This Hitchcock film from 1956 comes with introductory remarks by Hitchcock himself; he tells us that this film is different from his other movies because it is a true story. The false arrest and imprisonment of Mr. Christopher Emmanuel Ballestrero (aka Manny) actually took place in New York City in 1953. He was accused by several eyewitnesses of having committed armed robbery. The police took Mr. Ballestrero into custody on the word of these witnesses and subjected him to a rather primitive and inconclusive form of a police line-up and then charged him with the armed robbery.

In addition to asking why the movie was in black and white instead of color, my daughters were amazed at the lack of due process and proper police procedure that led to the wrongful arrest and indictment of Manny Ballestero. No Miranda warning (Miranda vs. Arizona, 1966), no lawyer provided (Gideon vs. Wainright, 1963), and police questioning and investigation that was unfair and rather perfunctory—it certainly didn’t look anything like a current day police drama or criminal investigation. We don’t realize what protections we have now that weren’t there a little over fifty years ago. Perhaps the choice of a black and white film emphasizes the antiquated and unjust investigation and trial. And yet, my daughters and I were quick to note that the same kind of false imprisonment can and does happen today, especially for minority suspects who are more likely to be victims of false identification and false arrest.

I kept thinking that Mr. Ballestrero needed to call Perry Mason. Mr. Mason would have had that case resolved and thrown out of court within an hour of television. As it was it took a little longer that that in the movie version, and the defendant and his wife had to do all of their own investigative work to come up with an alibi for Mr. Ballestrero. Perry Mason would have had Paul Drake to help with the detective work.

The next thing we noticed about the movie was the rather dated and hokey psychiatric diagnosis and treatment. Manny’s wife has what would have been called at the time “a nervous breakdown” because of the stress of the arrest and impending trial. However, her break with reality is almost complete; she barely speaks coherently to Manny or to anyone else after she becomes mentally ill. Stress might trigger a mental illness like that of Mrs. Ballestrero, but she’s practically catatonic and obviously suffering from something (clinical depression? schizophrenia?) more serious than stress. Vera Miles plays the wife, and she’s good in an eerie sort of way. Henry Fonda as Manny is mostly stoical and poker-faced, a little bewildered, a man who perseveres through all of the injustice of being prosecuted for a crime he didn’t commit with a certain dignity and humility.

The most interesting scene in the movie has Manny finally breaking down into near-despair over his situation, with his mother exhorting him to pray to God. “My son, I beg you to pray! Pray for strength!” she says. He does pray in his bedroom, while looking at a picture of Jesus, and the movie’s viewers see the real robber walking out of the darkness, then his face superimposed on Fonda/Ballestrero’s face. The police catch the real robber in the act of holding up a store, notice the similarity between Manny and the robber, and the case is solved. Manny is delivered. It’s a very obvious answer to prayer, and yet the ending to the movie shows that Manny still needs God’s strength to get through the continuing aftermath of the storm that has upended his life and marriage.

Manny Ballestrero: “Be careful of accusing anyone. Before you accuse anyone, you should think, because you can destroy a family, physically and mentally, like mine could have been destroyed.”

More analysis and review of The Wrong Man:

At the Alfred-Hitch Blog.

Alfred Hitchcock’s Two Most Catholic Films at decent films.

Roger Ebert on Hitchcock’s Least Fun Movie Is Also One of His Greatest.

This Friday the Friday Film Club feature will be Judgment at Nuremberg, a 1961 American courtroom drama, directed by Stanley Kramer, written by Abby Mann and starring Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, Richard Widmark, Maximilian Schell, Werner Klemperer, Marlene Dietrich, Judy Garland, William Shatner, and Montgomery Clift.