The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956 film)

The Man Who Knew Too Much
Original film poster
Directed by	Alfred Hitchcock
Produced by	Alfred Hitchcock
Screenplay by	John Michael Hayes
Story by	Charles Bennett D.B. Wyndham-Lewis
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 Universal Pictures (1983-present)
Release date(s)	June 1, 1956
Running time	120 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	US$ 1,200,000

The Man Who Knew Too Much is a 1956 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, but still he preferred the 1934 version due to its roughness.

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. It was also entered into the 1956 Cannes Film Festival.

Plot

An American family, Dr. Ben McKenna (James Stewart), his wife Jo (Doris Day) and their son Hank (Christopher Olsen) are vacationing in Morocco. On a bus from Casablanca to Marrakesh, they befriend a Frenchman named Louis Bernard (Daniel Gelin), who is friendly enough, but Jo becomes suspicious at his many questions and evasive answers, and thinks he is hiding something. Bernard offers to take the McKennas out to dinner that night but suddenly cancels when a sinister-looking man arrives at the door of the McKenna's hotel room claiming to be looking for another guest's room. Later, while dining at a local restaurant, the McKennas meet an English couple, the Draytons, who strike up a conversation with the Mckennas, who are surprised to see Bernard arrive at the restaurant and sit at another table while apparently ignoring the group.

The next day, while exploring a busy outdoor marketplace in Marrakesh with the Draytons, the McKennas see a man in Arab clothing being chased by police. After being stabbed in the back, the man approaches Ben, who discovers the man is really Bernard in disguise. Before dying, Bernard whispers into Ben's ear that a foreign statesman will be murdered in London very soon, and that he must tell the authorities there about 'Ambrose Chappell'. Mrs. Drayton offers to return Hank to the hotel while Dr. and Mrs. McKenna are questioned by the authorities. The interrogator reveals that Bernard was a French Intelligence agent on assignment in Morocco. While at the police station, Ben receives a phone call from a mysterious man who informs him that Hank has been kidnapped but will not be harmed if the McKennas say nothing to the police about Bernard's last words.

After arriving in London the McKennas are told by Scotland Yard inspector Buchanan that Bernard was indeed a spy trying to uncover an assassination plot in Morrocco, and that they should contact him if they hear from the kidnappers. Leaving friends in their hotel room, the McKennas follow a false lead resulting from their assumption that 'Ambrose Chappell' is a person, but finally track the kidnappers to a church named 'Ambrose Chapel', the kidnappers' base of operations where Mr. Drayton, posing as a minister, is leading a service. While Jo calls police, Drayton ends the service early and Ben confronts him and is knocked out. The Draytons take Hank to a foreign embassy just before Jo arrives with the police at the seemingly deserted chapel. Jo learns Buchanan has gone to a concert at the Royal Albert Hall and goes there to get his help. There she sees the man who mistakenly came to her door in Morrocco. When he threatens her son if she interferes, she realizes he is the assassin sent to kill the foreign Prime minister now also at the concert hall.

Ben escapes the locked chapel and tracks Jo to the hall, where she points out the assassin to him. Ben frantically searches the balcony boxes for the killer, who is waiting for a cymbal crash to mask the gunshot. But when Jo sees the barrel of the assassin's gun appear from behind a curtain, she screams just as the cymbals crash, causing him to miss his mark and merely wound his target. Ben finds and struggles with the assassin, who falls to his death from the balcony. The grateful Prime Minister invites the McKennas to meet with him at his London embassy.

The McKennas learn that the Draytons have taken refuge in the Prime Minister's embassy, where Hank is being held, and where the ambassador has led the plot to kill his own Prime Minister. Hatching a plan to find their son, Ben and Jo arrive at the residence and are welcomed as heroes for having saved the Prime Minister's life. Jo loudly sings a song Hank is familiar with so that he will hear his mother's voice and hopefully respond to it. Mrs. Drayton, who is guarding Hank but is unwilling to harm him, tells him to whistle along with the song, which draws Ben to the room where he is being held. Mr. Drayton catches them and tries to escape with the two as hostages, but is struck by Ben and falls down the stairs and is killed when his gun fires accidentally.

