The Man Who Knew Too Much

The Man Who Knew Too Much
Paramount, 1956, Color, 120 minutes
Released April, 1956 (France)
Released June, 1956 (USA)

Dr. Ben McKenna, his wife Jo and their son Hank are on a touring holiday of Africa when they meet the mysterious Louis Bernard on a bus. The next day Bernard is murdered in the local marketplace, but before he dies he manages to reveal details of an assassination about to take place in London. Fearing that their plot will be revealed, the assassins kidnap Hank in order to keep the McKenna's silent. Ben and Jo go to London and take matters into their own hands.

Of course this is not a musical, but it is the movie for which the song "Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera Sera)" was written. Doris Day sings it here for the first time. The song would become her signature song. And the music plays an important - if not essential - role in the film's climax.

Producer: Alfred Hitchcock
Associate Producer: Herbert Coleman
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Screenplay: Angus McPhail, John Michael Hayes
(based on a story by Charles Bennett and D. B. Wyndham-Lewis)
Original Song Score: Ray Evans and Jay Livingston
Background Score: Bernard Herrmann
Art Direction: Henry Bumstead, Hal Pereira
Set Decoration: Sam Comer, Arthur Krams
Cinematography: Robert Burks
Editor: George Tomasini

Cast: James Stewart [Dr. Ben McKenna], Doris Day [Jo McKenna], Brenda de Banzie [Lucy Drayton], Bernard Miles [Edward 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 [Rien], Richard Wattis [Assistant Manager], Noel Willman [Woburn], Alix Talton [Helen Parnell], Yves Brainville [Police Inspector], Carolyn Jones [Cindy Fontaine], Bess Flowers [Albert Hall Attendee], Alfred Hitchcock [Cameo as Man in Morocco Marketplace]

Musical Program: Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be) (sung by Doris Day and Christopher Olsen in Hotel Room); Storm Cloud Cantata (At Albert Hall - sung by Covent Garden Choir, Solist Barbara Hewitt, with the London Symphony Orchestra Conducted by Bernard Herrmann); Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be) (Doris Day at Embassy); We'll Love Again (sung by Doris Day in background at Embassy)