The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)

Theatrical Release Poster

Brenda de Banzie

Bernard Miles

Christopher Olsen

Daniel Gelin

Reggie Nalder

**The Man Who Knew Too Much** is a 1956 American suspense thriller film directed and produced by Alfred Hitchcock, starring James Stewart and Doris Day. The film is Hitchcock's second film using this title following his own 1934 film of the same name featuring a significantly different plot and script.

## Plot

An American family – Dr. Benjamin "Ben" McKenna, his wife, popular singer Josephine Conway "Jo" McKenna, and their son Henry "Hank" McKenna – are vacationing in Morocco. Traveling from Casablanca to Marrakesh, they meet Frenchman Louis Bernard. He seems friendly, but Jo is suspicious of his many questions and evasive answers.

Bernard offers to take the McKennas to dinner, but cancels when a sinister-looking man knocks at the McKennas' hotel-room door. At a restaurant, the McKennas meet friendly English couple Lucy and Edward Drayton. The McKennas are surprised to see Bernard arrive and sit elsewhere, apparently ignoring them.

The next day, attending a Moroccan market with the Draytons, the McKennas see a man chased by police. After being stabbed in the back, the man approaches Ben, who discovers he is Bernard in disguise. The dying Bernard whispers that a foreign statesman will be assassinated in London and that Ben must tell the authorities about "Ambrose Chappell." Lucy offers to return Hank to the hotel while Ben, Jo and Edward go to a police station for questioning about Bernard's death. An officer explains that Bernard was a French Intelligence agent.

Ben receives a phone call at the police station; Hank has been kidnapped but will not be harmed if the McKennas say nothing to the police about Bernard's warning. Knowing Hank was left in the care of Lucy, Ben dispatches Edward to locate him. When Ben and Jo return to the hotel, they discover Edward has checked out. Ben realizes the Draytons are the couple Bernard was looking for and are involved in Hank's abduction. When he learns the Draytons are from London, he decides he and Jo should go to London and try to find them through Ambrose Chappell.

In London, Scotland Yard's Inspector Buchanan tells Jo and Ben that Bernard was in Morocco to uncover an assassination plot and that they should contact him if they hear from the kidnappers. Leaving friends in their hotel suite, the McKennas unsuccessfully search for a person named Ambrose Chappell. Jo realizes that "Ambrose Chapel" is a place, and the McKennas arrive at the chapel to find Edward Drayton leading a service. Jo leaves the chapel to call the police. After Drayton sends his parishioners home, Ben confronts Drayton and is knocked out and locked inside. Jo arrives with police, but they cannot enter without a warrant.

Jo learns that Buchanan has gone to a concert at the Royal Albert Hall, and asks the police to help her get there. Once the police and Jo leave, the Draytons take Hank to a foreign embassy. In Albert Hall's lobby, Jo sees the man who came to her door in Morocco. When he threatens to harm Hank if she interferes, she realizes he is the assassin sent to kill the foreign prime minister.

Ben, having escaped the chapel through its bell tower, follows Jo to the hall, where she points out the assassin. Ben searches the balcony boxes for the killer, who is waiting for a cymbal crash to mask his gunshot. Just before the cymbals crash, Jo screams and the assassin misses his mark, only wounding his target. Ben struggles with the would-be killer, who falls to his death.

Concluding that Hank is likely at the embassy, but that it is sovereign and exempt from an investigation, the McKennas secure an invitation from the grateful prime minister. The ambassador organized the plot to kill the prime minister, and blames the failed attempt on the Draytons. Knowing the McKennas foiled his plan, he orders the Draytons to prepare to kill Hank.

The prime minister asks Jo to sing. She loudly performs "Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)", so that Hank will hear her. Lucy is guarding Hank, but is not entirely on board with killing Hank. So she tells him to whistle along with the song. Ben finds Hank. Drayton tries to escape with them at gunpoint, but when Ben hits him, he falls to his death.

The McKennas return to their hotel suite. Ben explains to their now-sleeping friends, "I'm sorry we were gone so long, but we had to go over and pick up Hank."

## Cast

* James Stewart as Dr. Benjamin Ben McKenna
* Doris Day as Josephine Conway McKenna
* Brenda De Banzie as Lucy Drayton
* Bernard Miles as Edward Drayton
* Christopher Olsen as Hank McKenna
* Ralph Truman as Inspector Buchanan
* Daniel Gélin as Louis Bernard
* Mogens Wieth as Ambassador
* Alan Mowbray as Val Parnell
* Hillary Brooke as Jan Peterson

## Trivia

* Alfred Hitchcock had to start shooting before the script was finished.
* The Albert Hall sequence lasts 12 minutes without a single word of dialogue and consists of 124 shots.
* The working title of this film was Into Thin Air.
* At first Doris Day refused to record "Que Sera, Sera" as a popular song release, dismissing it as "a forgettable children's song." It not only went on to win an Academy Award but also became the biggest hit of her recording career and her signature song.