The Man Who Knew Too Much

Marrakech, Morocco in Hitchcock’s The Man Who Knew Too Much is a setting where the ideology of control and the loss of control is examined. As Robin Wood explains in “The Men Who Knew Too Much (And the Women Who Knew Better),” the foreignness of Marrakech drives the plot, providing “the starting point for the entire action.” The McKenna family’s “alienness [is] stressed at every point,” from the juxtaposition of the well-dressed Ben awkwardly trying to find a sitting position in the Arabian restaurant, to Jo’s immediate, perhaps inherent, distrust of foreigners like Louis Bernard. These various misunderstandings and uncomfortable situations emphasize how the McKennas are far removed from their typical surroundings, and therefore, are more prone to losing control over their words and actions.

The events that transpire at the marketplace in Marrakech are an important turning point in the narrative of the film. However, before Louis Bernard’s shocking murder, Jo and Ben are shown walking past the stalls together, joking about how each of their financial investments can be represented as one of the many medical procedures Ben has undertaken (“All the way home, we’ll be riding on Herbie Taylor’s ulcers,” Ben says. “And Alida Markle’s asthma,” Jo adds). After laughing, Jo asks Ben, “What would they say if they heard us?” Ben answers, “You know, one of the reasons I came to a place like Marrakech so we could say things like that without everybody hearing it.” At this moment, Marrakech represents the McKennas’ fatal loss of control. The city is like the carnival in Strangers on a Train–a place where reason, logic, control, and self-restraint are abandoned, a free-for-all where everything is permissible. The McKennas’ unsettling jokes objectify how a doctor often holds people’s mortality in his hands. Moreover, the McKennas carelessly leave their son in the care of a woman they just met the day before. Even forceful attempts to maintain control, like Ben sedating Jo, are ineffective and disturbing. Marrakech, with its hot, crowded streets boasting everything from acrobatic spectacles to sewing machine lines, has an allure that is both appealing and threatening. The city’s distinct foreignness makes it the “carnival” of The Man Who Knew Too Much, the springboard for the chaos in the film.