The Man Who Knew Too Much

Actors:  Doris Day, James Stewart, Brenda de Banzie, Bernard Miles, Daniel Gelin
Rating: 7 out of 10, The final movie of my Doris Day fascination with the added bonus of Jimmie Stewart and Alfred Hitchcock.  This was an interesting look back at tourism in the 1950’s when you could take a jaunt to Morocco and not get blown up.  Stewart plays a Midwestern doctor who somehow is married to a Broadway star (the 50’s were different).  While vacationing in Morocco they become embroiled in a planned London assassination and their son is kidnapped to prevent them from revealing what they know.  I was struck by how innocent the whole thing was.  Nowadays the whole family would have been whacked.  The movie had all of Hitchcock’s fascinating camera shots and of course his obligatory cameo (always fun to watch for).  Stewart and Day were an interesting couple who didn’t have a lot of on screen chemistry but were both superb actors.  Hitch must have liked Day’s rendition of Que Sera, Sera because it becomes a central plot point and is now firmly stuck in my head for the foreseeable future (I was singing it to the dog this morning – talk about animal cruelty).  I enjoyed the movie more for the innocence of the age and Hitch’s subtle jabs at society in general – a good watch.
MVP:  Stewart as Dr Benjamin McKenna chasing spies and assassins