Hitchcock is reluctant to follow the subversive premises of the story through to their outrageous logical conclusion.

Alfred Hitchcock's 1955 comedy has long been overshadowed by the masterworks that surround it, but it's a wonderful, fanciful film, the most optimistic movie he ever made -- a fairy tale among nightmares.

Assimilating the black humours of the comedie noire into the gentler comedy of village eccentricity, Hitchcock and his scriptwriter, John Michael Hayes, have concocted an entertainment insidious in its charm.

The film plays out with utterly charming merriment, which is assisted every step of the way by the acting of the sparkling cast. The characters may be naive, but they are adorably beguiling, and the tale bounces to a satisfying conclusion.