Tuesday 24 January 2017

The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) ...

DIRECTOR Alfred Hitchcock's remake of his own film, The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956),
features an assassination plot that's supposed to take place during a classical music performance at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
  It's excruciatingly spine-tingling watching Doris Day watch the shooter, who in turn, watches his target.
  Then I remembered that I had seen something similar in Mission: Impossible -- Rogue Nation (2015), in which Rebecca Ferguson and Tom Cruise seek to foil an assassination plot that will take place during an opera performance of Puccini's Turandot.

  The title, The Man Who Knew Too Much, is a misnomer, because James Stewart's character, Dr Benjamin McKenna, isn't as perceptive as his lovely blonde retired musical theatre singer and actress wife Josephine (Doris Day).
  Josephine's antenna is immediately raised when spy Louis Bernard (Daniel Gelin) bombards her husband with personal questions. She's also observant about the British couple watching them.
   Benjamin dismisses her concerns, but when things take a turn for the worse, he's forced to admit that his wife is right.
  Hitchcock makes a big deal about Benjamin being ill at ease eating in a restaurant in Morocco. Benjamin
Doris Day watches James Stewart fumble with his food.
 is tall and ungainly, and can't fit his long legs under the short table. He's not used to eating with his hands, and is also ignorant of local customs regarding table manners.

3 out of 5 stars

 
 
 

 
 

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