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Bruce Dern, Diane Baker, Louise Latham

Mark marries Marnie although she is a habitual thief and has serious psychological problems, and tries to help her confront and resolve them.

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72% liked it

4,579 ratings

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84% liked it

19 critics

PG, 2 hrs. 9 min.

Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock

Release Date: January 1, 1964

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DVD Release Date: May 30, 2000

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Stats: 747 reviews

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Hitch scaring Tippi Hitch directing Tippi Marnie - Poster
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Flixster Reviews (747)

  • pier007
    April 12, 2009
    pier007
    If the story was at the same league of the master's direction it would be another flawless masterpiece in his body of work.
    Hitchcock's skill behind the camera, his painstaking care and the awareness of where to put the camera at the right place at the right time, lifts the film'...( read more)s quality from a standard freudian melodrama ala spellbound; to a stylish, sexy, suspenseful and involving vertigo's little cousin.
  • stopitgoaway
    December 14, 2008
    stopitgoaway
    I think this just about proves that Sean Connery is an excellent actor outside Bond. At the time when Marnie was released, it recieved bad reviews. Why is a mystery to me. This film has everything you want in a film, and it also possesses that remarkable interest and captivating ...( read more)nature that you associate with a Hitchcock film. Again, the performance of Tippi Hedren was excellent, despite her ongoing row with Mr Hitchcock. The story is both believable and suspending. Alfred Hitchcock is "The Master of Suspense".

    If you are a Hitchcock fan or not, you must watch this. This proves to be one of the best of the Hitchcock Collection.

    I award this film 10/10. I love it and so will you.
  • gilbertgumphrey
    November 3, 2008
    gilbertgumphrey
    Marnie is a good film made great by knowing what happened behind the scenes. Many classic movies have behind the scenes stories that are well known to us - the problems plaguing The Godfather, Spielberg being a lost little kid in diapers for Jaws, etc. But Marnie's has stayed r...( read more)elatively hidden and unknown, which is a shame, because this is maybe the only time I know of where a film is greatly improved, and the viewing experience made much more benefitial, by knowing not only all you can about Hitchcock, the director, but also by knowing what went on during the production. So, essentially; film snobs will like it. Everyone else, not so much; proven by the film's very tepid performance in the 60's when it came out, right after The Birds and Psycho. People expected another intense thriller/horror movie like those two - they didn't expect a psychological case study/scientific romance. However, I find Marnie one of Hitch's best films, and indeed there are a couple scenes in the film that not only showcase his great talents at conjuring suspense, but there are also two instances that are just as creepy as anything found in The Birds or maybe even Psycho.

    Marnie stars Tippi Hedren and Sean Connery. She's a sexually frigid compulsive thief, he's a man who knows it and uses this information to blackmail her into marriage. And that's the set up, although the elements of Marnie's personality, psychology, and her past all play into the film as well. In terms of story structure, the movie is very flawed. Some scenes drag out forever. Others have no place in the movie at all. The plot is slow burning, with long passages of almost no suspense found. Dialogue is often mediocre, the acting is subpar, usually bordering on over-dramatic hysteria. And the usually pitch-perfect post production is sloppy and unfocused. And yet....not only does the film hold a mysterious charm, but all of these flaws can be attributed to what happened behind the scenes. Before I go into that though (and wind up boring to death anyone who's not a Hitchcock fan), I want to just say that even with all these flaws, Marnie remains a fairly gripping film. Marnie's mother is intense and quite creepy. There's a robbery scene that is pure Hitchcock. There's a rape scene that not only throws the whole film out of whack, but actually makes us dislike Connery - the death knell for audiences at the time, but now, it's very interesting. And the finale is one of the most intense and visually shocking scenes Hitchcock ever filmed - I get goosebumps just thinking about it.

    So yes, the film is interesting, suspenseful, but also extremely flawed. So why do I give it 4 stars (4.5 stars before I rewatched it again last week)? 'Cause I know what went on. See, these flaws didn't go unnoticed by Hitchcock. He knew all about them. And he just didn't care. He was like the kid who asks out a girl, gets rejected, and mopes around on the playground the rest of the day. We all know about Hitchcock's obsession with cool blondes. What many people don't know is that he was profoundly in love with a great many of them - remember the last act of Vertigo, where Jimmy Stewart practically forces an ordinary girl to look, dress, and behave exactly as his dream girl? That's what Hitchcock did with half a dozen of his actresses. And Tippi Hedren got the worst of it. Hitch plucked her from obscurity and figured, hey, she's only a star cause of me. So he felt like he owned her. He also fell madly in love with her. And if you've seen Hitch (and I think he was even in his 70's at the time of Marnie), you know he didn't look like Paul Newman.

