The plot
Doctor Ben McKenna (James Stewart), his wife Joséphine (Doris Day) and their son Hank (Christophe Olsen) travel to Morocco and befriend a Frenchman, Louis Bernard (Daniel Gélin), whom they witness to 'assassination. Shortly before dying, the Frenchman gave them a secret about a future attack in London, before their son was kidnapped. It is the starting point of this famous thriller by Alfred Hitchcock, also known for the song that interprets Doris Day, Que sera sera , one of the most famous refrains of the 7th art awarded with an Oscar in 1957.
Also read: Disappearance of Doris Day: What will, will be , the story of a planetary hit for 50 years
The decor that we remember
Jemmaa el-Fna square today, very different from what it was in 1955. Eleven studio - stock.adobe.com
It is obviously Marrakech the star of the film, even if a number of scenes were shot in the studio. Thanks to the friendship which linked the French director of Paramount and the pasha of the ocher city, Thami El Glaoui, the shooting can take place before Ramadan begins. It began on May 13, 1955 and the scenes shot in natural surroundings were completed ten days later, on May 23, in an atmosphere of total distrust. The army posted on the roofs ensures the security of filming in the medina and on the route taken in the film by the bus which crosses Bab El Khemis, the bazaar of Marrakech, and in front of which parade historic places of the red city, like Jemmaa el-Fna square.
In this Morocco that Hitchcock films, Westerners are rare, just like cars. Dr. McKenna's family chooses La Mamounia as their residence. The hotel, opened in 1925, has not yet benefited from the renovation initiated by King Mohamed V (father of Hassan II) a few years later. Originally, it is so luxurious that it is necessary to bring its furniture there and that one prefers rather long stays there. Finally, it is said that Doris Day, horrified by the ill-treatment suffered by the animals on the set, decided upon her return to the United States to create the Doris Day Animal Foundation.
Read also: What to visit in Marrakech, from Majorelle to the Secret Garden
In the footsteps of filming
If we make an exception from the pasteboard side of certain studio decorations, specific to the cinema of the time, the Marrakech that Alfred Hitchcock shows us is all the more interesting since the city knew nothing about mass tourism. However, all the icons we celebrate today are present, Jemmaa el-Fna and Bab El Khemis, therefore, but also the fortified gate of Bab Doukkala (north-west of the medina), considered to be the one of the oldest in the city. La Mamounia, which imposed the first codes of western luxury in this impoverished Maghreb of the 1950s, remains today a benchmark for the world hotel industry.
But you have to watch this film while remembering that at the time of filming, Morocco was not an independent kingdom but a French protectorate. However, when Alfred Hitchcock stages himself at the 24th minute of the film, observing the acrobats in Jemmaa el-Fna square, we can say that nothing has changed. And that from the point of view of tourist development of the red city, The man who knew too much … says a lot.
Go
It takes a three hour flight to reach Marrakech from France. Royal Air Maroc, Transavia, JetairFly, Ryanair and EasyJet provide transfers from Paris and all the major cities in France.
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) by Alfred Hitchcock with James Stewart and Doris Day. Sunday May 17 at 8:55 p.m. on Arte (replay Tuesday May 19 at 1:35 p.m. on Arte).