''The Man Who Knew Too Much'' is a 1956 American

suspense thriller Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre ...

film directed and produced by

Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featur ...

, starring

James Stewart James Maitland Stewart (May 20, 1908 – July 2, 1997) was an American actor and military pilot. Known for his distinctive drawl and everyman screen persona, Stewart's film career spanned 80 films from 1935 to 1991. With the strong morality h ...

and

Doris Day Doris Day (born Doris Mary Kappelhoff; April 3, 1922 – May 13, 2019) was an American actress, singer, and activist. She began her career as a big band singer in 1939, achieving commercial success in 1945 with two No. 1 recordings, " Sent ...

. The film is Hitchcock's second film using this title, following his own 1934 film of the same name but featuring a significantly different plot and script. In the book-length interview ''

Hitchcock/Truffaut ''Hitchcock/Truffaut'' is a 1966 book by François Truffaut about Alfred Hitchcock, originally released in French as ''Le Cinéma selon Alfred Hitchcock''. First published by Éditions Robert Laffont, it is based on a 1962 dialogue between ...

'' (1967), in response to fellow filmmaker

François Truffaut François Roland Truffaut ( , ; ; 6 February 1932 – 21 October 1984) was a French film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film critic. He is widely regarded as one of the founders of the French New Wave. After a career of more tha ...

's assertion that aspects of the remake were by far superior, Hitchcock replied, "Let's say the first version is the work of a talented amateur and the second was made by a professional." The film won an

Academy Award for Best Original Song The Academy Award for Best Original Song is one of the awards given annually to people working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is presented to the ''songwriters'' who have composed th ...

for "

Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be) "Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)" is a song written by the team of Jay Livingston and Ray Evans that was first published in 1955. Doris Day introduced it in the Alfred Hitchcock film '' The Man Who Knew Too Much'' (1956), singing it as ...

", sung by Doris Day. It premiered at the 1956 Cannes Film Festival on April 29.

Plot

An American family – Dr. Benjamin "Ben" McKenna, his wife, popular singer Josephine “Jo” Conway McKenna, and their son Henry "Hank" McKenna – are vacationing in

French Morocco The French protectorate in Morocco (french: Protectorat français au Maroc; ar, الحماية الفرنسية في المغرب), also known as French Morocco, was the period of French colonial rule in Morocco between 1912 to 1956. The prote ...

. Traveling from

Casablanca Casablanca, also known in Arabic as Dar al-Bayda ( ar, الدَّار الْبَيْضَاء, al-Dār al-Bayḍāʾ, ; ber, ⴹⴹⴰⵕⵍⴱⵉⴹⴰ, ḍḍaṛlbiḍa, : "White House") is the largest city in Morocco and the country's econom ...

Marrakesh Marrakesh or Marrakech ( or ; ar, مراكش, murrākuš, ; ber, ⵎⵕⵕⴰⴽⵛ, translit=mṛṛakc}) is the fourth largest city in the Kingdom of Morocco. It is one of the four Imperial cities of Morocco and is the capital of the Marrakes ...

, they meet Frenchman Louis Bernard. He seems friendly, but Jo is suspicious of his many questions and evasive answers. Bernard offers to take the McKennas to dinner, but cancels when a suspicious-looking man knocks at the McKennas' hotel-room door. At a restaurant, the McKennas meet friendly English couple Lucy and Edward Drayton. The McKennas are surprised to see Bernard arrive and sit elsewhere, apparently ignoring them. The next day, visiting a Moroccan market with the Draytons, the McKennas see a man chased by police. After being stabbed in the back, the man approaches Ben, who discovers he is Bernard in disguise. The dying Bernard whispers that a foreign statesman will be assassinated in London and that Ben must tell the authorities about "Ambrose Chappell". Lucy returns Hank to the hotel while Ben, Jo and Edward go to a police station for questioning about Bernard's death. An officer explains that Bernard was a French Intelligence agent. Ben receives a phone call at the police station; Hank was kidnapped but will not be harmed if the McKennas say nothing to the police about Bernard's warning. Knowing Hank was left in Lucy's care, Ben dispatches Edward to locate him. When Ben and Jo return to the hotel, they discover Edward checked out. Ben realizes the Draytons are the couple Bernard was looking for and are involved in Hank's abduction. When he learns the Draytons are from London, he decides he and Jo should go there and try to find them through Ambrose Chappell. In London,

Scotland Yard Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's 32 boroughs, but not the City of London, the square mile that forms London's ...

