The Man Who Knew Too Much

Rating:
Summary: Slow to get started, but a very entertaining film
Review: (The DVD version that I am reviewing is the Laserlight release, featuring the introduction by Tony Curtis. All remarks concerning the quality of the disc refer to this edition.)

I found THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH to be a bit of a mixed bag. The first half appears choppy and uneven. Things happen without much motivation and the cast seems to confused as to what exactly is going on. Some of the more experimental scenes and moments just did not seem to work terribly well. The direction is unsteady and a touch confusing at times - I'm still not sure what happened during the opening ski scene and I couldn't figure out why a skiier, when suddenly confronted with a child running in front of him, would just scream and cover his eyes.

However, at about the midway point, the film settles down and becomes quite entertaining. There are some masterfully suspenseful sequences such as the assassination attempt during a concert and a long shoot-out with the police. Hitchcock managed to milk the suspense for all it's worth without once taking it a moment too far. Peter Lorre deserves a lot of credit for crafting a role that initially isn't terribly exciting and infusing it with just the right amount of necessary style. His character is a joy to watch and Lorre steals every scene that he is in. He gets all the best lines and manages to create a character that's chilling even while he's laughing hysterically at his henchmen.

The DVD itself is not bad. The picture seems fine and the audio is quite good. I'm sure that there are better prints available than this, but for the extremely low price, it's a bargain. The bonus footage is a trailer for Alfred Hitchcock's SABOTEUR and is a fairly forgettable extra. And Tony Curtis didn't wear his black, leather gloves for the opening and closing remarks, which is always a good thing.

Rating:
Summary: Slow to get started, but a very entertaining film
Review: (The DVD version that I am reviewing is the Laserlight release, featuring the introduction by Tony Curtis. All remarks concerning the quality of the disc refer to this edition.)

I found THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH to be a bit of a mixed bag. The first half appears choppy and uneven. Things happen without much motivation and the cast seems to confused as to what exactly is going on. Some of the more experimental scenes and moments just did not seem to work terribly well. The direction is unsteady and a touch confusing at times - I'm still not sure what happened during the opening ski scene and I couldn't figure out why a skiier, when suddenly confronted with a child running in front of him, would just scream and cover his eyes.

However, at about the midway point, the film settles down and becomes quite entertaining. There are some masterfully suspenseful sequences such as the assassination attempt during a concert and a long shoot-out with the police. Hitchcock managed to milk the suspense for all it's worth without once taking it a moment too far. Peter Lorre deserves a lot of credit for crafting a role that initially isn't terribly exciting and infusing it with just the right amount of necessary style. His character is a joy to watch and Lorre steals every scene that he is in. He gets all the best lines and manages to create a character that's chilling even while he's laughing hysterically at his henchmen.

The DVD itself is not bad. The picture seems fine and the audio is quite good. I'm sure that there are better prints available than this, but for the extremely low price, it's a bargain. The bonus footage is a trailer for Alfred Hitchcock's SABOTEUR and is a fairly forgettable extra. And Tony Curtis didn't wear his black, leather gloves for the opening and closing remarks, which is always a good thing.

Rating:
Summary: Very poor picture and sound spoil a good film
Review: A very poor transfer of a very good film.Laserlight have done nothing to restore the print.The picture is dark and washed out.The sound is also very poor.The story has some great scenes,such as the finale in the hall where the assassination attempt takes place,but you have to watch a muddy picture with crackling sound.Wait for another version to come out.

Rating:
Summary: A CULT FILM AMONG THE FANS OF THE GREAT ALFRED HITCHCOCK.
Review: Alfred Hitchcock is one of the key figures in the universal cinematography, and movies like "Psycho", "The Birds", "Vertigo" and "North By Northwest" (among many others) are the proof of why Hitchcock reached the status of genius. However, this movie, one of his earlier efforts is far from being genial.

Hitchcock made two versions of "The Man Who Knew Too Much", the first version was filmed in black & white, and sometimes seems like it was directed by a rookie. However, it's one of the most beloved movies for the fans of Hitchcock.

Despite of not having too much suspense, despite of some poor technical aspects, and despite some of the little details seem wrong, "The Man Who Knew Too Much" is an entertaining movie with a very charismatic villain (Peter Lorre, as Abbott), but the main reason to see this movie is to watch one of the earlier works of the great Alfred Hitchcock.

Rating:
Summary: A CULT FILM MADE BY THE GREAT ALFRED HITCHCOCK.
Review: Alfred Hitchcock is one of the key figures in the universal cinematography, and movies like "Psycho", "The Birds", "Vertigo" and "North By Northwest" (among many others) are the proof of why Hitchcock reached the status of genius. However, this movie, one of his earlier efforts is not exactly genial.

Hitchcock made two versions of "The Man Who Knew Too Much", the first version was filmed in black & white, and sometimes seems like it was directed by another director. Hitchcock himself wasn't completely satisfied with his work, so he remade the film, this time with a better cast, and with more experience under his belt. But despite the fact that Hitchcock remade the film, this first version is one of the most beloved movies for the fans of Hitchcock, because it represents Alfred's learning years.

Despite of not having too much suspense, some poor technical aspects, and despite some of the little details seem wrong, "The Man Who Knew Too Much" is an entertaining movie with a very charismatic villain (Peter Lorre, as Abbott), but the main reason to see this movie is to watch one of the earlier works of the great Alfred Hitchcock.

Rating:
Summary: The remake was better...
Review: But this version still has its moments. You can easily see why Hitch loved this story enough to remake it, and once having seen both versions, will applaud his decision to do so.

