James Stewart and Doris Day are a family on vacation in Morocco where they encounter a mysterious Frenchman in a bus, an English couple in their hotel, a stabbing in the Square in Marrakesh and their son being kidnapped.
They find themselves in an assassination plot as events shift to London and ultimately to a finale at the Albert Hall and then an embassy of an unnamed country.
This colour version of a film is a remake of Hitchcock's earlier work and was shot on location in Morocco and London but the constant filmed backdrops is off putting. At first I thought the film was shot in a Hollywood back-lot but it really is Marrakesh.
The film takes time to get going as we have scenes establishing Muslim culture in Marrakesh such as how to eat local cuisine before the mystery starts to unravel.
Both Stewart and Day are convincing as the anguished couple especially Stewart who quickly works out what happened to them in Morocco and the couple decide to investigate with the clues they have in search for their son.
Maybe the mystery that leads to them finding their son and even taking them to the assassination is rather easily done when they seem to be getting no help from the police and rather punctures the tension.
Bernard Herrmann appears as himself in the Albert Hall sequence where the assassination attempt is linked to a concert but the film just does not hang together so well. Like the constant mixing of location filming and backdrop footage the film comes across jarring.
They find themselves in an assassination plot as events shift to London and ultimately to a finale at the Albert Hall and then an embassy of an unnamed country.
This colour version of a film is a remake of Hitchcock's earlier work and was shot on location in Morocco and London but the constant filmed backdrops is off putting. At first I thought the film was shot in a Hollywood back-lot but it really is Marrakesh.
The film takes time to get going as we have scenes establishing Muslim culture in Marrakesh such as how to eat local cuisine before the mystery starts to unravel.
Both Stewart and Day are convincing as the anguished couple especially Stewart who quickly works out what happened to them in Morocco and the couple decide to investigate with the clues they have in search for their son.
Maybe the mystery that leads to them finding their son and even taking them to the assassination is rather easily done when they seem to be getting no help from the police and rather punctures the tension.
Bernard Herrmann appears as himself in the Albert Hall sequence where the assassination attempt is linked to a concert but the film just does not hang together so well. Like the constant mixing of location filming and backdrop footage the film comes across jarring.