THE JOURNAL OF FILM MUSIC Volume 1, Number 2/3, Pages 217-238 ISSN 1087-7142 Copyright © 2003 The International Film Music Society, Inc. Grand Illusion: The “Storm Cloud” Music in Hitchcock’s The Man Who Knew Too Much JAMES WIERZBICKI he films of Alfred 1956 treatments of the so-called stumble upon an assassination Hitchcock are notable in “Storm Cloud Cantata” of Arthur plot and who, prodded not so Tgeneral for their effective Benjamin are hardly identical, and much by moral duty as by the fact use of music not just as underscore a comparative analysis suggests a that their child has been kidnapped but as dramatically meaningful pair of arguments that hitherto by the would-be assassins, attempt elements contained within the have gone unstated in the litera- to foil that plot. In the 1934 black- films’ narratives.1 In the Hitchcock ture on film music. First of all, in and-white version, Leslie Banks filmography, however, one title terms of compositional structure and Edna Best star as the belea- stands out for its association with the original version of the cantata guered couple and Peter Lorre, in a musical composition whose on- is by far superior to its 1956 revi- his debut in an English-language screen performance is central to sion. Secondly, the realization of film, portrays the leader of the the plot and serves as the focal the cantata’s theatrical potential is villains. In the 1956 Technicolor point of an extended scene. For limited to the 1934 film; like the remake the father is played by historical reasons, too, this title villains who appear in the opening James Stewart; the mother is fairly leaps off the page: The first scenes of both versions of The Man played by Doris Day, who in the version of The Man Who Knew Too Who Knew Too Much, the “Storm 1950s was famous not just as an Much was released in 1934, and the Cloud Cantata” is not at all what it actress but also as a singer. Appro- 1956 remake represents the only purports to be, but only in its priately, Day’s character in the instance of the director revisiting original form does the music con- remake is a retired star of musical an earlier project. vincingly work its grand illusion. theater, and she is given a song— Considering how different are “Que Sera, Sera” (Whatever Will the details of their screenplays, it Be, Will Be”)3 —that is introduced seems at the very least interesting The Plot(s) early in the film and which later that the two films draw the pro- figures in the rescue of the kid- pulsive power of their climactic In both versions of The Man napped child. episodes from a single piece of Who Knew Too Much, the intrigue2 As closely linked as it is with source music. But the 1934 and concerns a husband and wife who the newer and better-known ver- 1The most complete account of Hitchcock’s use of 1982); Fred Steiner, “Herrmann’s ‘Black and 1922 G.K. Chesterton novella of the same title. It music within the narratives of his films is found White’ Music for Hitchcock’s Psycho,” Filmmusic originated with Hitchcock but was inspired by in Elisabeth Weis, The Silent Scream: Alfred Notebook 1, no. 1 (fall 1974) and 1, no. 2 (winter the protagonist of Sapper’s “Bulldog Drum- Hitchcock’s Sound Track (Rutherford, NJ: Associ- 1974-75); and (regarding Bernard Herrmann’s mond” stories (Sapper was the nom de plume of ated University Presses, 1982), and source music score for The Trouble With Harry) David Hector McNeil). François Truffaut, Hitchcock, (“diegetic” music) is the subject of a chapter in Neumeyer and James Buhler, “Analytical and trans. François Truffaut (New York: Simon & Susan Smith, Hitchcock: Suspense, Humour and Interpretive Approaches to Film Music (I): Schuster, 1984), 87. Tone (London: British Film Institute, 2000). For Analyzing the Music,” in Film Music: Critical 3Penned by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans in analyses of underscores, see Royal S. Brown, Approaches, K.J. Donnelly, ed. (Edinburgh: advance of their involvement with the film, “Que “Herrmann, Hitchcock, and the Music of the Edinburgh University Press, 2001). Sera, Sera” (“Whatever Will Be, Will Be”) in 1957 Irrational,” Cinema Journal 21, no. 2 (Spring 2The story bears no relationship to that of the won the Academy Award for “Best Original Song in a Motion Picture.” 