Que Sera, Sera—Whatever
will be, will be.
That’s the popular song by Doris Day from the movie The Man Who Knew Too
Much.
I liked this
movie for its pace. Alfred Hitchcock was at the helm as director and producer,
and this movie was a Technicolor remake of his 1934 film of the same name.
I haven’t seen the original, but I’ve read that this version is much better,
even though both movies differ in tone and setting. Both were successful and
received critical acclaim.
Here’s a
thriller from the master of suspense himself that will keep you guessing all
the way. Hitchcock managed to make me, the viewer, watch a movie where a doctor
and his famous musician wife try to foil (and succeed in foiling) what seems
like a mind-boggling plan to assassinate the British Prime Minister.
Both characters get sucked into the matter when the man sent to foil the
assassination suspects them of being the perpetrators.
The movie starts
slow, introducing the characters and immediately making you, the watcher,
suspicious of everything that’s going on. It’s so masterfully done that you and
Josephine Conway "Jo" McKenna (Doris Day) seem to be the only ones
suspecting that something’s up with the way things coincidentally happen.
What I liked
about this is that, in many movies today, you, the viewer, often feel wiser
about what’s going on than the characters themselves—usually because you get to
see the bad guys before they do. Here, we’re suspicious alongside Jo McKenna,
wondering why Dr. Benjamin "Ben" McKenna (James Stewart, a longtime
collaborator of Hitchcock, who saw him as a creative partner) doesn’t seem to
notice the strange coincidences occurring.
When things start to unfold and the movie introduces the players behind the plot,
we’re shocked along with the characters at the unfortunate turn of events.
The movie begins
with the introduction of a Frenchman who seems very inquisitive about the
McKenna couple, Ben and Jo. He’s curious about where they’ve been and what
they’re up to in Morocco. His constant questioning puts Jo on edge, and she
urges her husband, Ben, to stop sharing so much with this overly curious man.
The couple then
runs into another pair, whom Jo also finds odd. She suspects they’ve been
following them for some time. Ben chalks it all up to coincidence, and they
spend time with the couple—a decision that ends up involving them in a murder
and an assassination conspiracy.
To top it off, their son gets kidnapped, and they’re warned not to say a word
about what they know to the police.
Masterfully done
and worth watching, here’s another Alfred Hitchcock masterpiece.
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