Sept. 14, 2002 - 11:33 pm
remember the song "Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera)"...yeah that's from this movie. Doris Day sang this song which was nominated for an Oscar. and if you ever see this film, that song will never leave your head. it's just an incessant loop. i really like the song and hearing her sing it, i just hate that it's so extraordinarily catchy.
this is one of the famed 5 "lost Hitchcocks" that i talked about in my previous entry on Rear Window (1954). just in case you're wondering, the other 3 films on that list are Rope (1948), Vertigo (1958), and The Trouble with Harry (1955).
i got this one because i don't know, i guess i just felt like seeing a new Hitchcock film and i remembered hearing the title of this one a lot. basically i was reaching. but of course it was a great film as it would seem all of Hitchcock's work is from the 50s. this film is actually a remake of the original The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934), which was done by Hitchcock in his earlier days in England. for those of you who are not familiar with his history, he's actually an English filmmaker who started there and then grew in popularity until he moved to American in 1940 and began doing films in Hollywood. his first film here was a Best Picture winner...Rebecca (1940). awesome film. see it.
my favorite bit of trivia about Alfred Hitchcock: "When finishing a cup of tea while on the set, he would often non-discriminatingly toss the cup and saucer over his shoulder, letting it fall (or break) wherever it may. "
anyway, on to talking about The Man Who Knew Too Much. it stars Jimmy Stewart and Doris Day. basically they're a married couple and decide to take their son to Morocco. while there, they quickly fall in with some seedy people and witness a murder. just before the man dies, he tells Jimmy Stewart about an assassination attempt that will be made soon. after that Stewart's son is quickly picked up by the assassins and taken away. he is told to keep his mouth shut about what he knows, or else his son "gets it." the latter half of the film takes place in England, eventually building up to a crescendo at the glorious Lord Albert Hall. there's a wonderful scene there that lasts 12 minutes without one word of dialogue, but is still filled with tension and contains 124 shots.
i think the Jimmy Stewart/Alfred Hitchcock team is just great. i love to see him in these tense films. it really gives you someone to identify with. and how can you not identify with Jimmy Stewart? he's just the epitome of an everyman.
i think this is probably the first full Doris Day film that i had seen before. i sort of had this impression previously that she was just annoying, but she was quite enjoyable in this role. don't ask me how it was done. maybe i was just mistaken previously.
another thing i keep thinking about is how difficult it was to spot Hitchcock himself in this film. you know he always does that trademark thing where he appears in the film for just a second right? well after looking on the imdb, rewinding the movie and searching for it, we spotted him. he's got his back to the camera, he's at the edge of the screen, and is only there for like 2 or 3 seconds. normally he's much easier to spot than that. i felt swindled. well, i guess if that's the worst thing i've got to complain about, it had to be a pretty damn good movie.