Marnie

Theatrical Release Poster

Diane Baker

Martin Gabel

**Marnie** is a 1964 American psychological thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The screenplay by Jay Presson Allen was based on the 1961 novel of the same name by Winston Graham. The film stars Tippi Hedren and Sean Connery.

## Plot

Margaret "Marnie" Edgar steals $10,000 from her employer's company safe and flees. She had used her charms on Sidney Strutt, a tax consultant, to get a clerical job without references. After changing her appearance and identity, she makes a quick trip to a horse stable in Virginia, where she keeps a horse named Forio, and then to Baltimore for a surprise visit to her mother, Bernice. Though Bernice seems to care more for a young neighbor named Jessie than she does for her own daughter, Marnie gives her money.

When Mark Rutland, a wealthy widower who owns a publishing company in Philadelphia, sees Strutt on business, he learns of the robbery. He recalls Marnie from a previous visit. Unaware of this, Marnie applies for a job at Mark's company; intrigued, he hires her as a typist, and they see each other socially. When Marnie has a panic attack during a thunderstorm, he hugs her and quietly kisses her. Marnie also has bad dreams and a phobia of the color red.

Marnie repeats her crime at Mark’s company, stealing a large sum of money and fleeing. Mark tracks her down at the stable where she keeps Forio. Unexpectedly, he blackmails her into marrying him, much to the chagrin of Mark's former sister-in-law, Lil, who has had an eye on him ever since her sister's death. Lil learns that he is spending extravagantly on Marnie and becomes suspicious. On her honeymoon cruise, Marnie admits to Mark that she cannot stand to be "touched by a man". Mark begins by respecting her wishes, but later, after days of frustration, he pulls her gown off, upsetting her. When he sees how frozen she is, he covers her with his robe and apologizes, but then rapes her. The next morning, she attempts to drown herself in the ship's pool, but Mark manages to save her.

Upon their return home, Mark discovers that Marnie's mother is still alive; he hires a private investigator to find out all he can about the woman. Meanwhile, Lil overhears that Mark has "paid off Strutt" on Marnie's behalf, so she mischievously invites Strutt to a party at Mark's house. There, a furious Strutt recognizes Marnie, but does not expose her after Mark threatens to take his business elsewhere. When Marnie later admits to additional robberies, Mark offers to pay back all her victims.

Invited to ride in a fox hunt, Marnie enjoys herself, but becomes perturbed when the hounds corner the fox and begin to pull it from its den. When another rider wearing a traditional scarlet coat comes into view, her phobia kicks in and she bolts on Forio. After a wild gallop, the horse falls and suffers a catastrophic injury, forcing Marnie to shoot him. Crazed with grief, Marnie goes to Mark's office to rob his safe again, but this time, she cannot bring herself to do it. Mark surprises her and eggs her on to take the money, but still she cannot.

He then takes Marnie to Baltimore to see her mother to extract the truth from her about Marnie's past. It is revealed that Bernice was a prostitute. When Bernice attacks Mark hysterically, Marnie's long-suppressed memories suddenly surface. She remembers that when she was a child, a drunken sailor, one of Bernice's clients, had tried to comfort her during a thunderstorm. Bernice, fearing he was molesting Marnie, attacked him. A fight ensued in which Bernice's leg was injured, the source of her long-term limp. Frightened, Marnie struck the sailor with a fireplace poker and killed him. The red blood from his wound caused her phobia of that color. Bernice calmly admits everything, and she tells how she got Marnie and how much she has always loved her. Now understanding the source of her fears, Marnie asks Mark what to do; he lets her know that he is on her side and will defend her. She responds, "I don't want to go to jail; I'd rather stay with you."

## Cast

* Tippi Hedren as Margaret "Marnie" Edgar
* Sean Connery as Mark Rutland
* Diane Baker as Lil Mainwaring
* Martin Gabel as Sidney Strutt
* Louise Latham as Bernice Edgar
* Bob Sweeney as Cousin Bob
* Alan Napier as Mr. Rutland
* Mariette Hartley as Susan Clabon
* Bruce Dern as The Sailor
* Meg Wyllie as Mrs. Turpin

## Trivia

* Louise Latham, who played Tippi Hedren's mother is only 8 years older in real life.
* To film real horses riding without having to work outdoors, Alfred Hitchcock came up with the idea of running the horses on a gigantic treadmill.
* Despite the poor reviews, Marnie turned out to be a moderate box-office success for Universal.
* Bernard Herrmann's last score for a Hitchcock film.
* Alfred Hitchcock, following his usual practice, bid for the film rights to Winston Graham's novel anonymously, so as to keep the price down. However, in this instance, the scheme backfired - the anonymity of the purchaser made Graham suspicious, although he regarded the amount of money on offer as extremely generous. When Graham discovered who it was who had bought the rights, he said he would have given them away free for the honor of having one of his stories filmed by Alfred Hitchcock.