The Wrong Man (1956)

Hmpf. I had problems with this movie, some founded and others not so much. Basically, the movie failed to have much of an impact. According to Hitchcock, who introduces the film, this is a real story and all the more frightening because of its reality. Well, yeah, maybe in 1956.

So, the film is about the police arresting the wrong man for a crime and the methods by which they deem him guilty are less than reliable--really relying solely on identifications by eye-witnesses which we all know from watching one too many Law and Order episodes (or just basic sociology/criminal justice classes) are none too accurate. So, right, that's scary in 1956 but technology and police oversight prevent the majority of that sort of mix-up now in my mind. What makes that one more of an unfounded problem is because there are tons of wrong men arrested and tossed in jail as illustrated by the bazillion cases of wrongly convicted people based on inaccurate fingerprint identification in LA recently. Basically, I know this still happens but it doesn't frighten me so it is not an effective method of suspense.

The very much founded in reality problem I have with the film is the wife's complete inability to function once things really go downhill for the husband. And then she miraculously recovers months (I forget what the text actually said so maybe it's longer?) later. Seriously?

So this one ends up being a vaguely interesting look at a wrongly accused man but doesn't hold up to the passage of time (or the idea that women might be able to handle stress a little bit better).