When Alfred Hitchcock owed Paramount a film in the mid-1950s, he elected to remake one of his earlier British productions – the 1934 film The Man Who Knew Too Much. Hitchcock brought in John Michael Hayes (BUtterfield 8, Rear Window, The Trouble With Harry), a dependable screenwriter he had worked with several times. Hitchcock described the story to Hayes and then had him write the movie without even watching the 1934 original.
The result is a typically memorable Hitchcock thriller, with great dialogue, building tension, and innocent people forced to get themselves out of trouble on their own. It’s a sequel, but not a small sequel, as it includes big stars (principally Hitchcock favourite James Stewart and Doris Day), exotic locations (Marrakech, Morroco and London, England), a thrilling climax at London’s Albert Hall, and even an original song – Academy Award winner “Whatever Will Be (Que Sera Sera)” – for Day to sing.
Hayes’ way with words is evident from early on, as Ben, Jo and little Hank McKenna (Stewart, Day and Christopher Olsen) travel through Morocco on a vacation that’s been tacked onto a medical convention Ben was attending in Europe. The dialogue establishes the family as good-natured, although Jo seems just a touch paranoid. During a minor incident on a bus, the family meets Louis Bernard (Daniel Gelin), a Frenchman who invites them to dinner. This is where the intrigue begins, as Bernard cancels the engagement and then turns up at the same restaurant as the McKenna’s – a humorous sequence as the tall, set-in-his-ways Ben finds traditional Moroccan dining to be a challenge.
The real action gets under way when the McKennas witness a murder in the Marrakech market, Ben is told a secret, and they find themselves desperately searching for their son, but unable to reach out to the authorities for help. Ben and Jo travel from Marrakech to London, where they simultaneously look for Hank and try to stifle an assassination plot. In classic Hitchcock fashion, they’re innocent people forced to do remarkable things on their own. The tension builds steadily, with lulls built in for comedic effect – for example, Jo’s London friends hang out in the McKenna’s hotel room, blithely unaware of why Ben and then Jo are flying in and out of the hotel in their desperate attempt to sort out the mystery. Even funnier is Ben’s confrontation with the staff of a taxidermy shop, which starts out tense and ominous, but end ups in an hilarious struggle between Ben and the not-so-tough taxidermists among a collection of stuffed and half-stuffed beasts.
By the time the cymbals are raised during the climactic symphony concert at Albert Hall, there’s been plenty of excitement – and there’s more still to come, as the McKennas zero in on Hank, aided by ‘that song’ and one of the bad guys who has a conscience.
While it’s certainly not one of Hitchcock’s darker films, The Man Who Knew Too Muchis exciting, tense and great fun.
