The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934) - Movie Review

#Hitchcock #MovieReviews
"The Man Who Knew Too Much" was an enjoyable 1934 suspense/thriller/spy movie directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
This film would late be remade later, albeit with a considerably different story, in 1956 with James Stewart and Doris Day. That's the version I remember seeing (it's the version that will most certainly get "Que Sera, Sera" stuck in your head.) I enjoyed seeing both of these and I think they have their own merits. I'll probably do a review of the later version in the future, as a goal of mine is to watch/rewatch most of the Hitchcock films.
Anyhow, back to the film. The plot here is that the characters Bob and Jill Lawrence (played by Leslie Banks and Edna Best) are a British couple visiting Switzerland with their daughter Betty (played by Nova Pilbeam), who to me seemed of a nebulous age, but I guess maybe she was early teens? They are watching downhill skiing and Betty, who for some reason has a dog with her(?) at a ski event, loses her grip and the dog runs across the path of the downhill skiers, and there's a near fatal accident as she runs to get fido. I mean, really? That bit floored me, but it was the 1930's so maybe it was common to bring pets to winter sporting events, I guess.
Bob and Jill befriend a French guy named Louis Bernard (Pierre Fresnay), who is also staying at their hotel. Also, Jill takes part in a clay pigeon shooting contest, because I guess that's the kind of things you do when visiting Switzerland.
Later that night, Louis is shot from an unknown assassin through a window. Before dying, he tells Jill to look for a secret note to the British consul. She tells Bob, he goes and finds it, and learns there is a planned international crime. Now he get to him being "the man who knows too much." Normal people would just call the authorities and let them in, but hey, it adds to the drama and suspense.
The character Abbott (played by Peter Lorre) shows up, and as is usually the case, he plays the creep in this film, with a big ol' scar on his face. He and his criminal thugs kidnap Betty, and threaten to kill her if her parents tell anyone what they know.
So Bob and Jill return to England, where they discover that the group, led by Abbott, have hired one of their goons to shoot a European head of state during a concert at the Royal Albert Hall. So incorporating the concert is one way this was similar to the 1956 version.
Jill attends the concert and throws off the assassins shot off by screaming at just the right moment.
So, the bad guys are keeping their secret lair inside this weird temple of a sun-worshipping cult. So that was kind of interesting. Bob and Clive (played by Hugh Wakefield, who is this sort of goofy comic relief) enter the temple searching for Betty, and poor Clive gets hypnotized (I guess as part of initiation into the cult?) and eventually the criminals catch on and there's a big chair fight. I won't give much more out in details, but things do start to build up to a grand conclusion with the police moving in on the baddies. Does Betty get rescued and is everything resolved? Well, check out the film and, yeah, there is a bit of a Hitchcock twist at the end.
"The Man Who Knew Too Much" was an enjoyable Hitchcock film. Ultimately what I liked the most was the bits with Bob and Clive as they did their investigating (even the icky bit where they go to the dentist looking for clues and poor Clive gets a tooth extracted - they never explained if it was actually a legit tooth taken out, but, whatever.) It's a good film worth checking out.
Photo and video samples for the review from these sources:
www.imdb.com/t...
archive.org/de...
Film is not in the public domain so I went easy on the video samples for this review.

[@FluWorldOrder]

What amazes me about this 1934 film version is that Peter Lorre had limited English at that point in his career as he found international fame from Fritz Lang's movie "M". So he learnt his English lines phonetically being unfamiliar with English, despite this he gives a terrific menacing performance.

[@hannahs1683]

Lorre really excels in side roles, loved this movie

[@bobconnor1210]

You’ll note that Leslie Banks’ face is partially paralyzed. He was a casualty of WWI, as was Herbert Marshall who played in Hitchcock’s film “Murder”; you would hardly know that Marshall is walking on a prosthetic leg.

[@greg33770]

Lorre is great, if ya get the chance, watch him in the creepy, 1931 movie "M"

[@OldMovieRob]

It's on my list, but thanks for the recommendation! I'm always game for suggestions.

[@leoinsf]

Great movie review and great movie! Ah, early Hitchcock! Nothing greater!

[@Saved_bythebl00d]

Great movie review!