As partially suggested by the safe code's pattern of resolution , the observation that Marnie “resolves” is particularly salient insofar as no other Hitchcock film has done so in quite such an optimistic way.  This is perhaps most readily evident in the film’s musical conclusion: as the sun emerges to bathe the faux harbor, Herrmann (arguably clumsily) suddenly foregoes his trademark tonal instability for a sappy, indeed forgettable resolution from the lush Love Theme to a major chord.

Wood and others comment on the fact that the plot’s resolution is equally optimistic: the broken characters that Hitchcock has created and tormented in his previous films have never conquered their problems.1  Marnie, by contrast, trounces off into the sunset with Mark after facing and successfully overcoming her mental problems, apparently bound for the Hollywood ending.  Though the evidence indicates some tension* between the studio and Hitchcock on this point, the end of Marnie fits neatly as the capstone to a progression* of films marching towards ultimate healing.  In this way as much as any, intentionally or not, Marnie truly succeeds as the veritable pinnacle of Hitchcock’s corpus.