Thursday, May 10, 2012

Random Hitchcock: The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)





This is Hitchcock's own remake of his own 1934 British effort, which I think is actually a much better film than this.  For me personally, this is my least favorite Hitchcock/Jimmy Stewart match up....and I'm really that big of a fan of Vertigo.  Hitch switches a few things up from his earlier version, namely the sex of the child (girl in the first, boy in this one), the profession and nationality of the parents and, of course, this in technicolor and the original film was naturally in black and white.  It's also a good deal longer than the original which makes it feel plodding...and NOBODY can replace Peter Lorre!  Then there is that damn song!  You cannot get away fro "Que Sera Sera!"--so just to be annoying, I've got embeded below....  Other than these, the plot is the same.  Wealthy parents inexplicably find that their child has been kidnapped after they are accidentally let in on an assassination plot.  The ransom for the child is that they do nothing to stop the shooting, otherwise it is their child who will be shot.  They struggle through the parental conundrum:  how can they have their cake and eat to....and save two lives instead of one??
















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