Just have to mention what a pleasure to see those two fine actresses, Mildred Dunnock and Mildred Natwick, in the same film playing scenes together.
"In my case, self-absorption is completely justified."
Ladies named Mildred and both born in Baltimore,MD.
shareI can't remember seeing Mildred Dunnock in anything before. But I was familiar with Mildred Natwick. She was a great support actress. The shop scene where the two Mildreds meet is perhaps the movies' most funniest moment.
shareI've returned on here after seeing Mildred Dunnock in a 1954 episode of the CBS 'Danger' TV series. It's called 'Padlocks.' She plays an eccentric old recluse who flirts with a criminal who has entered her home. James Dean as the criminal toys with her. I recommend this as it has the same offbeat flavor as 'The Trouble With Harry' but without a dead body.
shareI think Mildred Natwick...with her rather pleasant and amusing face...was set up to be more of an audience favorite. She's in the movie "Barefoot in the Park" in 1967 (as the mother of either Robert Redford or Jane Fonda, I can't remember) , and later got an NBC mystery series with Helen Hayes(The Snoop Sisters, as I recall.)
Whereas Mildred Dunnock had more harsh features, and more of a sad face. She was made more for dramatic matters and in The Trouble With Harry...she's the only one of the principals who does NOT find romance(other than her deputy sheriff son, who is rather the governmental villain of the piece and thus taints his mother more as "an outsider to the group."
Looking up Dunnock's credits, I find that she did "Death of a Salesman" with Lee J. Cobb on TV in 1966...playing his wife, surely a heavy dramatic role.
Mildred Natwick went on to do guest shots on MacMillan and Wife, The Love Boat and...Hawaii 5-0!
Indeed, while the overall texture of The Trouble With Harry is quite romantic and upbeat -- a young couple and an "old" couple will come together -- Mildred Dunnock's character(with the funny/pathetic nickname "Wiggy") seems to present the story with a sad , serious statement: some people miss out on the joy of life because they just can't bring themselves to seek it. But maybe it will work out for Wiggy, too.
I think you're correct in pointing out that Mildred Natwick is more of a fan's favorite of the two Mildreds. I like her in 'The Snoop Sisters' as I'm keen on murder mysteries and eccentric spinsters. It was 'different' of Hitchcock to allow an eccentric spinster to find romance late in life, although she still insists she's 42, in this movie.
I still haven't gone on to see more of Mildred Dunnock's work. Strangely I didn't feel sad for her Mrs Wiggs character as elderly widow women live their life by doting on their son. But it would be good to share your wishes on happiness for Wiggy somehow and that her shrewish ways will soften.
I think you're correct in pointing out that Mildred Natwick is more of a fan's favorite of the two Mildreds. I like her in 'The Snoop Sisters' as I'm keen on murder mysteries and eccentric spinsters.
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Mildred Natwick just seemed to find more of a home in lighter entertainment than Mildred Dunnock.
I will add that I was always a bit confused watching The Trouble with Harry: which Mildred was which?
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It was 'different' of Hitchcock to allow an eccentric spinster to find romance late in life, although she still insists she's 42, in this movie.
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I can't remember if MIldred Natwick was that much older than 42 in real life, but she LOOKS older than 42 in the movie. I expect this was in the novel, but it WAS sweet of The Trouble With Harry to give the "middle-aged/elderly people" a romance to go with the younger couple's coupling. Hitchcock used "rhyming scenes"(a specialty of his) to FIRST show John Forsythe walking to Shirley MacLaine's house for a talk and LATER showing Mildred Natwick walking to Edmund Gwenn's house for a talk. Two couples. One young. One old. And sex talk for BOTH(in 1955!)
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I still haven't gone on to see more of Mildred Dunnock's work. Strangely I didn't feel sad for her Mrs Wiggs character as elderly widow women live their life by doting on their son.
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Maybe I "overstated" the sadness of her situation. She did have the son to dote on, and she wasn't particuarly shown as sad or lonely by Hitchcock. Maybe it was just her face. Certainly it was the outcome: two couples find love, but she does not. Yet.
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But it would be good to share your wishes on happiness for Wiggy somehow and that her shrewish ways will soften.
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Well, the stories of movies go on in our minds after "The End." Maybe the other couples did some matchmaking for Wiggy later. And if her son got a woman, he'd be a happier deputy sheriff....