The Man Who Knew Too Much

The Man Who Knew Too Much

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Year: 1956

Music: Bernard Hermann & Arthur Benjamin

Before I begin, I wish to state a certain oddity in the posts in this blog and that the fact that they are entirely co-incidental, this simple fact being that the three posts in the blog have in some way or the other been connected to the master of suspense, maybe there is some suspense in that after all.

Some months back, I decided to do some things more seriously that other things, although I will not be mentioning the items on this ‘something’ list, you might have already guessed that Cinema is one of them. I have tried to remove Cinema (I like using the word cinema rather than using movies, the former makes my blog sound more classy and authoritative) because of some other things, but once in a while I am made to sit up and take notice of this moving art form.

One such film is ‘The Man Who Knew Too Much’ starring my personal favorite actor James Stewart, going a little bit deeper into the technique of people choosing a favorite actor. By looking at popularity trends and a few involved searches on the internet I came to the simple conclusion of the fact that we (most of the people of planet earth, sweeping generalization I know! But one has to say some things to run a blog) like a person who we think are exactly like us or exactly unlike us. Further, we like anyone who plays James Bond, the pinnacle of this achieved by one Sean Connery; by portraying Bond, Connery brought man closest to his fantasies, but each and every man knows that he does not resemble bond even to 0.05%(see numbers!), no not even if u happen to have an Aston Martin DB5, you will never be Bond. Moving on to the flip side of the argument, we also tend to like person who represents us or who is made to resemble us, the example for which can be sited for the success of many heart-broken love stories or the campus capers and many such.

So much for the stupid theory and back to James Stewart, I think I like him because he brings himself out like a common man in his portrayals and there is no star charm added to his persona, if he is playing a doctor then he is a doctor, unlike if I use the same example of Connery, it will always be viewed as Connery the doctor, his charm precedes him. But nevertheless both are actors in their own right.

In one of the scenes in the film where Stewart’s character thinks he is being followed in the street, it is almost like (if not saying too much) Hitchcock has made it in such a way that the viewer thinks he is the protagonist, it feels as though we are being followed and Stewart brings that us into is face very well; I thought I should put that down even if it’s not one of the major scenes in the movie.

The Man Who Knew Too Much begins in Morocco, where the good doctor and his family are on a vacation post a medical convention; Doris Day plays a retired stage singer and the wife of Stewart’s doctor. The film then charts the trials of the family members against a sinister group and the law enforcing agencies in both Africa and London.

It is interesting to note that the song performed by Doris Day in the movie is Que Sera Sera which means ‘What will be, will be’ keeping with the tone of the helplessness of the lead characters, and how ironically they do not keep quiet but try to find a way out of this helplessness.

Like most of Hitchcock’s films (at least the ones I have seen) this too retains the thrill till the end of the scene, the supporting actors though not known faces play adequately. Music in this film plays a vital role, it is almost like another character and saying something more would reveal much of the film; though the score is not as haunting as Vertigo or as racy as North By Northwest, which were to follow in the coming years taking the Hermann-Hitchcock partnership to greater heights.

Nobody would be disappointed after watching the film is to say the least, but then it is just an entertaining thriller from the master, who had made an earlier version in the thirties.

Thus ends my post on The Man Who Knew Too Much.