The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956 film)

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The Man Who Knew Too Much

Original film poster
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Produced by Uncredited:
Alfred Hitchcock
Written by Story:
Charles Bennett
D.B. Wyndham-Lewis
Screenplay:
John Michael Hayes
Starring James Stewart
Doris Day
Brenda De Banzie
Bernard Miles
Alan Mowbray
Hillary Brooke
Christopher Olsen
Music by Score:
Bernard Herrmann
Arthur Benjamin
Songs:
Ray Evans
Jay Livingston
Cinematography Robert Burks
Editing by George Tomasini
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date(s) Flag of the United States June 1, 1956
Running time 120 min.
Language English
Budget US$ 1,200,000
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) is a suspense film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring James Stewart and Doris Day. The film is a remake in widescreen VistaVision and Technicolor of Hitchcock's 1934 film of the same name.

In the book-length interview, Hitchcock/Truffaut (1967), Hitchcock told fellow filmmaker François Truffaut that he considered his 1956 remake to be superior, saying that the 1934 version was the work of a talented amateur, the 1956 version the work of a professional.

The film won an Academy Award for Best Song for "Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera)," sung by Doris Day at several points in the action.

Contents

[edit] Plot

An American family, Dr. Ben McKenna (James Stewart), his wife Jo (Doris Day) and their son Hank (Christopher Olsen) are on vacation, traveling in Morocco. They befriend a fellow traveler, the mysterious Louis Bernard (Daniel Gelin), on a bus. Later that same day, the couple meets another vacationing couple, the Draytons (Bernard Miles and Brenda De Banzie), at dinner in a local restaurant.

The next day, outdoors in a busy Marrakesh marketplace, the McKennas are shocked to witness the assassination of a man who turns out to be Bernard in disguise. Before dying, he whispers into Ben McKenna's ear a terrible secret: that someone's life is in danger. The Draytons, not nearly as innocent as they seem, kidnap the boy Hank in order to be able to pressure Dr. McKenna into not telling the local police what he has learned.

After following a number of leads, McKenna tracks the kidnappers to a church, where Drayton is posing as the minister. Ben learns that the Draytons are involved in a plot to assassinate a European head of state during a symphony orchestra concert at the Royal Albert Hall.

Ben and Jo separately track the killer to the concert, where he is to shoot the dignitary at the exact moment of time when the orchestra's music features a loud and climactic cymbal crash. At the moment of truth, Jo screams. The sudden unexpected sound causes the assassin to misfire. Ben chases the assassin, who falls to his death from the balcony of the theater.

The couple then follow the kidnappers to the ambassador's residence in London, where they are welcomed as heroes for saving the head of state's life. Mrs. Drayton, unable to be complicit in the plan to kill Hank, helps the boy find his father. Mr. Drayton tries to escape with the two as hostages, but is struck by Ben and falls down the stairs to his death when the gun he is holding fires accidentally. It is never explained what ultimately happens to Mrs. Drayton, but she is there watching when her husband is killed, and does not show any emotion when it happens.

Alfred Hitchcock's cameo is a signature occurrence in most of his films. In The Man Who Knew Too Much he can be seen (25 minutes into the film) watching acrobats in the Moroccan marketplace, with his back to the camera, just before the spy is killed.

[edit] Music

Music plays an important part in this film.[citation needed] Although the film's composer, Bernard Herrmann, wrote relatively little "background" music for this film, the performance of Arthur Benjamin's cantata Storm Clouds, conducted by Herrmann, is the climax of the film. In addition, Doris Day's character is a well-known, now retired, professional singer. Several times in the film, she sings the Livingston & Evans song "Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)" which won the 1956 Best Song Oscar under the alternate title "Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera)." The song reached number two on the U.S. pop charts [1] and number one in the UK[verification needed].

Herrmann was given the option of composing a new cantata to be performed during the film's climax. However, he found Arthur Benjamin's cantata Storm Clouds from the original 1934 film to be so well suited to the film that he declined. Herrmann can be seen conducting the London Symphony Orchestra and singers during the Royal Albert Hall scenes. The sequence in Albert Hall runs 12 minutes without any dialogue, from the beginning of Storm Clouds until the climax, when the Doris Day character screams.

[edit] Home Video

The film has been released on home video by Universal Pictures, which acquired the rights to Hitchcock's Paramount films, in both VHS and DVD formats. The 2000 DVD includes a special documentary on the making of the film, including interviews with Hitchcock's daughter, Patricia Hitchcock, and members of the production crew. The DVD retains the original VistaVision aspect ratio, capturing the full widescreen impact of the film, with digitally restored images.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Whitburn (1987), p. 87

[edit] References

  • Whitburn, Joel (1987), The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits (3rd Ed.), Billboard Publications, ISBN 0823075206 .

[edit] External links


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