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The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934)

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Average Rating: 7.6/10
Reviews Counted: 21
Fresh: 18 | Rotten: 3

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Average Rating: N/A
Critic Reviews: 3
Fresh: 2 | Rotten: 1

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Average Rating: 3.5/5
User Ratings: 7,923

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Movie Info

The first film version of The Man Who Knew too Much proved to be the international "breakthrough" film for British director Alfred Hitchcock, transforming him from merely a talented domestic filmmaker to a worldwide household name. While vacationing in Switzerland, Britons Leslie Banks and Edna Best befriend jovial Frenchman Pierre Fresnay. Not long afterward, Fresnay is murdered. He whispers a secret in Banks' ear before expiring. This is witnessed by several sinister foreign agents, who kidnap

PG, 1 hr. 15 min.

Drama, Action & Adventure, Mystery & Suspense, Classics

Directed By: Alfred Hitchcock

Written By: Charles Bennett, D.B. Wyndham-Lewis

On DVD: Jan 21, 2003

Cast

Leslie Banks
Bob Lawrence
Edna Best
Jill Lawrence
Peter Lorre
Abbott
Frank Vosper
Ramon Levine
Hugh Wakefield
Clive
Nova Pilbeam
Betty Lawrence
Pierre Fresnay
Louis Bernard
George Curzon
Gibson
Cicely Oates
Nurse Agnes
D.A. Clarke-Smith
Insp. Binstead
Celia Lovsky
Henry Oscar
Dentist

Critic Reviews for The Man Who Knew Too Much

All Critics (21) | Top Critics (3) | Fresh (18) | Rotten (3) | DVD (3)

Although the film is fast and consistently clever, it is more deeply flawed than any other Hitchcock film of the period, failing to find a thematic connection between its imaginative set pieces.

March 27, 2009 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader

| Comments (2)

Dave Kehr

Chicago Reader

Top Critic

An unusually fine dramatic story handled excellently from a production standpoint.

March 26, 2009 Full Review Source: Variety

| Comment

Variety Staff

Variety

Top Critic

Directed with a fascinating staccato violence by Alfred Hitchcock, it is the swiftest screen melodrama this column can recall.

August 8, 2006 Full Review Source: New York Times

| Comment

Andre Sennwald

New York Times

Top Critic

This is a suberbly structured thriller whose excellence is aided and abetted by a spirited cast.

March 27, 2009 Full Review Source: Empire Magazine

| Comment

David Parkinson

Empire Magazine

Much more fun than the more expensive and longer 1956 remake.

September 18, 2007 Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews

| Comment

Dennis Schwartz

Ozus' World Movie Reviews

Vintage Hitchcock, with sheer wit and verve masking an implausible plot.

June 24, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out

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Tom Milne

Time Out

Ainda refinando as t�cnicas que passaria a dominar com perfei��o, Hitchcock cria um filme divertido, mas obviamente falho.

November 26, 2005 Comment (1)

Pablo Villaca

Cinema em Cena

First and best version of the story.

August 24, 2003 Comment

Ken Hanke

Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

Full of suspense, hijinks and that particular brand of gallows humour that can only be described as 'Hitchcockian'.

May 24, 2003 Full Review Source: Film4

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Film4

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Audience Reviews for The Man Who Knew Too Much

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This is basically the film that really saw Hitchcock's film career take off and become something grand. It has his real breakout hit, and even had the distinction of being remade (by Hitchh imself), in a version that a number of people say is far superior. I haven't seen that one yet, but I plan to.The plot concerns a

October 11, 2007

Chris Weber

Super Reviewer

Hitchcock was still learning his craft and improving his directing skills when he made this unimpressive, thematically flawed film that even he disliked. The humor eliminates most of the tension, while the weak script has villains whose motivations are never clear enough. No wonder why he decided to refilm this.

October 12, 2011