There are two versions of this film, both made by Alfred
Hitchcock. The first was filmed in 1934, and the second in 1956. The
two movies apparently differ quite dramatically in the details and
style (for one, the first is in black and white, the second is in
technicolor). Since I have only seen the 1956 version, I shall limit
myself to that one, and someone else can fill in the details for the
1934 version.
Plot Summary (1956)
A couple on vacation in Morocco with their young son run
afoul of an assassination plot. When the father learns of the plot from
a man who has just been shot, the couples son is kidnapped and held to
prevent the parents from going to the authorities with the
information.
Actors
James Stewart .... Doctor Ben McKenna
Doris Day .... Jo McKenna
Brenda De Banzie .... Lucy Drayton
Bernard Miles .... Mr. Drayton
Ralph Truman .... Buchanan
Daniel Gelin .... Louis Bernard
Mogens Wieth .... Ambassador
Alan Mowbray .... Val Parnell
Hillary Brooke .... Jan Peterson
Christopher Olsen .... Hank McKenna
Reggie Nalder .... The Assassin
Richard Wattis .... Assistant Manager
Noel Willman .... Woburn
Alix Talton .... Helen Parnell
Yves Brainville .... Police Inspector
Cast list courtesy of imdb.com.
Opinion
This film intrigued me enough when it aired late one night on CBC
that I resolved to rent it (I was too tired to watch it at the time). I
thought it was quite a good movie. I found most of the acting quite
good, but Doris Day's hysteria when she is told that her son has been
kidnapped is... annoyingly done. The suspense that builds as James
Stewart goes to visit the wrong Ambrose Chapel is quite well done
though.
The other thing that annoyed me about this film is the friends that
come to visit the McKenna's at their hotel room in London. The
McKenna's take off to get their son back and foil the assassination
plot, and when they return, the friend are all still there, sleeping
on the chairs and sofas. Really now, if people you came to see were
gone so long that you were going to fall asleep in their hotel room,
wouldn't you go and do something more interesting? It does give James
Stewart a nice closing line though, and it really isn't a big deal
anyway.
Another reviewer on IMDB mentioned that the sound and picture were
of rather poor quality, but I didn't notice this. Perhaps my "home
theater" isn't good enough to detect such flaws, or perhaps I
subconsciously chalked such imperfections up to the character of the
film. Overall, I would give The Man Who Knew Too Much eight out of ten.