THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH (1934) A Film Review by Ted Prigge Copyright 1998 Ted Prigge
Director: Alfred Hitchcock Writers: Charles Bennett and D.B. Wyndham-Lewis Starring: Leslie Banks, Edna Best, Peter Lorre, Frank Vosper, Hugh Wakefield, Nova Pilbeam, Pierre Fresnay, Cicely Oates, D.A. Clarke-Smith, George Curzon
Hitchcock's earlier British films (he went to Hollywood in 1940) are neither as glamorous or ambigous as his older films, but were still amazing as they told simple stories in the most complex and amazing ways possible. "The Man Who Knew Too Much" is one of the best films he ever made, showing him in the top of his filmmaking craft, as he structures a film which could thrill and entertain as well as be a great example of fantastic filmmaking. It's a story which could have been made into a little piece of flat pulp, but was instead made into a stunning film which is intriguing from start to finish.
"The Man Who Knew Too Much" starts by introducing the protagonists to us, two Olympic stars, Bob and Jill Lawrence (Leslie Bank and Edna Best, respectively), who are vacationing in French Morrocco with their loving daughter, Betty (Nova Pilbeam). One night at a club, a man is shot and before he dies, he tells Bob and Jill that a revolutionary group is planning to kill a public official during a performance at Albert Hall in London. Soon enough, Betty has been kidnapped and the ransom is that they don't tell the authorities.
Bob takes it upon himself to find the kidnappers and rescue his daughter without harming either of them. His clues lead him to the rebels, who are headed by a mysterious man named Abbott (mysterious only because he's played by Peter Lorre, in his first performance in English following his triumph in Fritz Lang's "M," where he played a child killer), who soon also takes Bob into his custody.
The film was the first Hitchcock film to really become a big hit, and it made a name of him for being a master of suspense (which he was). What Hitch was best at doing was creating a plausible yet chilling suspense sequences, which are often the big set pieces for disection by film analysts (I can't tell you how many times we saw that party sequence from "Notorious" in my film classes...). Here, in my opinion, is one of Hitchcock's greatest sequences, a masterpiece of film montage which shows Jill in Albert Hall on the night of the shooting sitting as an anonomys audience member, and piecing how the murder is going to happen by looking around. As the music builds, she figures out exactly when the assasin will kill his target, but she can't scream or the kidnappers will kill her daughter.
Another famous sequence takes place in what has to be one of the very first (if not the first) visceral shootout in a film. The sequence is long, but is scary and realistic, and, interestingly enough, mostly told from the perspective of the bad guys. The entire experience of watching it is never boring or redundant though, due to Hitchcock's great ability to edit and design a sequence.
But these are not the only two great things about this film. "The Man Who Knew Too Much is a great story, filled with a surprising amount of characterization, and a storyline which is smart without becoming too brainy. The characters in this film are not forced to do what they do because Hitchcock wants suspense scenes; Hitchcock knew how to create a film without trapping the characters in the confines of the genre, and this is easily shown by this film.
Accompany the brilliant direction by Hitchcock with a smart script and great acting, especially by Lorre (who's just the Man, in my humble opinion), and "The Man Who Knew Too Much" comes out as one of the greatest suspense thrillers of all time. While it may be trite (the film clocks in at a mere 74 minutes), it never feels rushed, and the story never fails to intrigue you with its great characters and storytelling.
MY RATING (out of 4): ****
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