Hitchcock may have been a technical genius who made some of the most analyzed films in cinema history, but he also understood the most basic tenet of a film – that it be entertaining. It’s the classic Hitchcockian formula, combining the usual motifs of deception, mistaken identity, and the all-important MacGuffin (in this case, the dying words of a secret agent) to create a suspense-heavy melodrama for which the silver screen was invented. While both versions of The Man Who Knew Too Much feature sizeable differences, the outline remains the same: A happily married couple vacationing in a foreign country becomes embroiled in a global conspiracy after learning of an assassination plot against a European politician, and vow to take matters into their own hands after their child is kidnapped to ensure their compliance. Image via Gaumont-British Picture Corporation
Enter, The Man Who Knew Too Much, a pair of suspense thrillers released twenty-two years apart that marked the only time when the revered director would recycle a premise across his illustrious six decades in the business. Either way, it’s an experiment that is never boring – especially when it’s being conducted by none other than the “Master of Suspense” himself, Alfred Hitchcock. Takedown as his magnum opus, Heat) or as a means of reframing the themes of the original to make them even more profound (as Michael Haneke demonstrated with Funny Games, his 2007 shot-for-shot remake of his 1997 film of the same name). The reason for such endeavors varies wildly, ranging from trying to unleash an idea’s true potential after it had previously been squandered (such as Michael Mann reconfiguring L.A.
Of course, remakes themselves are nothing unusual, but taking it upon yourself to retell a story you’ve already told is bound to elicit curiosity.
It’s always an interesting prospect when a director remakes their own film.
0 kommentar(er)
