The Man Who Knew Too Much

Movie Review: The Man Who Knew Too Much

Year of Release: 1934
Country of Origin: UK
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Leslie Banks, Edna Best, Peter Lorre, Frank Vosper, Hugh Wakefield, Nova Pilbeam

Plot outline: A man and his wife receive a clue to an imminent assassination attempt, only to learn that their daughter has been kidnapped to keep them quiet (IMDb).

An assortment of Hitchcock's greatest early movies are featured in a three-disc collection. This taut, suspenseful thriller, aided by the director’s wry wit and tight pacing, was one of the most successful and critically acclaimed movies of Hitchcock's British period. He remade the movie in 1956, the only one of his movies that he ever remade. The two movies are however very different in tone, setting and many plot details. Critics continue to argue the movie's merits versus those of its 1956 remake. In this movie, the British cinema, never notable for its command of filmic pace, goes in for a blistering style of story-telling. Directed with a fascinating staccato violence, this movie is a swift screen melodrama. Normally the work would be important chiefly because it offers Peter Lorre in his first part since his remarkable performance as the insane killer in M. But this movie is distinctly Hitchcock's picture. Although the photography and lighting are inferior according to Hollywood standards, it is an interesting example of technical ingenuity as well as an absorbing melodrama. Hitchcock tells the story in a succession of brief and tantalizing scenes which merge so breathlessly that you are always rapt and tense. The method, of course, subordinates the actors to the technique, but Lorre, as the anarchist leader, is able to crowd his role with dark and terrifying emotions without disturbing his placid moon face. Then there are Leslie Banks as the husband, Edna Best as the wife, Hugh Wakefield as the amateur sleuth and Nova Pilbeam as the kidnapped child. Pierre Fresnay becomes a corpse so hurriedly that you scarcely have time to know he is in the cast. (NYT)

My judgement: *** out of 4 stars