307. The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
Directed By Alfred Hitchcock
Synopsis
An American couple witness the assassination of a suspicious character in Marrakesh, while dying this man tells Jimmy Stewart about a murder that will happen in London. While they make a deposition at the police station they leave their child in the care of an elderly British couple who promptly kidnaps the boy as a guarantee to keep Stewart schtum. Well Stewart and his wife want to get their child back so they fly to the UK and foil the murder plot and save the child themselves!
Review
Another great Hitchcock film. This man can do little wrong. The film is a remake of one of his earlier works and though I haven't seen the original this was Hitch's preferred version.
As usual there are elements in Hitchcock's film making that mark him for the great director that he is, one of these is the naturalness of the dialogue. Another one is his ease in the creation of fully fleshed out characters with great economy of time. His touch for the vignette is pretty incredible, even if for Hitchcock the film's plot is decidedly average.
Stewart is great as always, and Doris Day is surprisingly good for what is one of her few dramatic parts, even if she gets to sing Que Sera Sera plenty of times. The colour photography is amazing and this is helped by the choice of scenery in Morocco for the first part of the film. The highlight of the whole film is the great scene at the Royal Albert Hall. It is not one of Hitchcock's best films, but it is still great to watch.
Final Grade
8/10
Trivia
From Wikipedia:
Music plays an important part in this film. Although the film's composer, Bernard Herrmann, wrote relatively little "background" music for this film, the performance of Arthur Benjamin's cantata Storm Clouds, conducted by Herrmann, is the climax of the film. In addition, Doris Day's character is a well-known, now retired, professional singer. Several times in the film, she sings the Livingston & Evans song "Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)" which won the 1956 Best Song Oscar under the alternate title "Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera)." The song reached number two on the U.S. pop charts and number one in the UK.
Doris sings Que Sera Sera in the film:
Synopsis
An American couple witness the assassination of a suspicious character in Marrakesh, while dying this man tells Jimmy Stewart about a murder that will happen in London. While they make a deposition at the police station they leave their child in the care of an elderly British couple who promptly kidnaps the boy as a guarantee to keep Stewart schtum. Well Stewart and his wife want to get their child back so they fly to the UK and foil the murder plot and save the child themselves!
Review
Another great Hitchcock film. This man can do little wrong. The film is a remake of one of his earlier works and though I haven't seen the original this was Hitch's preferred version.
As usual there are elements in Hitchcock's film making that mark him for the great director that he is, one of these is the naturalness of the dialogue. Another one is his ease in the creation of fully fleshed out characters with great economy of time. His touch for the vignette is pretty incredible, even if for Hitchcock the film's plot is decidedly average.
Stewart is great as always, and Doris Day is surprisingly good for what is one of her few dramatic parts, even if she gets to sing Que Sera Sera plenty of times. The colour photography is amazing and this is helped by the choice of scenery in Morocco for the first part of the film. The highlight of the whole film is the great scene at the Royal Albert Hall. It is not one of Hitchcock's best films, but it is still great to watch.
Final Grade
8/10
Trivia
From Wikipedia:
Music plays an important part in this film. Although the film's composer, Bernard Herrmann, wrote relatively little "background" music for this film, the performance of Arthur Benjamin's cantata Storm Clouds, conducted by Herrmann, is the climax of the film. In addition, Doris Day's character is a well-known, now retired, professional singer. Several times in the film, she sings the Livingston & Evans song "Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)" which won the 1956 Best Song Oscar under the alternate title "Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera)." The song reached number two on the U.S. pop charts and number one in the UK.
Doris sings Que Sera Sera in the film:
posted by Francisco Silva @ 2:13 AM
1 Comments:
At 10:26 AM,
Adam said…
The Man Who Knew Too Much is a suspense film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring James Stewart and Doris Day. The film is a remake in widescreen VistaVision and Technicolor of Hitchcock's 1934 film of the same name. The film won an Academy Award for Best Song for "Whatever Will Be, Will Be" sung by Doris Day at several points in the action.
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Adam
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