Posted on 01/31/2026 3:58:29 PM PST by Twotone
Sometimes momentum counts for more than we imagine in creative careers. James Stewart, Hitchcock's preferred leading man during much of this period, had started the decade with a series of westerns directed by Anthony Mann (Winchester '73, Bend of the River, The Naked Spur, The Far Country, The Man from Laramie) that have passed the test of time as genre classics. And nothing becomes an American legend more than playing legendary Americans like Glenn Miller (The Glenn Miller Story) and Charles Lindbergh (The Spirit of St. Louis).
But the secret weapon would turn out to be Stewart's leading lady in The Man Who Knew Too Much. Doris Day arrived in Hollywood as a band singer recruited for her voice and wholesome good looks, and made a string of films for Warner Bros. that made it look like she was coasting on these two attributes – nearly a decade of perky fluff punctuated by one notable dramatic role as a Klan member's wife in Storm Warning (1950). But her performance as Ruth Etting in Love Me or Leave Me proved what she was capable of – and provided Hitchcock with a gift he didn't anticipate.
You could argue that The Man Who Knew Too Much was the director coasting on his momentum – the only remake in his whole career, of a film he made in 1934, a highlight of his career in Britain and the beginning of a string of thrillers that would make his reputation and send him to Hollywood just as war descended on Britain: The 39 Steps (1935), Secret Agent and Sabotage (both 1936), Young and Innocent (1937) and The Lady Vanishes (1938).
(Excerpt) Read more at steynonline.com ...
It is indeed a great movie.
L
Classy lady.
Heard an interview with her where she talked about shooting North by Northwest - fascinating stuff.
Hitchcock got #METOOed by Tippi Hedren as she jumped on the bandwagon. Unfortunately he couldn’t tell his side of the story.
Tippi Hedren’s Alfred Hitchcock Abuse Allegations — Learn More After Dakota Johnson Resurfaces Claims
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By Benjamin VanHoose
Peoples, November 15, 2021 01:12PM EST
I almost always like a book better than a movie, but I agree with you on this one. :)
Her rendition of the song was the audification of enormous ignorance.
Don’t know about this movie, but I have enjoyed “The Man Who Knew Too Little.”
“Birds”-era Tippi had it going on in a huge way.
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