Too Much -- Not Enough

Just before I switched my HBO subscription over to Showtime (bye-bye True Blood; hello Dexter) last month, I recorded a whole slew of movies I figured could become my new "Netflix instant queue" (since I switched to their disc-only plan). "While I'm waiting for a new disc in the mail, I'll watch one of these."

One of "one of these" was The Man Who Knew Too Much. It's another collaboration between director Alfred Hitchcock and actor James Stewart, and I'd say it falls on the continuum between Rope (which I rather liked) and Vertigo (which I really didn't). It follows a man vacationing in northern Africa with his family, who becomes drawn into a web of conspiracy involving a planned political assassination. It's sort of North by Northwest, with more child endangerment.

The biggest strike against the film, in my book, is the languid onset of the plot, as is typical of most classic movies. You're 30 minutes into the movie before it feels like the story even gets started. And once the plot does arrive, it doesn't entirely make sense. I'm still a little fuzzy about what people planning an assassination in London are doing in Africa. I'm even less clear about the reasons the conspirators are planning the assassination.

But the performances are pretty good. I've noted before how much more natural James Stewart seems than most actors of his era, and that believability really works to make him a sympathetic hero in this movie. His screen wife, Doris Day, isn't quite as strong, though her acting seems far closer to the style of the modern era than that of the 1950s.

Music is well incorporated into the film. Composer Bernard Herrmann enjoyed a long collaboration with Hitchcock, and the music in this film is more prominent and important than perhaps any other Hitchcock film outside of Psycho. The composer even gets an on-screen appearance, conducting a symphony orchestra.

Still, I can't really say the movie held my interest throughout. It's a hit and miss affair that works out to a C- in my book. You might want to check it out if you're a classic film enthusiast. But then again, if you are, you've probably already seen it.