The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934) – A. Hitchcock

One of Hitch’s early British hits, with Peter Lorre as the charismatic villain.  Unlike his 1950s remake (which starred Jimmy Stewart and Doris Day), the central couple here, played by Leslie Banks and Edna Best, don’t quite distinguish themselves.  But Hitch has always been about plot mechanics and the building of suspense rather than about characterization anyway and the plot here moves rather dynamically from an early murder to the finding and following of clues to the climactic foiled assassination and subsequent shoot-out.  Hitch’s wry humour is in evidence and Edna Best gets the final word (being an ace trap shooter, after all), unlike Doris Day. As Hitch put it to Truffaut, consider this the work of a talented amateur and the remake to be the work of a professional.  Still great though.