The Man Who Knew Too Much
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Bernard Miles, Brenda de Banzie, Doris Day, James Stewart, Ralph TrumanBrand: NBC Universal
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); Arabic (Original Language); English (Original Language); French (Original Language); French (Dubbed)
Format: Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Original recording remastered, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 120 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-02-07
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Universal Studios
Movie Reviews of The Man Who Knew Too Much
Movie Review: Cymbals Crash! Women Scream! Great Spy Thriller!
Summary: 5 Stars
Hitchcock grabbed at the chance to remake his 1934 British film, The Man Who Knew Too Much. In comparing the two films, Hitch told an interviewer, "Let's say the first version is the work of a talented amateur and the second was made by a professional."
What a great film! The cinematography was beyond great. The building of suspense was at such a high pitch it made me nervous, an edge-of-your-seat thriller.
But I'm getting ahead of myself.
The basic plot has Jimmy Stewart and Doris Day star as a family at the end of their vacation in Europe, Dr. McKenna and "Jo", and their son Hank. Hank causes some trouble when he accidentally yanks a Moslem woman's veil off and her husband threatens McKenna.
A suave Frenchman comes in and handles the confusion and tries to make friends. It turns out (we find later) that this guy is a spy and to make a long story short, he gets a knife coming out of his back and whispers his death message that a prime minister will be assassinated, tells him where and then dies.
The couple the McKennas were with, the Draytons, are not who they seem either. They are the ones being spied on by Scotland Yard and kidnap Hank to keep McKenna's mouth shut. If he reveals what he knows of the assassination plot, his son will die.
The story then becomes complex which I won't detail here. But there are several great scenes: McKenna mistakes "Chapel" for a person rather than a place and ends up accosting a man with that name in a taxidermy shop. After realizing his error he tries to leave but they hold him for the cops. Funny stuff.
Doris Day gets to belt out her signature song "Que Sera Sera" which is a bit overdone.
The climax occurs in an orchestral hall (Albert Hall) where the prime minister is listening, an assassin is in an adjoining box, and all our players are there. How will Jo stop the assassin? Will McKenna convince the cops of the plot and recover his son in time? And what about the boy?
We do eventually find out who the mastermind is and we learn more about the Draytons. However, after all is said and done, we still do not know a lot about the embassy personnel, or if Drayton's wife was caught, or even that the conspiracy was found or not.
Hitch just ends it, brilliantly.
I think the best scene ever is where Doris Day is singing her Sera Sera song, and the viewer 'follows' the sound as each shot shows a carpet, a set of stairs, a hallway, a column, up and up, to Hank's room where he is being kept by the bad guys.
The bottom line, great suspense, if a few plot holes and a little overdone on the musical interludes. Awesome, real acting from Jimmy Stewart. Nobody does it better.
A great cast is worth repeating:
James Stewart ... Dr. Benjamin McKenna
Doris Day ... Josephine Conway 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)
Other Jimmy Stewart Films:
The James Stewart Hollywood Legend Collection (Vertigo / Rear Window / Harvey / Winchester '73 / Destry Rides Again)
Alfred Hitchcock The Masterpiece Collection - Psycho / The Trouble With Harry / The Man Who Knew Too Much / Vertigo (DVD)
Other Doris Day delights:
The Doris Day Collection, Vol. 2 (Romance on the High Seas / My Dream Is Yours / On Moonlight Bay / I'll See You in My Dreams / By the Light of the Silvery Moon / Lucky Me)
The Doris Day Show: The Complete Collection, Seasons 1-5
Summary of The Man Who Knew Too Much
James Stewart and Doris Day give magnificent performances as Ben and Jo McKenna, an American couple vacationing in Morocco, whose son is kidnapped and taken to England. Caught up in international espionage, the McKennas' lives hang in the balance as they race to save their son in the chilling, climactic showdown in London's famous Royal Albert Hall. Starring: James Stewart, Doris Day, Brenda De Banzie, Bernard Miles, Ralph Truman, Daniel Gelin, Mogens Wieth, Alan Mowbray, Hillary Brooke, Carolyn Jones Directed by: Alfred HitchcockAlfred Hitchcock's 1956 remake of his own 1934 spy thriller is an exciting event in its own right, with several justifiably famous sequences. James Stewart and Doris Day play American tourists who discover more than they wanted to know about an assassination plot. When their son is kidnapped to keep them quiet, they are caught between concern for him and the terrible secret they hold. When asked about the difference between this version of the story and the one he made 22 years earlier, Hitchcock always said the first was the work of a talented amateur while the second was the act of a seasoned professional. Indeed, several extraordinary moments in this update represent consummate filmmaking, particularly a relentlessly exciting Albert Hall scene, with a blaring symphony, an assassin's gun, and Doris Day's scream. Along with Hitchcock's other films from the mid-1950s to 1960 (including Vertigo, Rear Window, and Psycho), The Man Who Knew Too Much is the work of a master in his prime. --Tom Keogh
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