- Sun Screens
To inaugurate our SUN SCREENS, Palace is delighted to invite you to a special screening of THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH. To get our summer festivities off to a flying start, Jean-Pierre Verscheure, curator and specialist in the history of cinema techniques and director Nabil Ben Yadir (Les barons) will be on hand to present Alfred Hitchcock’s 1956 film.
The film will be shown in 35mm copy !
Alfred Hitchcock shot “The Man Who Knew Too Much” for Paramount in 1956 at a time when every major film company was trying to introduce the best sound and image process. Paramount offered Hitchcock VistaVision, the true high-definition process of the time. Hitchcock fell in love with it and imposed it when he left Paramount for MGM to make “North by Northwest”. For colour, Paramount worked with the Technicolor laboratories. For sound, Paramount opted for “Dimensional Sound”, a variant of the Perspecta Sound system. It was the forerunner of today’s Dolby stereo. Under Hitchcock’s control, it was skilfully used to intensify the dramatic atmosphere at key moments in the story. The musical sequence at the Albert Hall will go down as one of cinema’s finest moments of suspense, where the relationship between content and form is intensified by the 5-channel stereophonic sound process.
For the first time since its release in New York in 1956, the Palace cinema in Brussels has equipped itself with the sound system of the time and will be showing the film in its original form in VistaVision, Technicolor and Dimensional Sound. A great moment of cinematic heritage to discover!
– Jean-Pierre Verscheure
US, 120′, 1956, VO EN ST FR
Synopsis: On holiday in Morocco with his wife and son, Dr McKenna meets a Frenchman who is murdered before their very eyes the day after they meet. A few days later, their son is abducted. They have to investigate.