A murder. A hidden clue. A kidnapping of a child to hush potential witnesses. Sounds great right? You bet it is. It's classic old school Alfred Hitchcock and it's one helluva lighting fast paced exciting thriller highlighted by a mesmerizing unforgettable performance from the ultimate baddie Peter Lorrre. X-Games skiing. Skeet shooting like a boss. Guys wear scarfs? Dinner and smoking. Sexy dancing. Tripwire. Deadly whisper. Linguistic communications failure. Every parent's worst nightmare. Disturbing phone call. G? Really bad teeth. I think the dentist is related to Dr. Giggles. Laughing gas overdose. Imposter. Peter Lorre is the motherfucker. Secret Society Singing? Hypothesizing? Every time Peter Lorre is on the screen I can't help but smile. Chair throwing can be extremely…

Film #13 of Project 30

”Tell her they may soon be leaving us. Leaving us for a long, long journey. How is it that Shakespeare says? "From which no traveler returns." Great poet.”

One of Alfred Hitchcock’s earlier works and a film that has all the defining elements of his universe: heart-stopping suspense, a bunch of unfortunate characters who accidentally get involve in a “nasty business”, unique camera work and editing and a plot full of twists. The Man Who Knew Too Much is an exciting and decent thriller from the Master of Suspense which never fails to entertain, however it must be said that it is miles behind Hitchcock’s more acclaimed works. The film’s plot looks a bit thin…

Commentary watch of Criterion's track featuring film historian Philip Kemp. A few interesting points:

- For Kemp, this is the birth of Alfred Hitchcock as an auteur. It's not the director's first thriller, but after it he made almost nothing else but thrillers (with the most notable exception being the screwball comedy Mr. and Mrs. Smith), and Kemp points to several of Hitchcock's signatures that couldn't be seen before this movie and can be found in many places after it.

- The film also features the first in a series of what Kemp calls active, resourceful female heroines. Jill is an integral part of the conflict and its resolution, playing an active role in discovering the assassins and stopping their…

A Year of Film History Challenge
(watching a little bit of film history month by month, decade by decade)
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The abduction of their daughter has kept the Lawrences perpetually off balance since the day she went missing, and so it is also for the viewer of Alfred Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much, an early entry from the Master of Suspense that further distinguishes him as having a relationship with the audience already quite unlike anyone else from his era.

Hitchcock makes it easy to get sucked into following his story; the camera often rolls along fluidly with the action such that we're always wondering just where we're going, or a scene will start with a tight close-up…

2019 Classic Movie Challenge 22. A film starring Peter Lorre.

Within the first few minutes of the film Betty, daughter of Bob and Jill Lawrence (Leslie Banks and Edna Best) has already caused a family friend Louis to literally crash out of a ski jumping competition and her mother to lose a clay pigeon shooting competition.

So you'd think that when Louis is killed, Bob finds some vital information he was to communicate and as a result Betty is kidnapped to prevent Bob from passing it on, that her parents would be delighted that their bratty offspring was out of the way so they could get on with their hols and indeed the rest of their lives.

But no, apparently…