The Wrong Man (1956)

Director: Alfred Hitchcock 
Country: United States 

We can see Hitchcock's shadow at the beginning of the film and listening to him quoting: "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". 

Henry Fonda was a deftly actor, he did not need too much dialogue, make up or whatever to express his emotions and thoughts, and he made it amazingly well in The Wrong Man, performing a jazz musician (Manny) who gets confused with a criminal when asking for a loan (to help his woman to get a teeth job) at an insurance office. Shot on location in New York City, this film is about human condition, and how a hard-working man living a normal life with his family can be ruined in less than 24 hours all over a human error. 

Also Vera Miles made a magnificent supporting role as Manny's wife, we can see her shift, from a sweet woman to a paranoid, demented one . Hitchcock is all about editing: point of view angles, close ups, soft transitions (one of the best transitions ever in the history of cinema is here, when we can see Manny's doppelganger's face matching with his) and silence in combination with atmosphere dissonant sounds made by the genius Bernard Hermann, who also made a jazzy-spicy score to highlight Manny's musical world, are equal to a powerful visual result . The film is perfect except for the ending, which is explained to the audience instead of leaving it to an open interpretation, that would have been excellent.

The cinematography by Robert Burks (The Verdict, House of Wax, The Rear Window, Dial M for Murder) who was one of the key Hitchcock's collaborators during the 50's and 60's, set up a magnificent tonality for The Wrong Man, shot it as a reenacment (but in a fastidious way) and with dramatic combinations of lights and shadows, which print a special mood in the film.

This amazing Hitchcock film was a precedent for another contemporary masterpiece, Errol Morris' The Thin Blue Line, which as The Wrong Man, is about an innocent man accused of a crime he didn't commit. Definitely this film is a very solid, mature, unique and underrated work in Hitchcock's filmography.