The McKennas return to their now-sleeping friends in their hotel room, where Ben says, "I'm sorry we were gone so long, but we had to go over and pick up Hank."

Cast

• James Stewart - Dr. Benjamin 'Ben' McKenna
• Doris Day - Josephine Conway 'Jo' McKenna
• Brenda De Banzie - Lucy Drayton
• Bernard Miles - Edward Drayton
• Ralph Truman - Inspector Buchanan
• Daniel Gélin - Louis Bernard
• Mogens Wieth - Ambassador
• Alan Mowbray - Val Parnell
• Hillary Brooke - Jan Peterson
• Christopher Olsen - Henry 'Hank' McKenna
• Reggie Nalder - Rien
• Richard Wattis - Assistant Manager
• Noel Willman - Woburn
• Alix Talton - Helen Parnell
• Yves Brainville - Police Inspector

Alfred Hitchcock's cameo is a signature occurrence in most of his films. In The Man Who Knew Too Much he can be seen 25:42 into the film watching acrobats in the Moroccan marketplace, with his back to the camera, just before the spy is killed.

Production

Alfred Hitchcock first considered an American remake of The Man Who Knew Too Much in 1941, but only brought back the idea in 1956, to make a film that fulfill a contractual demand from Paramount Pictures. The studio itself agreed it was a picture that could be well-adapted to the new decade. Screenwriter John Michael Hayes was hired on the condition that he would not watch the early version or read its script, with all the plot details coming from a briefing with Hitchcock. Only the opening scenes of the script were ready when filming begun, and Hayes had to send by airmail the subsequent script pages as he finished them.

Hitchcock again brought James Stewart to be his protagonist as he was considering the actor a creative partner, and Paramount wanted a sense of continuity between his works. The director requested Doris Day for the main female role as he liked her performance in Storm Warning, though associate producer Herbert Coleman was reluctant on Day, whom he only knew as a singer.

The film started its principal photography on location in Marrakesh, where the schedule had to be changed so the Marrakesh shoot did not coincide with Ramadan. Day got revolted with the health of the local animals, prompting her to only accept filming once the studio set a animal feeding station in Marrakesh. Afterwards, production moved to London, with external shots, and the interiors of both the taxidermist shop and the Royal Albert Hall. Once the external shoots were finished, the other interiors - which included a replica of most of the Albert Hall - were shot in the Paramount soundstages in Los Angeles. The Albert Hall sequence drew some inspiration from H. M. Bateman's comic "The One-Note Man", which followed the daily life of a musician who only plays one note in a symphony, similarly to the cymbal player in the film.

Full details on the making of the film are in Steven DeRosa's book Writing with Hitchcock.

Music

Music plays an important part in this film. 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 and number one in the UK. The song was comissioned specially to use Day's singing abilites.

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 Cloud Cantata until the climax, when the Doris Day character screams.

Comparison of the 1934 and 1956 versions

The plots of the two versions vary substantially. The first version opens in St Moritz, Switzerland; not in Morocco. The first climaxes in a siege and shoot-out in London's East End - this scene was not incorporated in the later film. The kidnapped daughter in the 1934 version becomes a son in the remake.

Home video

The film has been released on home video by Universal Pictures, which acquired the distribution rights to all but one of 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.

See also

• Djemaa el Fna – Marrakesh marketplace
• Mr. Yin Presents - an episode of Psych based completely on Alfred Hitchcock films

References

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

External links

• The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956 version) at the Internet Movie Database
• The Man Who Knew Too Much at AllRovi
• The Man Who Knew Too Much at the TCM Movie Database
• The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956 version) at Rotten Tomatoes
• Movie stills
• Review at Radiotimes.com
• The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) Eyegate Gallery
• Alfred Hitchcock Wiki:The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)