Doris Day Movie Recommendation #2

The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956; in color)- 2 hrs

Dr. Ben (James Stewart) and Jo McKenna (Doris Day) are spending their vacation in Morocco with their son (Christopher Olsen). Together they’re enjoying the sights, experiencing  the surrounding cultures, and meeting people along the way. An otherwise pleasant and normal vacation changes when they meet a mysterious Frenchman, Louis Bernard (Daniel Gélin). Before Bernard is shockingly murdered, he entrusts Ben with top-secret information about the planned assassination of a foreign statesman. Unwittingly swept into a world of espionage, murder, and intrigue, Ben and Jo are forced to withhold the information when their son is kidnapped.

In Hitchcock’s remake of his 1934 The Man Who Knew Too Much, Doris Day is perfect as the down-to-earth and determined Jo McKenna. How can she help but steal your heart away with her rendition of the simple but memorable song “Que Sera, Sera?” Ironically, Day didn’t think the Oscar-winning song would be a hit, and she didn’t like the initial choice. She was proved wrong, though, and it has now become the song most associated with her. She proved Hitchcock wrong, too, when she resisted portraying Jo as another piercing and  icy Hitchcock blonde. Perhaps this was unintentional. Regardless, what turns up on the screen is Day’s unbridled and innate soulfulness. You can see this quality in all of her films. It’s what makes her so memorable and enduring. In his article in “The Guardian,” novelist, journalist, and critic Philip Hensher maintains that this quality is what made Hitchcock’s second The Man Who Knew Too Much so special. “For once, at the very centre, is a figure of passionate humanity. Hitchcock perhaps allowed the rules of his game to be shattered for once by Day's marvellous presence; perhaps he had no alternative and was thoroughly defeated. As I say, he never used her again.”* I for one am certainly glad that he did this time!

*https://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/jun/17/favourite-hitchcock-film-man-who-knew-too-much

Availability: Youtube, Amazon, Googleplay, DVD, and Blu-ray.

• Purchase DVD: https://www.google.com/shopping/product/7090388663498881531?lsf=seller:8636635,store:16899788794400673187&prds=oid:933174397772817045&q=The+Man+Who+Knew+too+Much+dvd&hl=en&ei=tBBLXbm_Ncj85gKzn6ygDA&lsft=adlpxid:pla;646912470705;335483308941;c;9003967;placeholder;0025192830723;pla;local;2368,st:PLA,sid:BNB_ADL+LIA+Good+Media+-+Desktop+Low,sourceId:PLAGoNA,dpid:tdtve346c,2sid:Google_c&lsft=gclid:CjwKCAjw7anqBRALEiwAgvGgm4i8PV930dJJX5UfkaDagaNIQ0snUwcH1rullffEGkwp_LuMkE4dxxoCa_8QAvD_BwE

• Purchase Blu-ray: https://www.amazon.com/Man-Who-Knew-Much-Blu-ray/dp/B00BM7AA1Y/ref=asc_df_B00BM7AA1Y/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312241836172&hvpos=1o3&hvnetw=g&hvrand=11213304896556445652&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9003967&hvtargid=pla-571711901508&psc=1