The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)

It's not very often a director remakes one of their own films but Alfred Hitchcock was one of the few when he remade The Man Who Knew Too Much in 1956. I first saw this at university and while I enjoyed it, the film never really stuck in my mind when discussing Hitchcock's work. This was released when we were still seeing the director at the peek of his career with North by Northwest and Psycho still to follow. It stars James Stewart and Doris Day, Bernard Hermann on the score and features many memorable moments which come to mind as I think more about it. Is it the curse of being a remake that means it'll never quite match the original (which I haven't seen), or am I being silly and missing something important?

Stewart and Day star as a married couple on holiday in Morocco with their son. They meet a series of interesting individuals who all seem very pleasant but then their son is kidnapped and one of the people they met is murdered in an open market whilst wearing a disguise. Why was a man murdered and the son kidnapped, and what is old Jimmy Stewart going to do about when the kidnappers state their demands? What follows is a desperate journey for the couple as they follow the clues to London and unknowingly discover a sinister plan. 

Even before all of the drama above, Hitchcock sets the scene with such ease that it's easy to glance over but rewatching this today knowing what will happen it's pretty damn impressive what the man has achieved. Some films would pace through the introduction but Hitchcock takes his time and when things take a turn, the film begins to feel like a pressure-oven as the sense of fear and suspense rack up. But it's handled in the typically safe 1950s fashion making the restrained horror for the couple all the more engaging. Needless to say, the two leads are great to watch and help to make the film so impressive from the start.

With all that said, The Man Who Knew Too Much will be somewhat slow for some viewers if you're knew to Hitchcock's work. It doesn't take as long as Vertigo to get going but as the story moves to London there are areas where the suspense created in Morocco is eased a little. This turned an intriguing thriller into something that will test the patience for some viewers which is a shame but on rewatching this I enjoyed picking up on details I had missed before. Not wanting to spoil the story, the film manages to gain focus, ending on a high with a fantastic, even iconic, sequence that sees the director and the cast and crew at their best. Yet it doesn't quite do enough to save this from being one of the director's weaker films from this decade or offer enough that will linger in your memory afterwards in a day or two. I like the film a lot and it does so much right but it's not one I would easily introduce newcomers to the director to watch. 

The Man Who Knew Too Much is still a great film if you're a cinephile or fan of the director who can overlook some of the film's shortcomings. For everyone else, I'd say it's still very entertaining and generally holds-up pretty well today even though Hitchcock's other films from around this time do tower above what we have here.