's Inspector Buchanan tells Jo and Ben that Bernard was in Morocco to uncover an assassination plot; they should contact him if they hear from the kidnappers. Leaving friends in their hotel suite, the McKennas search for a person named Ambrose Chappell. Jo realizes that "Ambrose Chapel" is a place, and the McKennas arrive at the chapel to find Edward leading a service. Jo leaves the chapel to call the police. After Edward sends his parishioners home, Ben confronts him and is knocked out and locked inside. Jo arrives with police, but they cannot enter without a warrant. Jo learns that Buchanan has gone to a concert at

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London. One of the UK's most treasured and distinctive buildings, it is held in trust for the nation and managed by a registered charity which receives no govern ...

, and asks the police to take her there. Once the police and Jo leave, the Draytons take Hank to a foreign embassy. In the Royal Albert Hall lobby, Jo sees the man who came to her door in Morocco. When he threatens to harm Hank if she interferes, she realizes he is the assassin sent to kill the foreign prime minister. Ben escapes the chapel through its bell tower and reaches the Royal Albert Hall, where Jo points out the assassin. Ben searches the balcony boxes for the killer, who is waiting for a cymbal crash to mask his gunshot. Just before the cymbals crash, Jo screams and the assassin misses his mark, only wounding his target. Ben struggles with the would-be killer, who falls to his death. Concluding that Hank is likely to be at the embassy, but that it is sovereign and exempt from an investigation, the McKennas secure an invitation from the grateful prime minister. The ambassador organized the plot to kill the prime minister, and blames the failed attempt on the Draytons. Knowing that Hank can testify against them, he orders the Draytons to kill the boy. The prime minister asks Jo to sing. She loudly performs " Que Sera, Sera", so that Hank will hear her. Lucy, who is guarding Hank while Edward prepares to murder him, is distressed at the prospect of killing a child, so she encourages the boy to whistle along with the song. Ben finds Hank. Edward tries escaping with them at gunpoint, but when Ben hits him, he falls down the stairs to his death. The McKennas return to their hotel suite. Ben explains to their now-sleeping friends, "I'm sorry we were gone so long, but we had to go over and pick up Hank."

Cast

as Dr. Benjamin "Ben" McKenna *

as Josephine “Jo” Conway McKenna *

Bernard Miles Bernard James Miles, Baron Miles, CBE (27 September 190714 June 1991) was an English character actor, writer and director. He opened the Mermaid Theatre in London in 1959, the first new theatre that opened in the City of London since the 17th ce ...

as Edward Drayton * Brenda de Banzie as Lucy Drayton * Christopher Olsen as Henry "Hank" McKenna *

Ralph Truman Ralph du Vergier Truman (7 May 1900 – 15 October 1977) was an English actor, usually cast as either a villain or an authority figure. He possessed a distinguished speaking voice. He was born in London, England. Truman originally studied at t ...

as Inspector Buchanan *

Daniel Gélin Daniel Yves Alfred Gélin (19 May 1921 – 29 November 2002) was a French film and television actor. Early life Gélin was born in Angers, Maine-et-Loire, the son of Yvonne (née Le Méner) and Alfred Ernest Joseph Gélin. When he was ten, ...

as Louis Bernard *

Mogens Wieth Mogens Wieth (16 September 1919 – 10 September 1962) was a Danish film actor. He appeared in more than 20 films between 1940 and 1962. He was born in Copenhagen, Denmark to stage and film actors Carlo Wieth and Agnes Thorberg Wieth, and h ...

as Ambassador *

Alan Mowbray Alan Mowbray (born Alfred Ernest Allen; 18 August 1896 – 25 March 1969) was an English stage and film actor who found success in Hollywood. Early life Mowbray was born in London, England. He served with distinction in the British Army in W ...

as Val Parnell *

Hillary Brooke Hillary Brooke (born Beatrice Sofia Mathilda Peterson; September 8, 1914 – May 25, 1999) was an American film actress. Career A 5′6″ blonde from the Astoria neighborhood of New York City's borough of Queens, Brooke, who was of Swedish an ...

as Jan Peterson *

Reggie Nalder Reggie Nalder (born Alfred Reginald Natzler; 4 September 1907 – 19 November 1991) was a prolific Austrian film and television character actor from the late 1940s to the early 1990s. His distinctive features—partially the result of disfigur ...

as Rien *

Richard Wattis Richard Wattis (25 February 1912 – 1 February 1975) was an English actor, co-starring in many popular British comedies of the 1950s and 1960s. Early life Richard Cameron Wattis was born on 25 February 1912 in Wednesbury, Staffordshire, the ...

as Assistant Manager *

Noel Willman Noel Willman (4 August 1918 – 24 December 1988) was an Irish actor and theatre director. Born in Derry, Ireland, Willman died aged 70 in New York City, United States. Willman's films included '' The Man Who Knew Too Much'' (1956), '' Across ...

