Surprisingly incoherent and boring

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Admirable film.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

I hadn't seen it since I was in college. I remembered it like a fun, absurd movie. Now in 2018 what hit me the most was the wife played by Doris Day. She is spectacular and the absurdity becomes totally real just by looking at her. James Stewart is great of course but he seems to be the foil here rather than the center that keeps us connected to that essential leap of faith. The scene in which he gives her the tranquilizers before telling her the terrible news. What Doris Day manages to do with her character is extraordinary. Brenda de Banzie is a terrific villainess and Bernard Herrmann's score another major plus. I'm sure that even my grandchildren's grandchildren will talk about The Man Who Knew Too Much and about Doris Day.

The only remake by 'Master of Suspense' Alfred Hitcock. Although superior in almost every way (except the lack of Peter Lorre) Hitchcock himself preferred his original 1934 film. Compared to Hitchcock's other works 'The Man Who Knew Too Much' (both of the actually) are rather overlooked or even forgotten.James Stewart and Doris Day star as a wedded couple who are on vacation in Morocco with their son. After witnessing a murder of their acquaintance and kidnapping of their son, the lovely middle class family will be drawn into dangerous world of espionage. Pretty basic Hitchcock formula, but not disappointing by one bit. James Stewart give another brilliant performance and his chemistry with Doris Day really carries the film along. The film starts slowly and good part of the first quarter we see just nice family vacationing, but that gives us enough time to really get to know the main characters, and this adds even more thrills to the action sequences. The pace and tension winds up faster and faster until it finishes with (probably one of Hitch's finest scenes) amazing scene in Albert Hall - 12 minutes of pure tension without single word of dialogue.'The Man Who Knew Too Much' is kind off film that by the end is much better than you expected it to be when you were half way through it.

I was shocked and disappointed by the many negative reactions among the recent user reviews of this film, Hitchcock's only remake of one of his own works. No film is perfect and many successful suspense movies have holes in their plots, as this one does, but these lapses had no impact on my overall appreciation for this one-of-a-kind remake. I liked the original version as well, which featured an unforgettable female protagonist, played by Edna Best, who was a sharp shooter rather than a professional singer, and an early setting in Switzerland rather than Morocco. One reviewer here went so far as to claim that the first half of this version was NOT produced on location in Morocco. Then where was the first half filmed? Dearborn, Michigan?In spite of several plot holes and a generally weak, if not lame, script, the excellent direction, the solid camera work, the fascinating location scenes in both Marrakech and in London, and the wonderful work by leads James Stewart and Doris Day overcome all of the obvious weaknesses. Stewart's performance alone is worth watching as he runs the entire gamut of emotions from start to finish. His awkwardness and physical discomfort at the Moroccan restaurant, and the gradual discovery that his son has been kidnapped are examples of his very natural and superb acting. The scene in the taxidermy shop was hilarious. Remember the stuffed birds in the office of Norman Bates? Very Hitchcockian, eh? Hitchcock picked Day for the role of Jo McKenna when he saw her in "Storm Warning", one of her few dramatic roles. Considering her good work in both dramas and in films such as "Love Me Or Leave Me", it's a pity that she didn't appear in more substantial films. As much as I love her, many of her films were just plain silly, and she clearly had much more potential than most of the nonsensical work that had been thrown at her. Jo's anguished reaction to son Hank's kidnapping was quite convincing. In real life, Day decided to commit herself to the cause of animal welfare when she observed how cruelly the animals were treated on the Moroccan set of this film. Among the plot lapses was the McKennas' decision to leave Hank with strangers in a totally unfamiliar and foreign place such as Marrakech, Morocco. I was seven years old in 1956, and my parents would have never done that even during those far more innocent times and in far more familiar locales. I also didn't understand why the thugs didn't decide to kill Ben McKenna after the worshipers left the chapel. If the object of the kidnapping was to make sure that Ben wouldn't reveal the assassination plot, their problem would have been instantly solved, and they were certainly ruthless enough to knock him off right then and there. Then came "Que Sera Sera", a song that I detest, and if that didn't ruin the film, nothing else could, including twelve, long minutes of a lackluster classical piece at Albert Hall that should have been shortened significantly. As to Bernard Herrmann's musical score, it sounds very similar to his music in Hitchcock's other classics "North By Northwest" and "Vertigo" with very little variation. Speaking of "Vertigo", does Miss Day's gray suit look at all familiar to you? And I am sorry that I missed the director's trademark cameo appearance at the market in Marrakech, but I'll try again during the next viewing, and there surely will be another opportunity because, regardless of its many imperfections, I still love this movie as well as the original 1934 version.

I am a big fan of Hitchcock but this is far from his best work (Vertigo, Rear Window, North by Northwest, Psycho, Rebecca, The Lady Vanishes, 39 Steps, Foreign Correspondent, Young and Innocent and Notorious).It has some interesting sequences, such as the murder of a spy in a crowded square but not before he passes a message to Dr McKenna (Stewart); the Draytons' unexpected abduction of Hank; the doctor medicating his wife so she is not too taken aback by her son's abduction; Day singing "Que sera, sera"; and the nicely wrapped up and humorous ending, in contrast with the rather dull dialogue that pervades the entire film (Dr McKenna saying that his son can spell difficult words but stumbles with a word like dog, is a really corny attempt at humor).I found the famous Albert Hall sequence a damp squib. The orchestra plays for too long a not very interesting musical piece, and the would-be killer turning his gun at the moment of shooting requires far too much suspension of disbelief (not to mention that no human eyes, not even Day's beautiful blue eyes, could spot a gun protruding from behind dark curtains some quite considerable distance away, in a crowded Albert Hall).The original, 1934 version, also did not amount to much, with only Peter Lorre's darkly menacing voice standing out in my memory, but the 1956 version is much too long by at least 20 minutes and, frankly, I have never understood why Hitch went back to such turgid material. Worse than this only Stage Fright, Topaz and Under Capricorn. A distinctly average 5/10.