The Wrong Man

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Cast: Henry Fonda, Vera Miles

Genre: Thriller

Year: 1956 (b/w)

Another Hitchcockian classic, 'The Wrong Man' is once again achieves greatness under Hitchcock's direction; however, it is quite unique in comparison to his other works because it is in fact based on fact, as Hitchcock himself informs us at the beginning of this movie.



Henry Fonda acts as Christopher Emmanuel "Manny" Balestrero, an ordinary man, who is a musician at the Stork Club in New York, and belongs to a normal family, with two sons and married to his beautiful wife, Rose (played by Vera Miles, who will go on to star in Hitchcock's arguably greatest film, 'Psycho'). However, Manny's life is turned upside down when he is abruptly accused of being a man responsible for multiple crimes across New York. He is falsely recognised and charged with these crimes, and falls into a devastating case, in which seems uncontrollable.

Hitchcock nevertheless employs his superb direction within this film, and this is evident throughout, such as in the fantastic, mesmerising score by Bernard Herrmann once again, the expressive lighting and camerawork, intelligent use of framing and angles, and the honestly magnificent acting by all the cast. Fonda is able to masterfully communicate his emotions to the audience simply through his evocative facial expressions, which reveal either his anguish, fear, relief, worry, happiness, sadness - he rarely needs much more than his face to reveal his character's feelings, which is a true sign of a great actor. Similarly, Rose's gradual, spiralling descent into madness is displayed adeptly by Vera Miles, who can swiftly shift between portraying Rose as a solemn, fearful, depressed woman, to suddenly becoming aggressive and fierce, which is hugely accentuated through Hitchcock's subtle uses of low angle shots and Herrmann's emotionally charged score.
Hitchcock also emphasises the authenticity of this film through using actual locations from this event, which adds a stronger sense of tangibility and realism, which obviously could not have been as easily crafted within his other, fictitious thrillers. He captures the tension of the film with his genuinely impressive use of lighting, much of which is chiaroscuro, which adds the darker and more suspenseful tone to the film.

Unfortunately, as Hitchcock thrillers go, this is one of his lesser known films and that is kind of expected through the films somewhat confused pace, shifting between the fast paced first act, to the fairly dragging second and third. The content of these acts are brilliant, but it does slow down quite a bit, and the film has little depth to it, and does not expand much from the central plot. There is good character development, but not much background provided to them, and Manny and Rose seem to be the only characters audiences can become invested in. It does not feel tainted by time, that is, it doesn't feel inferior because of when it was made, which something like 'The Birds' certainly lacks.

Ultimately, while not totally flawless as a film, it is not that far off, because it is exceptional in a multitude of areas, almost all areas of film, from its acting to its technical filmmaking aspects. 'The Wrong Man', while not one of his best or most highly regarded or acknowledged films, is certainly a fantastic Hitchcock classic.

Verdict: 8/10