as Woburn * Alix Talton as Helen Parnell *

Yves Brainville Yves Brainville (8 March 1914 – 16 November 1993) was a French film and television actor.Hayward p.245 Selected filmography * ''Entrée des artistes'' (1938) - Sylvestre * ''Accord final'' (1938) - Chenal - l'ami de Georges * ''Eduardo VII'' ...

as Police Inspector in Marrakech *

Carolyn Jones Carolyn Sue Jones (April 28, 1930 – August 3, 1983) was an American actress of television and film. Jones began her film career in the early 1950s, and by the end of the decade had achieved recognition with a nomination for an Academy ...

as Cindy Fontaine *

John Barrard John Barrard (12 September 1924 – 13 October 2013) was a British character actor who had a career spanning five decades and who perhaps is best known for playing Dooley, Santa's No. 2, in '' Santa Claus: The Movie'' (1985). Barrard's te ...

as Taxidermist (uncredited) 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, in the lower left corner, watching acrobats in the Moroccan market, with his back to the camera, wearing a light gray suit, and putting his hands into his pockets, just before the spy is killed.

Bernard Herrmann Bernard Herrmann (born Maximillian Herman; June 29, 1911December 24, 1975) was an American composer and conductor best known for his work in composing for films. As a conductor, he championed the music of lesser-known composers. He is widely re ...

, who wrote the film score, cameos as the conductor at Royal Albert Hall, the only time Herrmann appeared on-camera in a film.

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 would fulfill a contractual demand from

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

. The studio agreed it was a picture that could be well-adapted to the new decade. The Royal 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 plays only one note in a symphony, similar to the cymbal player in the film.

Writing

Screenwriter

John Michael Hayes John Michael Hayes (11 May 1919 – 19 November 2008) was an American screenwriter, who scripted four of Alfred Hitchcock's films in the 1950s. Early life Hayes was born in Worcester, Massachusetts to John Michael Hayes Sr. and Ellen Mabel Hayes ...

was hired on the condition that he would not watch the early version nor read its script, with all the plot details coming from a briefing with Hitchcock.DeRosa, Steven. ''Writing with Hitchcock. The Collaboration of Alfred Hitchcock and John Michael Hayes''. Faber and Faber, 2001. Only the opening scenes of the script were ready when filming began, and Hayes had to send the subsequent script pages by airmail as he finished them.

Soundtrack

Hitchcock's frequent composer

wrote the "background"

film score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...

; however, the performance of

Arthur Benjamin Arthur Leslie Benjamin (18 September 1893, in Sydney – 10 April 1960, in London) was an Australian composer, pianist, conductor and teacher. He is best known as the composer of '' Jamaican Rumba'' (1938) and of the '' Storm Clouds Cantata'' ...

's ''

Storm Clouds Cantata The ''Storm Clouds Cantata'' (or'' Storm Cloud Cantata'') is a cantata by the Australian composer Arthur Benjamin. This cantata was written for the assassination scene in the Alfred Hitchcock 1934 film, '' The Man Who Knew Too Much'', in the R ...

'', conducted by Herrmann, is used as

source music Diegetic music or source music is music in a drama (e.g., film or video game) that is part of the fictional setting and so, presumably, is heard by the characters. The term refers to diegesis, a style of storytelling. The opposite of source m ...

for the climax of the film. 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, although he did expand the orchestration, and inserted several repeats to make the sequence longer. Herrmann can be seen conducting the

London Symphony Orchestra The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...

with mezzo-soprano Barbara Howitt and chorus during the

scenes. The sequence in the Royal Albert Hall runs for 12 minutes without any dialogue from the beginning of ''Storm Clouds Cantata'' until the climax when Doris Day's character screams. Doris Day's character in the film is a well-known, now retired, professional singer, and at two points in the film she sings the

Livingston Livingston may refer to: Businesses * Livingston Energy Flight, an Italian airline (2003–2010) * Livingston Compagnia Aerea, an Italian airline (2011–2014), also known as Livingston Airline * Livingston International, a North American custom ...

and

Evans Evans may refer to: People *Evans (surname) *List of people with surname Evans Places United States *Evans Island, an island of Alaska *Evans, Colorado *Evans, Georgia *Evans County, Georgia *Evans, New York *Evans Mills, New York *Evans City, ...

song "

", a performance which won the 1956

. Day's recording of the song reached number two on the US pop charts. and number one in the UK.

Reception

Reviews for the film were generally positive, although some critics expressed a preference for the 1934 original.

Bosley Crowther Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. (July 13, 1905 – March 7, 1981) was an American journalist, writer, and film critic for ''The New York Times'' for 27 years. His work helped shape the careers of many actors, directors and screenwriters, though his ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' wrote, "James Stewart tops his job in '

Rear Window ''Rear Window'' is a 1954 American mystery thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and written by John Michael Hayes based on Cornell Woolrich's 1942 short story "It Had to Be Murder". Originally released by Paramount Pictures, the film st ...