218 THE JOURNAL OF FILM MUSIC sion4 of The Man Who Knew Too the precise workings of the assassi- the extent to which a composer Much, “Que Sera, Sera” functions nation plot, the plot’s details are might be asked to provide an un- primarily as a useful prop for Day’s revealed to the film’s audience: derscore to heighten a film’s character; it has no counterpart— The killing is to take place during dramatic effect. Naturally, then, musical or otherwise—in the a gala concert at the Royal Albert there are many differences be- earlier film. At least in a general Hall, and so that its noise go unno- tween the original 1934 version of sense, however, two other bits of ticed the shot is to be fired The Man Who Knew Too Much and source music are common to both simultaneous with the cymbal the 1956 remake. But the basic plot versions of the film. One of these is crash that marks a loud cadence in for both films is as described a hymn that is sung discordantly the program’s featured work. For above, with the most suspenseful by the congregation of the reli- one reason or another, the wife scene centered on the performance gious venue that serves as the finds herself at the Albert Hall; in of a choral-orchestral work that “front” for the villains; in both the lobby she encounters the gun- contains a musical cue for murder. films, the father of the kidnapped man, whom she recognizes from child finds his way to this venue in the family vacation. She figures The 1934 Cantata: Context the company of a partner, and he out what is happening, but only as communicates his observations by the performance transpires. Dur- singing them to the tune of the ing the pregnant silence just before Remembered today primarily hymn.5 The other piece of source the cadence that contains the for his 1938 Jamaican Rumba for music—far more substantial, and gunman’s cue, the wife interrupts two pianos and orchestra and his much more crucial to the drama— the music with a scream, and this 1953 Harmonica Concerto, Arthur is the cantata around which the causes the gunman’s shot to go Benjamin was a much-honored 9 films’ climactic scenes are built. astray. Much excitement ensues;7 composer and, in the 1930s, an Regarding the cantata, the eventually the villains are defeated important contributor of music for story-line common to both ver- and the kidnapped child is res- films. Born in Australia in 1893, he sions of The Man Who Knew Too cued.8 moved to London in 1911 to study Much here warrants embellish- In terms of cinematic tech- composition with Charles Villiers ment. A married couple, on nology, the differences between Stanford, piano with Frederic vacation with their child,6 acciden- 1934 and 1956 are of course huge. Cliffe, and counterpoint with Tho- tally come across information Technicolor has already been men- mas Dunhill at the Royal College regarding a political assassination tioned, but in the decades that of Music. After service in World 10 that is supposed to happen in separate the two films there were War I he returned to Australia to London. The villains know only advances as well in the recording teach piano at the New South that the husband, in particular, has and mixing of dialogue, sound Wales State Conservatorium of learned something about the scheme; effects, and music. Between the Music. In 1921 he returned to En- rather than risk exposure, to en- 1930s and 1950s there were also gland and spent the next several sure silence they kidnap the major changes in the styles of years furthering his career as a couple’s child. Whereas the hus- screenwriting and screen acting, in pianist. In 1926 he was appointed band and wife remain unaware of the lengths of feature films, and in professor of piano at the RCM, 4Along with Hitchcock’s Rear Window, The Trouble dating back at least to 1791) is “The Portents.” In the 1956 remake, the plot unravels at the With Harry, Rope, and Vertigo, the 1956 version of 6The 1934 film features a British couple who in embassy of the unnamed nation whose prime The Man Who Knew Much was re-released for the opening scene are on holiday in Switzerland minister was the assassin’s target; the kidnapped theatrical showing in the mid-1980s and since with their teenage daughter; in the 1956 film the child, alerted by his mother’s singing of “Que then has had much exposure on television. The couple is American, vacationing in Morocco with Sera, Sera,” is rescued by his father. license for the 1934 version of The Man Who Knew their apparently ten- or eleven-year-old son. 9Benjamin’s awards include the British Arts Too Much was withdrawn when the remake went 7In the 1934 film, the gunman escapes the crime Council Prize (1951), the Festival of Britain into production; it was re-licensed for television scene; in the 1956 film, he falls to his death from Opera Competition Prize (1953, for The Tale of showing only in 1999.