Reception
Reviews for the film were generally positive, although some critics expressed a preference for the 1934 original. Bosley Crowther of The New York Times wrote: "James Stewart tops his job in Rear Window as the man who knows too much, and Doris Day is surprisingly effective as the mother who is frantic about her child ... Even in mammoth VistaVision, the old Hitchcock thriller-stuff has punch." Variety wrote that, while Hitchcock draws "the footage out a bit long at 119 minutes, he still keeps suspense working at all times and gets strong performances from the two stars and other cast members."
Harrison's Reports called the film a "highly exciting and entertaining suspense thriller" that "grips the audience from start to finish." Richard L. Coe of The Washington Post also liked the film, calling it "a dandy of its popular kind" if "a wee bit too leisurely." John McCarten of The New Yorker wrote in a negative review saying that while the remake was "unquestionably bigger and shinier than the original, it doesn't move along with anything like the agility of its predecessor. There can be no doubt, of course, that Mr. Hitchcock at one time was a master of celluloid suspense, but increasingly of late he has been turning out movies that are too overweight to indulge in the tricks of his salad days."
The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Although a quite entertaining thriller, with some characteristically shrewd and caustic Hitchcock touches, it is likely to disappoint devotees of the first film. It lacks the earlier pace and excitement; the peculiarly English charm of the original has been exchanged for a vague VistaVision and Technicolor cosmopolitanism; the dentist episode and the siege climax are unhappily missing." C. A. Lejeune of The Observer wrote that the plot had "a tendency to meander" with "jokes that may have looked more humorous in typescript," concluding that the film was "strong" as long as it stuck to the main plot, "But the first Man Who Knew Too Much was stronger in every way."
The film was a commercial success. Filmed on a budget of $1.2 million, it grossed $11,333,333 at the domestic box office, earning $4.1 million in U.S. theatrical rentals.
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval score of 89% based on 44 reviews, with an average rating of 7.8/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "Remaking his own 1934 film, Hitchcock imbues The Man Who Knew Too Much with picturesque locales and international intrigue, and is helped by a brilliantly befuddled performance from James Stewart." At Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 76 out of 100, based on ten critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.
In 2004, American Film Institute included the song "Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)" as No. 48 in AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs.
