The Man Who Knew Too Much
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Written by John Michael Hayes; story by Charles Bennett and D.B. Wyndham-Lewis
1956/USA
Paramount Pictures/Filwite Productions
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental
#328 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
[box] Ambassador: You have muddled everything from the start, taking that child with you from Marrakesh. Don’t you realize that Americans dislike having their children stolen?[/box]
I like this middle-range Hitchcock more on each viewing.
Dr. Benjamin McKenna (James Stewart), his wife Jo (Doris Day), and their son Hank are on vacation in Morocco following time in Paris for a medical convention. Jo has retired from a stage career to be a full-time mother.
While they are riding on the bus to Marrakesh, Hank accidentally bumps into a lady, dislodging her veil. Her irate husband goes to retrieve it and yells at the boy in French, which no one in the family understands. Fellow passenger Louis Bernard translates and soothes the man. He then strikes up a conversation with Ben and through casual questions manages to find out all about the family. He arranges to dine with them that evening. Later, Jo tells Ben about her suspicions of Bernard and his questions.
Bernard bows out of dinner and the McKennas go out on their own. They notice another couple, the Draytons, whom they previously spotted at their hotel, staring at them. They are relieved to find they had seen Jo on stage in London and end up dining together. Then they see Pierre walk into the restaurant on the arm of a beautiful woman.
The McKennas go sightseeing with the Draytons the next day. Before long, they witness the murder of a man in Arab garb. This turns out to be Bernard in brown face, who whispers a message to Ben about an assassination to take place in London. Ben is taken in by the police for questioning and Mrs. Drayton takes Hank back to the hotel. While Ben and Jo are with the police, he gets a call saying that Hank will be in danger if Ben tells anything to the police about the message. The couple return to the hotel to find their son missing and the Draytons nowhere to be found.
The rest of the story follows Ben and Jo’s desperate search for their boy through London. The movie culminates with a famous set piece in Albert Hall. With Brenda de Banzie as Mrs. Drayton and Bernard Miles as Mr. Drayton.
I like Jo’s character a lot in this movie and Day plays her to perfection. It’s nice that she is the one with the best ideas and instincts. Stewart is great too and it was a treat to see Miles as a villain. It’s also nice to see all the exotic scenery filmed as only Hitchcock can. There are a lot of gaps in the plot, such as why Bernard was so interested in Ben in the first place, but that’s only to be expected in this kind of thing.
The Man Who Knew Too Much won the Academy Award for Best Music, Original Song (“Qué Será Será).
Trailer
