The Wrong Man (1956)

Note des utilisateurs:

7.5/10   

Réalisateur:

Alfred Hitchcock

Writers:

Maxwell Anderson (screenplay) and
Angus MacPhail (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

23 décembre 1956 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Film-Noir | Mystery

Accroche:

"I found a real-life story more terrifying than any fiction... this is it!" Alfred Hitchcock

Plot:

True story of an innocent man mistaken for a criminal.

Plot Keywords:

Musician | Robbery | Insurance | Trial | Nervous Breakdown

Avis des utilisateurs:

Superb, couldn't be more relevant

Ensemble

Henry Fonda	...	Christopher Emmanuel 'Manny' Balestrero
Vera Miles	...	Rose Balestrero
Anthony Quayle	...	Frank D. O'Connor
Harold J. Stone	...	Det. Lt. Bowers
Charles Cooper	...	Det. Matthews
John Heldabrand	...	Tomasini
Esther Minciotti	...	Mama Balestrero
Doreen Lang	...	Ann James
Laurinda Barrett	...	Constance Willis
Norma Connolly	...	Betty Todd
Nehemiah Persoff	...	Eugene 'Gene' Conforti
Lola D'Annunzio	...	Olga Conforti, Manny's Sister
Kippy Campbell	...	Robert Balestrero
Robert Essen	...	Gregory Balestrero
Richard Robbins	...	Daniel, the guilty man

Autre(s) titre(s):

Le faux coupable (Belgium: French title) (France) [fr]

Durée:

105 min

Pays:

USA

Langue:

Anglais | Italien | Espagnol

Couleur:

Noir et Blanc

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Son:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Classification:

Canada:PG (Ontario) | UK:A (1957) | UK:PG (1988) | Brazil:16 | Canada:14A (video rating) | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG | Chile:14 | Finland:K-16 | France:U (re-release) | Peru:14 | USA:Approved (PCA #18117) | West Germany:12

Emplacements De Pelliculage:

5th Avenue subway station, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Anecdotes:

Although based on a true story, Alfred Hitchcock deliberately left out some of the information that pointed to Manny's innocence to heighten the tension.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When Manny enters prison, a prisoner shouts "What'd they get you for, Henry?", using the actor's name, Henry Fonda.

Guillemet:

[first lines]
Prologue narrator: This is Alfred Hitchcock speaking. In the past, I have given you many kinds of suspense pictures. But this time, I would like you to see a different one. The difference lies in the fact that this is a true story, every word of it. And yet it contains elements that are stranger than all the fiction that has gone into many of the thrillers that I've made before.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Destination Hitchcock: The Making of 'North by Northwest' (2000) (V)

Superb, couldn't be more relevant

No special effects, not a single car chase, but the directing and acting slowly pulls you into a world gone askew. The circumstantial evidence builds against an innocent and sympathetic

character, who at one point is almost ready to concede that "jail would be

easier than this meat grinder". The realization is too much for Vera Miles and she cracks under the strain. Why do we now have Miranda rights? A kid

watching this movie today is probably annoyed or bored by the lack of CGI (with the exception of a rotating camera to simulate "the spins"), car chases and

explosions. But if you think being held without real evidence "can't happen here", you haven't been reading the papers: how about the Saudi college

student held for two years in jail for putting up a web site for his church?

(charges dropped for lack of evidence). And "the wrong men" and women in our society are disproportionately poor. Henry Fonda was lucky: they caught the guy red handed. But Hitchcock makes the point well: the working poor cannot afford a top lawyer, if you're lucky you get one who's smart and inexperienced. If you're not, you get an incompetent one, and end up in jail .

I was reminded of the Apu trilogy or DeSica's neo-realism, as this movie turns on facial expressions, the noir lighting, as quietly emotions build and you realize, yes he could serve time for this.

I'd put this next to "Blackmail" as one of Hitch's under-rated masterpieces.