The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)

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The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)

6/10

Starring

James Stewart

Doris Day

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock

Que Sera, Sera – Whatever will be, will be.

That was the popular song by Doris Day, for this movie The Man Who Knew Too Much.

I liked this movie for the pace. Alfred Hitchcock was on the reigns as director and producer, and this movie was a Technicolor remake of his 1934 movie of the same name.

I haven’t seen the original, but I have read, this was much better, even though both movies are different in the tone and settings, they were successful and received critical acclaim.

Here is a thriller from the master of suspense himself, which will keep you guessing all the way. How Hitchcock was able to make me the viewer watch a movie where a doctor and his popular musician wife try to foil (and succeeded) the plans of what seemed like a mind bumbling plan to assassinate the British Prime Minister.

Both characters get sucked into the matter when the man sent to foil the assassination plans suspected them to be the perpetrators.

The movie starts slow, introducing the characters and immediately making you the watcher suspicious of everything that was going on. The movie was so masterfully done, that you and Josephine Conway "Jo" McKenna (Doris Day), seem to be the only people suspecting that something was up with the way things just coincidentally happen.

What I liked about this idea was, in many movies today you the viewer seems to be the wiser of what is going on than the actors themselves, which is because you get to see the bad guys before they do. Here, we and Jo McKenna are suspicious together and wondering why Dr. Benjamin "Ben" McKenna (James Stewart, who is a longtime collaborator of Alfred Hitchcock as Hitchcock sees him as a creative partner) seems not to notice the queer coincidences that are occurring.

When things started to unfold and the movie starts to introduce the players behind the plot, we get to be shocked along with the actors on the unfortunate turn of events.

The movie starts with the introduction of a French man who seems very inquisitive of the McKenna couple Ben and Jo. From where they have been and what they are up to in Morocco. His constant questioning had Jo on the edge and was hammering on her husband, Ben to stop sharing things with this very inquisitive man.

The couple then run into another couple Jo also found to be odd, as she suspects the couple has been following them for some time. Ben chocked everything to coincidence and they spent time with the couple, a time which ended up getting them involved in a murder and an assassination conspiracy.

To top it off, their son gets kidnapped and they have been asked not to say a thing of what they know to the police.

Masterfully done and worth watching, here is another Alfred Hitchcock masterpiece.