‎The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934) directed by Alfred Hitchcock • Reviews, film + cast • Letterboxd

The Man Who Knew Too Much

1934 Directed by Alfred Hitchcock

Public Enemy No. 1 of all the world…

While vacationing in St. Moritz, a British couple receive a clue to an imminent assassination attempt, only to learn that their young daughter has been kidnapped to keep them quiet.

Leslie Banks Edna Best Peter Lorre Frank Vosper Hugh Wakefield Nova Pilbeam Pierre Fresnay Cicely Oates D.A. Clarke-Smith George Curzon Alfred Hitchcock Clare Greet Henry Oscar

Country

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English French German Italian

drama thriller crime

76 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Todd Gaines ★★★★ 26

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…
Review by Naughty aka Juli Norwood ★★½ 6

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Film #16 of "Scavenger Hunt #3" Challenge!
Task #23 : A Peter Lorre Film!
letterboxd.com/naughty/list/scavenger-hunt-3/
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I choose this title so that I would be able to scratch the Peter Lorre task off of my Scavenger Hunt list but admittedly it is not a very good representation of his talent! Hindsight being 20/20 I know now that I should have revisited Fritz Lang's "M" as that is clearly Peter Lorre's Magnum Opus!

I viewed this film along with the 1956 remake back to back and while neither one lived up to my expectations of Alfred Hitchcock film, the latter did a far better job of withstanding the test of time!
Review by DBC ★★★★

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…
Review by Dragonknight ★★★½

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…
Review by ScreeningNotes ★★★ 6

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…
Review by Jared ★★★★ 2

Atmospherically, The Man Who Knew Too Much is delightful. Beautiful locations, haunting architecture and intriguing characters lend themselves to this atmosphere, an impeccably stylized early-era Hitchcock effort. It's a typical outing from the legendary director, filled with suspense and everyday people getting swept up in nasty, irregular business. Peter Lorre is wonderfully slimy and shady, a great menace to the unwilling protagonists. An added layer of terror lies in the fact that the group of criminals in this film are everyday people, lurking all around us. But in the end it's tough to note the utter implausibility of this plot, which Hitchcock compensates for with a witty script and lively direction. I haven't seen Hitchcock's remake of this film, but I'm interested to see which changes he made. This isn't among Hitchcock's best, but there are moments of greatness and hints of the masterpieces to come.

Hitchcock Marathon

Recent reviews

Review by Matt ★★★★

Early Hitchcock course at the Coolidge
Review by JC13 ★★★½

I prefer the 1956 remake, which was also directed by Hitchcock, but this one is pretty good too. It has a few sequences which are really good and the one thing it does have on the remake is a better villain. Peter Lorre is quite good as the main bad guy and overall even though this is lesser Hitchcock, it's still pretty good and an easy viewing at only 75 minutes long. 7/10
Review by Michael_Elliott ★★★

A couple (Leslie Banks, Edna Best) are on vacation when they overhear an assassination plot. To keep them quiet the terrorist kidnap their young daughter and hold her until after the plot gets carried out.

Many people will debate whether this film or Hitchcock's 1956 remake is better but to me they are both entertaining if very flawed movies. This one here does benefit from a very good ending, which is certainly the highlight of the movie. I'd say the casting in the remake was better but Banks still delivers a fine performance here as does Peter Lorre who clearly steals the film with his devilish performance as one of the bad guys.

The weakest point to this film is…
Review by Aristotle ★★★½

peter lorre good actor.
Review by Holden Kern ★★★½

Peter Lorre is great. Really just amazing. One of his greatest villians so far. Everyone else could possibly use some work.
Notes:
- chair scene was magnificient. I cant believe I hadn't heard of that before.
- Any time a gun comes into a shot its immediately scary. You see the master of suspense really work his muscles.
- The initial assassination was done extremely well. "Oh, look". Every assassination should be like that.
- Again, Peter Lorre.
- Rooftop scenes needed more suspense. The last shot was done well though.
All in all a solidly entertaining hitch picture.

Starring: Leslie Banks, Edna West, and Peter Lorre.
Review by Charlie Wilcox ★★★★

Probably the earliest film in which Hitchcock shows himself as a master of chaos? So much of the film feels like barely contained anarchy, yet you know that Hitch has everything under control. Well, mostly under control. There's understandable reason why he would choose this as one to remake later in his career; more than enough to commend it, and more than a little that could be tweaked.
Review by Daniel Slack

Hitchcock has called this 'the work of a talented amateur'. Maybe that's apt enough of a description.

The Man Who Knew Too Much is a short yet rather dull film that is drenched in a plot of little interested that just keeps going. The direction is not bad, yet it is never given much support from the sound design (considering this is 1934, this isn't too much of a surprise). With these formal elements clashing with a script that has a very poor conception and control of character and verisimilitude, this lacks above all else any sense of danger. Never do we then feel thrilled or on the edge of our seat, nor do we care or even question if…
Review by Paul ★★★½

This movie literally turns into a shorter version of Free Fire around the end. It was okay but I hope the remake is better
Review by tophergrace ★★★

the fella from M is such a spook