The Wrong Man

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Produced by Uncredited: Alfred Hitchcock
Written by Story: Maxwell Anderson
The True Story of Christopher Emmanuel Balestrero
Screenplay: Maxwell Anderson & Angus MacPhail
Starring
Henry Fonda
Vera Miles
Anthony Quayle
Harold Stone
Music by Bernard Herrmann
Cinematography Robert Burks
Editing by George Tomasini
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Release date(s) December 22, 1957 (U.S.)
Running time 105 minutes
Country United States
Language English

This is Alfred Hitchcock speaking. In the past, I have given you many kinds of suspense pictures. But this time, I would like you to see a different one. The difference lies in the fact that this is a true story, every word of it. And yet it contains elements that are stranger than all the fiction that has gone into many of the thrillers that I’ve made before.

Hitchcock’s cameo in The Wrong Man is the easiest one of all to stop as here he appears in silhouette and addresses the audience directly, to let the audience know that they are about to see a story based on the real experience of one man, Manny Balestrero, who was wrongly accused of committing a number of robberies.

This film is probably one of the least known of Hitch’s movies, especially when compared to his other 50s films such as Vertigo, North By Northwest, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Rear Window and Dial M For Murder, which were all made in the five-year from 1954-1959. However this is a very good film due mainly to the performance of Henry Fonda, as the man arrested and put on trial for crimes committed by a lookalike, and Vera Miles as his wife who is driven mad because of the incident. I really enjoyed their performances greatly.