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| The Man Who Knew Too Much | |
|---|---|
| Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Alfred Hitchcock |
| Produced by | Alfred Hitchcock |
| Screenplay by | John Michael Hayes |
| Story by | Charles Bennett D. B. Wyndham-Lewis |
| Starring | James Stewart Doris Day Brenda de Banzie Bernard Miles Christopher Olsen Daniel Gélin Reggie Nalder |
| Music by | Bernard Herrmann |
| Cinematography | Robert Burks |
| Edited by | George Tomasini |
| Production company | Filwite Productions, Inc. |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
| Release date | May 16, 1956 (New York) |
| Running time | 120 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $1.2 million |
| Box office | $11.3 million |
The Man Who Knew Too Much is a 1956 American suspense thriller film directed and produced by Alfred Hitchcock, starring James Stewart and Doris Day. The film is Hitchcock’s second film using this title following his own 1934 film of the same name featuring a significantly different plot and script.
In the book-length interview Hitchcock/Truffaut (1967), in response to fellow filmmaker François Truffaut‘s assertion that aspects of the remake were by far superior, Hitchcock replied “Let’s say the first version is the work of a talented amateur and the second was made by a professional.”
The film won an Academy Award for Best Original Song for “Que Será, Será (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)“, sung by Doris Day. It premiered at the 1956 Cannes Film Festival on April 29.
Alfred Hitchcock’s cameo is a signature occurrence in most of his films. In The Man Who Knew Too Much he can be seen 25:42 into the film, in the lower left corner, watching acrobats in the Moroccan market, with his back to the camera, wearing a light gray suit, and putting his hands into his pockets, just before the spy is killed.
Alfred Hitchcock first considered an American remake of The Man Who Knew Too Much in 1941, but only brought back the idea in 1956 to make a film that would fulfill a contractual demand from Paramount Pictures. The studio agreed it was a picture that could be well-adapted to the new decade. The Royal Albert Hall sequence drew some inspiration from H.M. Bateman‘s comic “The One-Note Man”, which followed the daily life of a musician who plays only one note in a symphony, similar to the cymbal player in the film.
Screenwriter John Michael Hayes was hired on the condition that he would not watch the early version nor read its script, with all the plot details coming from a briefing with Hitchcock. Only the opening scenes of the script were ready when filming begun, and Hayes had to send by airmail the subsequent script pages as he finished them.
Hitchcock again brought James Stewart to be his protagonist as he was considering the actor a creative partner, and Paramount wanted a sense of continuity between his works. The director requested blonde Doris Day for the main female role as he liked her performance in Storm Warning, though associate producer Herbert Coleman was reluctant on Day, whom he only knew as a singer. Coleman strongly suggested that the more serious blonde actresses like Lana Turner, Grace Kelly, or Kim Novak be cast in the role, or a suitable brunette, like Jane Russell, Gene Tierney, or Ava Gardner. However, Day was eventually cast in the female lead.[citation needed]
Hitchcock’s frequent composer Bernard Herrmann wrote the “background” film score; however, the performance of Arthur Benjamin‘s Storm Clouds Cantata, conducted by Herrmann, is used as source music for the climax of the film. In addition, Doris Day’s character is a well-known, now retired, professional singer. At two points in the film, she sings the Livingston and 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 US pop charts and number one in the UK.
Herrmann was given the option of composing a new cantata to be performed during the film’s climax. However, he found Arthur Benjamin’s cantata Storm Clouds from the original 1934 film to be so well suited to the film that he declined, although he did expand the orchestration, and insert several repeats to make the sequence longer. Herrmann can be seen conducting the London Symphony Orchestra with mezzo-soprano Barbara Howitt and chorus during the Royal Albert Hall scenes. The sequence in the Royal Albert Hall runs for 12 minutes without any dialogue from the beginning of Storm Clouds Cantata until the climax when Doris Day’s character screams.
Reviews for the film were generally positive, although some critics expressed a preference for the 1934 original. Bosley Crowther of The New York Times wrote, “James Stewart tops his job in ‘Rear Window‘ as the man who knows too much, and Doris Day is surprisingly effective as the mother who is frantic about her child … Even in mammoth VistaVision, the old Hitchcock thriller-stuff has punch.” Variety wrote that while Hitchcock draws “the footage out a bit long at 119 minutes, he still keeps suspense working at all times and gets strong performances from the two stars and other cast members.” Harrison’s Reports called the film a “highly exciting and entertaining suspense thriller” that “grips the audience from start to finish.” Richard L. Coe of The Washington Post also liked the film, calling it “a dandy of its popular kind” if “a wee bit too leisurely.” John McCarten of The New Yorker wrote in a negative review that while the remake was “unquestionably bigger and shinier than the original, it doesn’t move along with anything like the agility of its predecessor. There can be no doubt, of course, that Mr. Hitchcock at one time was a master of celluloid suspense, but increasingly of late he has been turning out movies that are too overweight to indulge in the tricks of his salad days.” The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: “Although a quite entertaining thriller, with some characteristically shrewd and caustic Hitchcock touches, it is likely to disappoint devotees of the first film. It lacks the earlier pace and excitement; the peculiarly English charm of the original has been exchanged for a vague VistaVision and Technicolor cosmopolitanism; the dentist episode and the siege climax are unhappily missing.” C. A. Lejeune of The Observer wrote that the plot had “a tendency to meander” with “jokes that may have looked more humorous in typescript,” concluding that the film was “strong” as long as it stuck to the main plot, “But the first ‘Man Who Knew Too Much’ was stronger in every way.”
The film was a commercial success. Filmed on a budget of $1.2 million, it grossed $11,333,333 at the domestic box office, earning $4.1 million in US theatrical rentals.
In 2004, American Film Institute included the song “Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)” as #48 in AFI’s 100 Years…100 Songs.
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