This should have been a box office bonanza but Hitchcock's brave decision to eschew suspense in favour of a pyschosexual love story kept audiences away.

Tippi Hedren - fresh off The Birds the year before - is the titular Marnie, a beautiful yet frigid thief moving across America ripping off small companies.

She has the misfortune to attempt a scam on Sean Connery's company and is rumbled by everyone's favourite Bond, playing the lead two years after going supernova with Dr No.

Instead of turning her in, in true Hitchcockian style he marries her and attempts to uncover the causes for her sexual disgust.

Of all Alf's films, including Spellbound, this is most influenced by Freudian pyschoanalysis: Marnie's sexual neuroses permeates every area of the film, including its wonderful colour scheme that provides clues to the mystery, and sound design - Marnie's reticence about her past makes for a wonderfully silent thief and a celebrated safecracking scene plays out in almost complete silence.

Like Vertigo, this was rejected upon initial release only to be reassessed far more favourably by later critics.

Although more than forty years old, it still carries for a BBFC 15 for frank sexual discussions that must have seemed very progressive back in 1964, and a surprisingly bloody and sordid climax that remains bold when compared to present-day cop-out happy denouements.

Grace Kelly was originally set to play the lead role, but the people of Monaco balked at the idea of their princess playing a thief.

Hedren was signed up and gave a nuanced and desperate performance before settling into B-movie obscurity and unhappily cropping up in 1994's The Birds II.

Sean Connery of course faired much better, but typecasting meant it was a long time before he could attempt a charismatic yet buttoned down role such as this, and an interesting career remains half fulfilled.

At the eleventh hour Hitchcock removed some dialogue about Marnie's mother dark past, including her pregnancy with Marnie, but hundreds of prints had already been released, so two versions exist.

Rob Daniel