    So things were tense on The Birds. But it got worse on Marnie. He was so obsessive about her that she did everything in her power to avoid confronting him at all, often making people come to her trailer after shooting just so Hitch wouldn't come visit. He wrote her long love letters (even though she was married with a kid), and even had dolls created in her appearance and sent them to her. He would even tell her love dreams he would have of the two of them, much to her discomfort. And then, halfway through making the film, he put it all out there, demanding of her a certain sexual favour that the author of Hitch's biography wouldn't detail (that's where I'm getting all this info, by the way). She refused, he stormed off. So what happened to Marnie? He stopped caring. Hitch was extremely attentive to detail normally, but here, he just no longer gave a rats ass. If you watch the movie and think that the rear projection looks awfully fake, even for a 60's movie, that's because Hitch didn't put in any effort at all to make it look good. I don't think he wanted the movie to even be a remote success, he was so infuriated and heart broken over Hedren.

    So now that the history lesson is over, you hopefully understand what I mean when I say that watching the film's flaws, when you know why they're there, is almost as intriguing as the film itself. But even before this personal explosion, the film is incredibly personal to Hitch. Marnie is constantly trying to recieve love and attention from her mom, and anyone who knows Hitch's work knows he had some mother issues. The character of Connery is one of the most representative of Hitch in any of his flicks, including Stewart in Vertigo. The rape scene is completely unnecessary, yes, but think about it - what did Hitch want to do with Hedren? What did he want from all his dream girls that he was too scared to try? Sex, duh. So when Sean Connery, the handsome ol' gent that he is, rapes poor Tippi Hedren in this movie, it's not there because it makes narrative sense - it's because that's exactly what Hitch himself dreamed of doing all the time, but couldn't. And even then, after that, the movie still manages to be strangely romantic and erotic. Look at the first time Hedren and Connery kiss; the camera zooms up so close to their lips, it's almost like watching a porno. Hitch was forcing intimacy to us, because that's what he longed for as well.

    Anyways, I find this flick very interesting. Maybe you will to. If you have any interest in film history or Hitchcock, then you should definitely either check this out or watch it again, knowing what went on, and see if your respect for it goes up. I don't think "normal" movie goers will like Marnie much at all - it's too long, too dry, too old-fashioned. But for the rest of us, it's pretty kickass, and shows just how troubled poor Hitch really was.
  • wellmeetagain
    November 21, 2007
    wellmeetagain
    One of Hitch's lesser efforts.
  • garyX
    January 7, 2007
    garyX
    One of Hitchcock's lesser works feels a little seedy, and the stars never seem entirely comfortable with their roles. The psychological revelation is powerful although rather glib and simplistic, but still strangely lingers in the memory more than most.
  • GJDWriter
    September 23, 2009
    GJDWriter
    Watched part of Marnie last night on TCM. I never tire of Alfred Hitchcock's work.
  • brandonklaus2
    September 19, 2009
    brandonklaus2
    Hitchcock must've been out of his mind when he made this.
  • vertigoo
    August 27, 2009
    vertigoo
    ...( read more)http://www.flixster.com">Flixster - Share Movies
  • eugenialuxemburgo
    August 7, 2009
    eugenialuxemburgo
    it has the hitchcook all over
  • samanthaseaotter
    July 21, 2009
    samanthaseaotter
    Sean Connery looks amazing. But why is he so fascinated with Marnie? I guess it depends on how gorgeous you think Tippi Hedren is. While I respect her as an animal activist, I don't think much of this performance or the film in general.

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Comments

  • nayita23
    June 20, 2008
    nayita23
    ecxelenteeee!
    me encantó el encuadre del bolso amarillo al principiooooooooo :)
  • GeorgeBailey88
    January 10, 2008
    GeorgeBailey88
    This film is grossly underrated. The story was unique and the acting was exceptional. Over time this film has gained a loyal following including yours truly.
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Marnie Trivia

  • somebody said that Audrey Hepburn sang in My Fair Lady. Actually, it was Marnie Nixon that sang for her and that's why she didn't win the Oscar and Julie Andrews did.  Answer »
  • Tippie Hedren starred in these two Hitchcock films:  Answer »
  • Which colour provokes an adverse reaction in the title character of Alfred Hitchcock's Marnie?  Answer »
  • Marnie Nixon never dubbed singing for which actress?  Answer »
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