves us with an "is that all?" feeling. Very good performances by both Tippi Hedren and Sean Connery, full-blown score by Berrnard Hermann. **1/2 out of 4.