Wednesday, November 10, 2021

The Man Who Knew Too Much

A decent movie in the filmography that I think many would agree on.





Not to say in the slightest this movie isn't good, it handles the world of espionage well but there's no doubt Hitchcock went on to improve certain elements greatly in later films. It handles it's story well with a family who are visiting Morocco and already some suspicious characters are introduced, and pretty soon Jimmy Stewart is witness to a murder and is told with dying breaths of a plotted assassination, and if that wasn't bad enough his son is kidnapped leading him to travel to London to save his son and try to thwart another death. I feel the first half is the better part, because you get a lot of intrigue as to who these odd characters are and you are not fully aware of the plot, so it really gets you thinking whereas when it shifts gears to get their kid back it becomes more standard fare. But the performances from Jimmy and Doris Day are really good, they have a good relationship and effortlessly potray these realistic parents. You'd get steeped into some stuff for the sake of your kid, so the movie handles that incredibly well in that respect. It's not a horrible story, the location shoots are really cool, the cast is mighty good, I like the tense atmosphere as Jimmy tries to tiptoe through this world of spies, but you can easily tell the movie has aspects that can be improved. I'm now very interested to see the 1934 version also directed by Hitchcock to compare notes, and to see if the remake is actually better. Well as a devout cinema snob it is clearly obvious remakes are always inferior to the original. 2.5 stars, 7/10, here's hoping for better tomorrow.

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