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.

Director:

Alfred Hitchcock

Writers:

John Michael Hayes (screenplay), Charles Bennett (based on a story by),

Stars:

James Stewart, Doris Day, Brenda de Banzie

Won 1 Oscar. Another 1 win & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
James Stewart	...	Dr. Benjamin McKenna
Doris Day	...	Josephine Conway McKenna
Brenda de Banzie	...	Lucy Drayton
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	...	Hank McKenna
Reggie Nalder	...	Rien
Richard Wattis	...	Assistant Manager
Noel Willman	...	Woburn
Alix Talton	...	Helen Parnell
Yves Brainville	...	Police Inspector

Storyline

While attending a medical conference in Paris, American physician Dr. Ben McKenna, his wife, retired musical theater actress and singer Jo McKenna née Conway, and their adolescent son Hank McKenna decide to take a side trip to among other places Marrekesh, French Morocco. With a knife plunged into his back, Frenchman Louis Bernard, who the family met earlier in their bus ride into Marrakesh and who is now masquerading as an Arab, approaches Ben, cryptically whispering into Ben's ears that there will be an attempted assassination in London of a statesman, this news whispered just before Bernard dies. Ben is reluctant to provide any information of this news to the authorities because concurrently Hank is kidnapped by British couple, Edward and Lucy Drayton, who also befriended the McKennas in Marrakesh and who probably have taken Hank out of the country back to England. Whoever the unknown people the Draytons are working for have threatened to kill Hank if Ben divulges any information ...

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Plot Keywords:

assassination | morocco | american | bus | singer | 

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Taglines:

Alfred Hitchcock strikes the highest note of suspense the screen has yet achieved!

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Genres:

Thriller

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English French Arabic

Release Date:

1 June 1956 (USA)

Also Known As:

Alfred Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much

Filming Locations:

Avenue Bab Jdid, Marrakech, Morocco

Box Office

Budget:

$2,500,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures, Filwite Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

120 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.50 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In a 1994 interview available on the liner notes of a Rhino compilation of Oscar winning songs, songwriter 'Jay Livingstone' says that he came across the phrase "Que Sera Sera" in the movie The Barefoot Contessa, when Rossano Brazzi shows Ava Gardner his house, and she sees the inscription "Que Sera Sera" on the gate. He tells her that is the family motto, and it means 'Whatever will be, will be'.

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Goofs

When Ben is looking at sleeping Joe, his shadow can be seen clearly on the wall. There would have to be a strong light source behind him for this, but there is none - only the bedside table lamps.

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Quotes

Edward Drayton: Remember, you will only have time for just one shot. If you need another, the risk is yours.
Rien: I don't take risks.

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Crazy Credits

Partly because the rights to this film were acquired from Paramount by Universal,the Paramount VistaVision fanfare is played over the opening Universal logo. This is the way it is currently (2005) shown on television. in the re-release version (1984).

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Connections

Featured in Hitchcock: Shadow of a Genius (1999)

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Soundtracks

"Whatever Will Be"
(1956)
By Jay Livingston and Ray Evans
Performed by Doris Day (uncredited)

User Reviews

Not one of my favorite Hitchcock movies, but worth seeing.

I'm not sure why I didn't have a more enthusiastic reaction to The Man Who Knew Too Much. Hitchcock is the director that got me interested in classic cinema, and Rear Window, Notorious, Psycho, The Birds, Rebecca, and The Lady Vanishes are all among my favorite movies. It's a globe-trotting adventure with all the tension, intrigue, assassinations, conspiracies, and suspense you could want, but there's something about it that just didn't really catch my interest until the last 30 minutes, or so. The ending is great, but the rest of the movie was just missing something, in my opinion. 

The problem certainly wasn't with the two lead actors. James Stewart gave another great performance under Hitchcock's eye (he was my favorite Hitchcock leading man), and Doris Day was charmingly determined and convincing as a confused wife  and mother, desperately searching for her son. 

The Man Who Knew Too Much certainly isn't a bad movie (is there such a thing as a bad Hitchcock movie?), and I expect that other people might have a more favorable response to it than I did. I suspect this is just one of those times when a good film just doesn't completely "click", with me, for whatever reason. I recommend it to anyone who is interested, though.