Alfred Hitchcock directs Henry Fonda, Vera Miles and Anthony Quayle in this true story of a family man wrongly identified and tried for a series of hold-ups.

A real curiosity from Hitch rather than a frothy or taut entertainment this is almost a docudrama following the mundane bureaucracy of being arrested and charged in the 1950’s US justice system and the draining effect that being accused has on a family financially and mentally. It all proves very dour and depressing, Fonda’s convincing but frustratingly staid lead turn doesn’t help with the watchability. I understand Hitch wanting to turn his incomparable craft to the reality of what it is like to be charged and processed (at times the proceedings feel like an atonement for the romps he made before and after; when being falsely accused would be start of some great romantic adventure rather than a drawn out affair that drives timid housewives to madness) and if it wasn’t for his mastery of image and editing this would be a solely depressing view. Despite the low score (for a classic by a favourite director) I feel a revisit in a couple of years, with expectations adjusted, might shunt this up a few points eventually. It is a superbly crafted film… I was just expecting it to be something else.

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