Trivia for
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)

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• Director Cameo: [Alfred Hitchcock] in the Moroccan marketplace watching the acrobats with his back to the camera just before the murder.
  
  
• 'Herrmann, Bernard' (the composer of the score) can be seen conducting the orchestra during the Albert Hall sequence.
  
  
• The plot calls for a man (Daniel Gélin in the role of Louis Bernard) to be discovered as "not Moroccan" because he was wearing black makeup. The makeup artists couldn't find a black substance that would come off easily, and so they painted the fingers of the other man (Jimmy Stewart) white, so that he would leave pale streaks on the other man's skin (according to Patricia Hitchcock, this idea was suggested by Daniel Gélin).
  
  

• The Albert Hall sequence lasts 12 minutes without a single word of dialogue and consists of 124 shots.
  
  
• The film was unavailable for decades because its rights (together with four other pictures of the same period) were bought back by Alfred Hitchcock and left as part of his legacy to his daughter. They've been known for long as the infamous "Five lost Hitchcocks" amongst film buffs, and were re-released in theatres around 1984 after a 30-year absence. The others are Rear Window (1954), Rope (1948), The Trouble with Harry (1955), and Vertigo (1958).
  
  
• Alfred Hitchcock previously filmed this story as The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934).
  
  
• The movie was originally to be produced by the studio and Patron, Inc., a company to be jointly owned by actors 'James Stewart" and 'Doris Day' , along with producer-director Alfred Hitchcock. When the film finally went before the cameras, however, the production company was Filwite Productions, Inc., which was co-owned by Hitchcock and Stewart. It has not been determined why Day was not included in the final production deal.
  
  
• In 1965, Alfred Hitchcock and 'James Stewart" had filed suit against Paramount for $4,000,000, arguing that their eight-year agreement with the studio had ended and that Paramount had breached their copyright by televising the film. The director and actor also requested that the film's original negative be returned to them by the studio. The final disposition of this lawsuit has not been determined, but the film remained out of commercial distribution for many years.
  
  
• Conductor Bernard Herrmann plays himself on-screen. He's not listed as such in the credits, but his name can be seen on the poster play bill when Doris Day exits the taxi at Albert Hall. All the names on the poster play bill are those of the performers of the "Cantata Storm Clouds" : the London Symphony Orchestra, Barbara Howitt (mezzo-soprano) and the Covent Garden Opera Chorus.
  
  
• When she first heard this film's Oscar-winning tune "Que Sera, Sera", Doris Day refused to record it, calling it "a forgettable children's song." It not only won the Academy Award, but went on to become the biggest hit of her recording career.
  
  
• Throughout the filming, Doris Day became increasingly concerned that Alfred Hitchcock paid more attention to camera setups, lighting and technical matters than he did to her performance. Convinced that he was displeased with her work, she finally confronted him. His reply was, "My dear Miss Day, if you weren't giving me what I wanted, *then* I would have to direct you!"
  
  
• It was during the making of this film, when she saw how camels, goats and other "animal extras" in a marketplace scene were being treated, that Doris Day began her lifelong commitment to preventing animal abuse.
  
  
• The crucial concert piece for the Albert Hall sequence was the same piece composed by Arthur Benjamin specifically for the original 1934 version of the film. Alfred Hitchcock offered 'Bernard Herrmann' the opportunity to compose a new work for the scene, but Herrmann chose not to, citing an appreciation of the original cantata.
  
  
• Many of the Moroccan extras had been mistakenly informed that they would only be paid if they were actually visible in the film. This led to a lot of pushing and shoving to get close to the camera until the crew explained to them that they would be paid no matter what.
  
  
• The aeroplane shown in this film (G-AMOF) was a Viscount 701 owned by BEA.
  
  
• In a 1994 interview available on the liner notes of a Rhino compilation of Oscar winning songs, songwriter 'Jay Livingstone' says that he came across the phrase “Que Sera Sera” in the movie The Barefoot Contessa (1954), when Rossano Brazzi shows Ava Gardner his house, and she sees the inscription “Que Sera Sera” on the gate. He tells her that is the family motto, and it means 'Whatever will be, will be'.
  
  

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