' as the man who knows too much, and Doris Day is surprisingly effective as the mother who is frantic about her child ... Even in mammoth

VistaVision VistaVision is a higher resolution, widescreen variant of the 35 mm motion picture film format which was created by engineers at Paramount Pictures in 1954. Paramount never used anamorphic processes such as 2.55: 1, CinemaScope but refi ...

, the old Hitchcock thriller-stuff has punch." ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' wrote that while Hitchcock draws "the footage out a bit long at 119 minutes, he still keeps suspense working at all times and gets strong performances from the two stars and other cast members." ''

Harrison's Reports ''Harrison's Reports'' was a New York City-based motion picture trade journal published weekly from 1919 to 1962. The typical issue was four letter-size pages sent to subscribers under a second-class mail permit. Its founder, editor and publisher ...

'' called the film a "highly exciting and entertaining suspense thriller" that "grips the audience from start to finish." Richard L. Coe of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' also liked the film, calling it "a dandy of its popular kind" if "a wee bit too leisurely."

John McCarten John McCarten (September 10, 1911, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – September 25, 1974, New York City) was an American writer who contributed about 1,000 pieces for ''The New Yorker'', serving as the magazine's film critic from 1945 to 1960 and B ...

of ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'' wrote in a negative review that while the remake was "unquestionably bigger and shinier than the original, it doesn't move along with anything like the agility of its predecessor. There can be no doubt, of course, that Mr. Hitchcock at one time was a master of celluloid suspense, but increasingly of late he has been turning out movies that are too overweight to indulge in the tricks of his salad days." ''

The Monthly Film Bulletin ''The Monthly Film Bulletin'' was a periodical of the British Film Institute published monthly from February 1934 to April 1991, when it merged with ''Sight & Sound''. It reviewed all films on release in the United Kingdom, including those with a ...

'' wrote: "Although a quite entertaining thriller, with some characteristically shrewd and caustic Hitchcock touches, it is likely to disappoint devotees of the first film. It lacks the earlier pace and excitement; the peculiarly English charm of the original has been exchanged for a vague VistaVision and Technicolor cosmopolitanism; the dentist episode and the siege climax are unhappily missing." C. A. Lejeune of ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...

'' wrote that the plot had "a tendency to meander" with "jokes that may have looked more humorous in typescript," concluding that the film was "strong" as long as it stuck to the main plot, "But the first 'Man Who Knew Too Much' was stronger in every way." The film was a commercial success. Filmed on a budget of $1.2 million, it grossed $11,333,333 at the domestic box office, earning $4.1 million in US theatrical rentals. On the review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film has an approval score of 87% based on 39 reviews, with an average rating of 7.80/10. The site's consensus reads, "Remaking his own 1934 film, Hitchcock imbues ''The Man Who Knew Too Much'' with picturesque locales and international intrigue, and is helped by a brilliantly befuddled performance from James Stewart." In 2004,

American Film Institute The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private funding and public membership fees. Leade ...

included the song "

" as No. 48 in AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs.

Home media

''The Man Who Knew Too Much'' was kept out of re-release by Hitchcock until 1983 when it was acquired by

Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...

. The film has been released on home video by

Universal Pictures Home Entertainment Universal Pictures Home Entertainment (formerly Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Universal Studios Home Video, MCA/Universal Home Video, MCA Home Video, MCA Videodisc and MCA Videocassette, Inc.) is the home video distribution division of Am ...

in VHS, Betamax, Laserdisc, DVD and Blu-ray formats. The 2000 DVD has a documentary on the making of the film, including interviews with Hitchcock's daughter

Patricia Hitchcock Patricia Alma Hitchcock O'Connell (7 July 1928 – 9 August 2021) was an English-American actress and producer, acting under the name Pat Hitchcock. She was the only child of English director Alfred Hitchcock and film editor Alma Reville, and ...

and members of the production crew.

Notes

References

External links

* * * * *
Movie stills

Review at Radiotimes.com

Alfred Hitchcock Wiki:The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)

Film locations
{{DEFAULTSORT:Man Who Knew Too Much 1956 1956 films 1950s mystery thriller films 1950s psychological thriller films 1950s spy thriller films American mystery thriller films American political thriller films American remakes of British films 1950s French-language films Film noir Films about assassinations Films about child abduction Films directed by Alfred Hitchcock Films produced by Alfred Hitchcock Films scored by Bernard Herrmann Films set in London Films set in Morocco Films that won the Best Original Song Academy Award Films with screenplays by John Michael Hayes Paramount Pictures films 1950s English-language films 1950s American films