Hitchcock-Lite: “The Man Who Knew too Much”

 I’ve never seen Alfred Hitchcock’s 1934 British version of The Man Who Knew Too Much. It’s a thriller, of course, one that climaxes with an assassination attempt planned for a climactic orchestral  moment at London’s Albert Hall. Peter Lorre is involved as a criminal mastermind, so you know that things are going to get seriously creepy.

 More than twenty years later, Hitchcock basically recycled his original plot for Hollywood. His 1956 take on The Man Who Knew Too Much is 45 minutes longer than the British version, and features two of Hollywood’s most popular actors, James Stewart and Doris Day. (Taking advantage of Day’s musical chops, Hitchcock and company make her a retired singing star, and weave into the plot her crooning of a new song, “Que Sera Sera,” which ultimately won an Oscar.)

 As in so many Hitchcock films, the leading characters are innocents who find themselves caught up in an evil scheme they must ultimately help to foil. See, for instance, the classic North by Northwest, in which businessman Cary Grant ultimately helps uncover some serious skullduggery.. In The Man Who Knew Too Much, Stewart and Day play a married couple traveling abroad with their young son. In Morocco they meet a mysterious Frenchman whose sudden death embroils them in intrigue, resulting in young Hank being kidnapped and whisked off to England. Of course the rest of the film involves the couple’s desperate search for their child, certainly a matter of the greatest seriousness. But this is a movie in which Hitchcock’s playful side shines through. Though the kidnapping of a kid is horrendous, we in the audience are never in doubt about Hank’s ultimate safety. That’s because Hitchcock plays down the jeopardy he faces, while devoting much of the film to the comedy of innocents abroad trying hard to grapple with unfamiliar cultures and unexpected bad guys.

 We first meet Ben, Jo, and young Hank McKenna on a bus ride from Casablanca to Marrakesh, where they immediately run afoul of local customs. (As the bus lurches, Hank accidentally snatches the veil off a Muslim woman’s face.) Though they’re surrounded by questionable characters, the focus is on the comic joshing and bickering of husband and wife. He’s an Indiana  doctor, and at one point they humorously note how his various operations back home have helped fund the luxuries they’re enjoying on this trip. And there’s a great deal of comedy in the key scene where they make new friends at an authentic Moroccan restaurant. (The tall, lanky Ben can’t manage the low couches in the dining room, nor can he figure out how to successfully eat with one hand, Moroccan-style.)

 Even after the horror they face when they learn of their son’s abduction, the McKennas are thrust into situations that can only be called comedic. When they arrive in London, a gaggle of British friends descend on their hotel suite, eager to reminisce about old times. While Ben dashes off to confront a certain Ambrose Chappell, who may hold the key to their son’s whereabouts, Jo is ordering drinks and desperately trying to entertain these unwanted guests. Ultimately, the action moves to the Albert Hall for that climactic concert. (Composer Bernard Herrmann, who wrote the score containing the would-be-fatal cymbal crash, makes a cameo appearance as the orchestra’s conductor). When all three McKennas, reunited at last, return to the hotel, they find their guests are still ensconced in their suite, totally snockered.

 The famous Hitchcock cameo? It’s  not one of his better ones--and the same goes for this enjoyable but very slight film.