The Man Who Knew Too Much

1956 "A little knowledge can be a deadly thing!"
7.4| 2h0m| PG| en| More Info
Released: 16 May 1956 Released
Producted By: Paramount
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

A couple vacationing in Morocco with their young son accidentally stumble upon an assassination plot. When the child is kidnapped to ensure their silence, they have to take matters into their own hands to save him.

Genre

Thriller, Mystery

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The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) is now streaming with subscription on Paramount+

Director

Alfred Hitchcock

Production Companies

Paramount

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The Man Who Knew Too Much Audience Reviews

Dotsthavesp I wanted to but couldn't!
Doomtomylo a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.
InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.
Ella-May O'Brien Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.
hrkepler The only remake by 'Master of Suspense' Alfred Hitcock. Although superior in almost every way (except the lack of Peter Lorre) Hitchcock himself preferred his original 1934 film. Compared to Hitchcock's other works 'The Man Who Knew Too Much' (both of the actually) are rather overlooked or even forgotten.James Stewart and Doris Day star as a wedded couple who are on vacation in Morocco with their son. After witnessing a murder of their acquaintance and kidnapping of their son, the lovely middle class family will be drawn into dangerous world of espionage. Pretty basic Hitchcock formula, but not disappointing by one bit. James Stewart give another brilliant performance and his chemistry with Doris Day really carries the film along. The film starts slowly and good part of the first quarter we see just nice family vacationing, but that gives us enough time to really get to know the main characters, and this adds even more thrills to the action sequences. The pace and tension winds up faster and faster until it finishes with (probably one of Hitch's finest scenes) amazing scene in Albert Hall - 12 minutes of pure tension without single word of dialogue.'The Man Who Knew Too Much' is kind off film that by the end is much better than you expected it to be when you were half way through it.
weezeralfalfa This Alfred Hitchcock suspense thriller has the unusual distinction, for this type of film, of including the song which won the Academy Award: "Que, Sera, Sera". It plays a small role in the screenplay. Doris Day(Jo McKenna) is asked to sing something at the London embassy reception for the Prime Minister(PM). She chooses "Que Sera, Sera" because she and her son , Hank,had sung it together recently. She was hoping Hank was upstairs and would recognize her voice. He did, and whistled in response. He was locked in a room with Lucy Drayton, who had kidnapped him while the McKennas were vacationing in Morocco. She and her husband Edward had taken the boy with them in their private plane, to England, to hopefully insure that Ben McKenna(Jimmy Stewart) wouldn't divulge what he had heard from the French intelligence agent Louis Bernard, as he lay dying from a knife in the back. What Ben remembered related to a plot to assassinate a foreign PM in London. Ben now knew too much for the comfort of the conspirators, but knew too little(was missing some pieces) to prevent the assassination. Throughout most of the film, the McKennas have the dual goals of getting Hank back safely, and trying to prevent the assassination by figuring out the missing pieces......When Hank is shown with the Draytons , he seems too calm, as if his situation wasn't anything to worry about. I fault the director for not making him seem upset and scared, screaming and fighting.....Also, we hear the conspirator leader(ambassador) tell the assassin to shoot the PM when the cymbals crash, during the symphony where the PM was taken. Jo(Doris) screams at full volume just before the cymbals crash, spooking the gunman, making him shoot slightly off target, hitting the PM's lower arm. I question how Jo learned about the cymbal signal. Would it have been better fpr her to scream well before the cymbal crash?......So, why did the Drayton's go to Morocco if the assassination was to be in London? Apparently, to pickup the assassin and fly him to London in their private plane. The assassin actually came to the McKenna's Morocco hotel room, thinking they were the Draytons. Jo saw him in the lobby of the symphony hall and they had a few words......This was actually the second film Hitchcock directed with the same title, though the screenplays apparently weren't that similar, and the first one was shot in B&W vs. the Technicolor of the present film. This was one of 4 films Stewart did for Hitchcock vs. the only such film for Doris, who did costar in the later Hitchcock-like thriller "Midnight Lace", which caused her mental anguish.
gdholm Wow. How terrible this was. No amount of directing or acting could change the fact that the story has more holes in it than an entire box of Swiss cheese. One of the worst writing jobs I have ever seen.An interesting contest game would be to watch the movie and see who can catch the most flaws in the story. Just don't turn it into a drinking game or you will have some very sick people on your hands. Many fallacies have been pointed out by others, and I agree with all of them. A couple of the ones I like include Stewart, who is a surgeon who apparently delivers babies, was strong enough to climb up a 40 foot rope hand-over-hand to escape the chapel and then used that same rope to repel off the side of the building and then drop the last 15 feet or more to the ground. None of this was shown, except him crawling out of the top of the tower. Spoiler alert: And despite all the heroics, the bad guy Ambassador who wanted his Prime Minister killed was never outed. He was free to try again after the movie was over. But who cares?
Filipe Neto Benjamin McKenna is a quiet guy on vacation with his family when things flee from his control. The sudden abduction of his son and the revelation of an intrigue of international proportions quickly take his life from the axis and lead him to an adventure of unpredictable end. It is a simple idea for an effective script, which compensates for the lack of verisimilitude with a certain irony and a touch of slight criticism of the authorities (it is enough to analyze how the police work in the film is late and bumbling). The film works very well, it creates a very pleasant suspenseful atmosphere and that prolongs by the film, arresting our attention. Okay, it may not be one of Hitchcock's most famous films, especially for those who do not know the director's work very well, but it's certainly one of the best this director did, and some of the scenes in the film are well known and worthy of anthology. James Stewart brought to life the lead role and achieved in this film a solid performance. Doris Day, who played McKenna's wife, does an excellent job as well and brings us some musical moments of great quality. The film also brings us an interesting piece of classical music, which I was pleased to hear. It is not just a prop, nor is it just there for decoration, but it plays an important role in the plot. For me, the worst part of the movie is the fact that, sensibly from the middle, we already perceive too much of the plot and this ends up making the final a little predictable.