Unlike most people I actually feel that "The Man
" is at its strongest in the Morocco sequences at the beginning of the film (particularly the wonderful restaurant sequence much of which seems have been ad-libbed but probably wasn't). Once the son of Stewart and Day has been kidnapped and they fly to London, the film becomes messy although the Albert Hall sequence is admittedly well executed.
Most of my criticisms of the film revolve around the plot (not to mention Day's interminable singing of Que Sera Sera), such as why does Louis Bernard (when he is dying) not tell James Stewart about the English couple (Mr & Mrs Drayton) but only tell them the name of the chapel in London where they live? I suppose the answer is because Stewart and Day would not have allowed Mrs Drayton to then take their son and there would have been no kidnap and no film. Also, the information that Stewart has about the assassination ceases to be important once he and Day confront the Draytons at the chapel and Day calls the police. At that point in the film Stewart has actually passed on everything he knows to the police, i.e. the name of the chapel and the fact that someone will be assassinated. Why do the kidnappers still need his son? He has nothing left to say.
With regard to the chapel itself, there is the ridiculous confusion regarding the name Ambrose Chapel. Any right thinking person would realise it is a place and not a person. Yet Stewart thinks Ambrose Chapel is a person and amazingly manages to find the name listed in the telephone directory (doctors in Indiana obviously don't have to be too bright). The film then goes through the pointless confrontation at the Taxidermists between Stewart and TWO men named Ambrose Chapel how stupid.
Notwithstanding these problems "The Man " is a decent film. Stewart puts in a very good performance (as always) and there are some nice scenes but this is well short of Hitchcock's best films and even some of his less regarded films such as "Rope". I haven't seen the original 1934 version of "The Man " so I don't know how it compares to the 1956 remake. The general consensus is that the remake is far superior if that's true I don't think I'll be rushing out to see the original any time soon, even if it does star Peter Lorre.
Most of my criticisms of the film revolve around the plot (not to mention Day's interminable singing of Que Sera Sera), such as why does Louis Bernard (when he is dying) not tell James Stewart about the English couple (Mr & Mrs Drayton) but only tell them the name of the chapel in London where they live? I suppose the answer is because Stewart and Day would not have allowed Mrs Drayton to then take their son and there would have been no kidnap and no film. Also, the information that Stewart has about the assassination ceases to be important once he and Day confront the Draytons at the chapel and Day calls the police. At that point in the film Stewart has actually passed on everything he knows to the police, i.e. the name of the chapel and the fact that someone will be assassinated. Why do the kidnappers still need his son? He has nothing left to say.
With regard to the chapel itself, there is the ridiculous confusion regarding the name Ambrose Chapel. Any right thinking person would realise it is a place and not a person. Yet Stewart thinks Ambrose Chapel is a person and amazingly manages to find the name listed in the telephone directory (doctors in Indiana obviously don't have to be too bright). The film then goes through the pointless confrontation at the Taxidermists between Stewart and TWO men named Ambrose Chapel how stupid.
Notwithstanding these problems "The Man " is a decent film. Stewart puts in a very good performance (as always) and there are some nice scenes but this is well short of Hitchcock's best films and even some of his less regarded films such as "Rope". I haven't seen the original 1934 version of "The Man " so I don't know how it compares to the 1956 remake. The general consensus is that the remake is far superior if that's true I don't think I'll be rushing out to see the original any time soon, even if it does star Peter Lorre.