The Man Who Knew Too Much

I'm not sure why I didn't have a more enthusiastic reaction to The Man Who Knew Too Much. Hitchcock is the director that got me interested in classic cinema, and Rear Window, Notorious, Psycho, The Birds, Rebecca, and The Lady Vanishes are all among my favorite movies. It's a globe-trotting adventure with all the tension, intrigue, assassinations, conspiracies, and suspense you could want, but there's something about it that just didn't really catch my interest until the last 30 minutes, or so. The ending is great, but the rest of the movie was just missing something, in my opinion. The... more

The Man Who knew too Much is not my favourite Hitchcock by a long stretch. It seems less 'of its time' and just plain 'dated' compared to his other classics and it has that 'remade for an American audience' feel about it. It's also a 'family friendly' film, not that that is a bad thing, it's just that I prefer the more macabre of his films. The early Moroccan scenes are a little cringe-worthy in places and as beautiful as Doris Day's voice is, you do start to wonder why she was cast here (but that's not to say she did a bad job). Good but not great from the master of suspense. more

Hitchock's only remake of one of his own films raises the question of the superiority of his American work to his British work. This remake exceeds the original, more lavish with some of Hitchock's most powerful scenes ever. The films climaxes in the Albert Hall, one of Hitchock's best ever set peices. With the all time great song 'Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera)' performed by Doris Day. And the amazing score by Bernard Herrmann, who appears in the film directing the orchestra, is one of his best. more

The original The Man Who Knew Too Much brought Alfred Hitchcock acclaim for the first time outside of the United Kingdom. Of course part of the reason for the acclaim was that folks marveled how Hitchcock on such a skimpy budget as compared to lavish Hollywood products was able to provide so much on the screen. The original film was shot inside a studio. For whatever reason he chose this of all his films to remake, Hitchcock now with an international reputation and a big Hollywood studio behind him (Paramount)decided to see what The Man Who Knew Too Much would be like with a lavish budget.... more

This would be a 5 star movie if Jimmy Stewart had gone crazy Anthony Mann style. However the film we do have is a charming, sophisticated, funny, suspenseful film with Hitchcock operating at the height of his powers. more

A classic in its time. It now seems a bit dated and unbelievable. James Stewart's unique accent always grates me. His ignorance of local customs when visiting Morocco made him less of a hero. Doris Day is charming and effective in any movie; I liked her repeated performances of "Que Sera, Sera", which must've sold a lot of albums at the time. Their kidnapped son Hank (Christopher Olsen) was annoyingly and exhuberantly performed; he didn't seem too upset being kidnapped. There were some effective scenes of mystery and suspense established by the master direction of Hitchcock. The market... more