The problem with this DVD is not the content, but rather the technical quality of the transfer. I have seen 8mm home movies with better production values. The sound is particularly annoying, and the video not much better.

While I can understand the many imperatives for making this version available, I cannot in good conscience recommend it to anyone other than a rabid Hitchcock fan, and then only for historical perspective. It is truly a shame to see such a wonderful film rendered so horribly and a stellar Director's vision, treated so shabbily.

Rating:
Summary: The original - and best.
Review: Don't even think about buying the James Stewart / Doris day version until you've seen this film. With all the padding (not to mention Doris Day's singing) missing from the original version, the pace is faster and story more exciting. Peter Lorre is on top form and even the Albert Hall scene is more exciting than in the remake. This is definitely one of Hitchcock's best pre-war films - easily on a par with 'The 39 Steps' and 'The Lady Vanishes'.

Rating:
Summary: Unmitigated Pleasure
Review: Happy young English couple Bob and Jill Lawrence go on holiday to St Moritz with adorable daughter Betty. Nice Frenchman Louis makes friends with them. He dances with Jill of an evening. Suddenly a bullet comes through a window and Louis is dead. Dying, he directs Jill to the shaving brush in his bedroom. There is a message concealed there that must be delivered to the British Consul. Bob finds the message but before he can deliver it he gets another: We have your little girl. Keep your mouth shut or else. Back in Britain, the Foreign Office cotton on that the couple are sitting on some information and urge them to part with it. There is an assassination attempt afoot on some visiting foreign bigwig and Louis' note is essential to averting it. Bob and Jill keep mum but Bob heads down to the back streets of Wapping to follow a lead on where his daughter might be...

It's classic early Hitchcock. It's also classic rather later Hitchcock as it's the one movie of his own that Hitchcock remade, directing a much glossier version in 1956 with James Stewart and Doris Day. Hitchcock was a lot better at remaking Hitchcok than Gus van Sant will ever be but the original is a real joy. It's set in the glorious world of 1930s British Hitchcock movies, a world of plucky stuff-upper-lipped British people, sinister foreigners (here in particular the great Peter Lorre at his most magnificently malign), men from the foreign office with bowler hats, burly coppers, mysterious goings on, secret agents, dastardly shootings, dark, shadowy staircases, hidden messages and, of course, this being Hitchcock, grand set-pieces: here a brilliant scene at the Albert Hall where the assassination is planned for a climactic moment in a concert when the percussion will mask the sound of the gun. It's not a masterpiece like "the Thirty-Nine Steps" or "The Lady Vanishes" but it is palpably from the same stable and, from start to finish, an enormous pleasure to watch.

Rating:
Summary: Why don't they make 'em like this anymore?
Review: I disagree with Hitchcock's own assessment of The Man Who Knew Too Much. This is the only one of his own movies he felt the need to remake in Hollywood, claiming the original was amateurish.

I much prefer the first version to the padded out re-telling with James Stewart. Certainly the fifties version has better production values, but it loses some of the atmosphere and humour of this version, and - crucially - some of the pace. Also, this earlier version benefits immensely from the mighty presence of Fritz Lang's favourite actor Peter Lorre as one of the bad guys.

Leslie Banks and Edna Best are brilliant as the married couple who witness a murder, have their daughter kidnapped and - naturally, being a Hitchcock thriller - are plunged into an underworld of twisted deception and danger they barely knew existed.

Best is far fiestier than Doris Day in the remake. There's actually a case for comparing the two films from a feminist perspective and wondering how things went so backwards in the twenty years between the two.

But just as interesting is a comparison of the pace: this version of The Man Who Knew Too Much is a honed, quickfire, witty, charming and engaging affair. The later one - while still good - is a little weightier.

Anyway, excellent performances, good storytelling by a master director on the up. Not perhaps as reknowned or as well-loved as The 39 Steps or The Lady Vanishes but certainly worth adding to your collection.

The transfer is OK. It isn't going to win any prizes, but it's fine for a film of this vintage and you certainly won't spend the duration of the movie thinking about it - you'll get too involved in the twists and turns of this first-rate thriller. At the end you'll probably ask: "Why don't they make 'em like that anymore?"

Rating:
Summary: An Oldie but Goodie!
Review: I just rented a movie of Alfred Hitchcock's "The Man Who Knew Too Much", the 1934 version with actor Peter Lorre. Although it is really old, it is still a very good and entertaining movie!
Although I enjoyed the movie's suspense and sometimes humor (like the father of the kidnapped girl and his friend were singing along with the others but they were really telling what they saw to solve the girl's disappearance), I have noticed two things interesting about this movie:

1. When the father and his friend went to the dentist's office (they obviously knew that a henchman works there), I got a good look at an actual 1930s dentist office! It looks dark and crude compared to today's dental offices. The instruments looked scary, and what I have noticed is that the dentist never used novocaine! But he did use "gas" trying to knock out the father (but failed, since the dad knew the dentist was a henchman -- the father instead knocked out the dentist!)....but what got me was that the gas tank looks old-fashioned.

2. Remember how the 1939 movie "Gone With the Wind" shocked movie watchers with the word "damn", that was said by Rhett Butler? Ok, THIS MOVIE I am talking about was in 1934...and there are the word "damn" that was said TWICE!! Why weren't the movie goers shocked then?? This must not have been a popular movie at the time.
If you haven't seen this movie, go watch it! It is NOT a boring movie, but a good one, even though it was made in 1934! <smile>