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The Man Who Knew Too Much
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The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) More at IMDbPro »

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The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) -- A family vacationing in Morocco accidentally stumble on to an assassination plot and the conspirators are determined to prevent them from interfering.
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) -- A family vacationing in Morocco accidentally stumble on to an assassination plot and the conspirators are determined to prevent them from interfering.

Overview

User Rating:
7.5/10   15,753 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Down 32% in popularity this week. See rank & trends on IMDbPro.
Director:
Alfred Hitchcock
Writers:
John Michael Hayes (screenplay)
Charles Bennett (story) ...
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Contact:
View company contact information for The Man Who Knew Too Much on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
1 June 1956 (USA) more
Tagline:
A little knowledge can be a deadly thing! more
Plot:
A family vacationing in Morocco accidentally stumble on to an assassination plot and the conspirators are determined to prevent them from interfering. full summary | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
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Awards:
Won Oscar. Another 1 win & 3 nominations more
User Comments:
Perfect. more

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

James Stewart ... Dr. Benjamin 'Ben' McKenna

Doris Day ... Josephine Conway 'Jo' McKenna
Brenda De Banzie ... Lucy Drayton (as Brenda de Banzie)
Bernard Miles ... Edward Drayton
Ralph Truman ... Inspector Buchanan
Daniel Gélin ... Louis Bernard (as Daniel Gelin)
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
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Additional Details

Runtime:
120 min
Country:
USA
Language:
English | French | Arabic
Color:
Color (Technicolor)
Aspect Ratio:
1.50 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
The plot calls for a man (Daniel Gélin in the role of Louis Bernard) to be discovered as "not Moroccan" because he was wearing black makeup. The makeup artists couldn't find a black substance that would come off easily, and so they painted the fingers of the other man (Jimmy Stewart) white, so that he would leave pale streaks on the other man's skin (according to Patricia Hitchcock, this idea was suggested by Daniel Gélin). more
Goofs:
Revealing mistakes: In the climactic scene at the Albert Hall concert, when the cymbalist stands, turns and grabs his cymbals, the timpanist beside him is playing, but is clearly not hitting the drums. Also, the timpanist is not the same person who was playing (correctly) during the title sequence. more
Quotes:
[to Louis Bernard]
Hank McKenna: If you ever get hungry, our garden back home is full of snails. We tried everything to get rid of them. We never thought of a Frenchman!
more
Movie Connections:
Referenced in "The Simpsons: Bart's Comet (#6.14)" (1995) more
Soundtrack:
We'll Love Again more

FAQ

Why were the McKennas in Morocco?
Is Ambrose Chapel a real chapel in London?
A Note Regarding Spoilers
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23 out of 36 people found the following comment useful:-
Perfect., 18 December 2002
Author: sibisi73 from United Kingdom

All the trademark Hitchcock elements are in place yet again, for a wonderful example of crowd-pleasing from the man who knew better than anyone just how to work an audience. James Stewart, everyone's perfect everyman returns to familiar ground, with the perfect wife (Doris Day, perfect casting), and perfect family. Into this chocolate box world is thrown some dangerous information, and a downward spiral of kidnap and murder.

As usual, there are the elaborately staged set-pieces, and the intimate psychoanalysis that you would expect. Here, the assassination sequence in the Royal Albert Hall provides the former - a beautifully choreographed blend of music and images building to the pivotal crash of cymbals, and the scenes in Morocco the latter, as our couple become obliviously embroiled in international espionage. It is hard to find fault with any of Hitchcock's contrivances (using the Oscar-winning 'Whatever Will Be' as a plot device to get Doris singing is almost too much, but forgivable), and the the whole cast are superb, giving incredibly naturalistic performances - see the scene in the Moroccan restaurant, which almost seems ad-libbed.

One of Hitchcock's best.

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