Production
Alfred Hitchcock first considered an American remake of The Man Who Knew Too Much in 1941, but only brought back the idea in 1956, to make a film that would fulfill a contractual demand from Paramount Pictures. The studio agreed it was a picture that could be well-adapted to the new decade. Screenwriter John Michael Hayes was hired on the condition that he would not watch the early version or read its script, with all the plot details coming from a briefing with Hitchcock. Only the opening scenes of the script were ready when filming begun, and Hayes had to send by airmail the subsequent script pages as he finished them.
Hitchcock again brought James Stewart to be his protagonist as he was considering the actor a creative partner, and Paramount wanted a sense of continuity between his works. The director requested blonde Doris Day for the main female role as he liked her performance in Storm Warning, though associate producer Herbert Coleman was reluctant on Day, whom he only knew as a singer. Coleman strongly suggested that the more serious blonde actresses like Lana Turner, Grace Kelly, or Kim Novak be cast in the role, or a suitable brunette, like Jane Russell, Gene Tierney, or Ava Gardner. However, Day was eventually cast in the female lead.
The film started its principal photography on location in Marrakesh, where the schedule had to be changed so the Marrakesh shoot did not coincide with Ramadan. Day was shocked by the health of the local animals, prompting her to only accept filming once the studio set up an animal-feeding station in Marrakesh. Afterwards, production moved to London, with external shots, and the interiors of both the taxidermist shop and the Royal Albert Hall. Once the external shoots were finished, the other interiors – which included a replica of most of the Albert Hall – were shot in the Paramount soundstages in Los Angeles. The Albert Hall sequence drew some inspiration from H. M. Bateman's comic "The One-Note Man", which followed the daily life of a musician who only plays one note in a symphony, similarly to the cymbal player in the film.
Read more about this topic: The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956 Film)
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