The Man Who Knew Too Much

Released Mar 22, 1935

1 hr. 15 min.

Mystery & Thriller

List

89%

35 Reviews

Tomatometer

67%

5,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

On a family vacation in Switzerland, Bob (Leslie Banks) and his wife, Jill (Edna Best), become friendly with a man staying in their hotel. When the stranger is assassinated in their presence, the vacation turns dangerous. Before dying, the stranger passes along a secret to Jill. Then, to keep the couple silent, a band of foreign assassins kidnaps their daughter. Offered no help by the police, Bob and Jill hunt for their daughter as they try to understand the information that they have.

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Steve D

Thrill-less thriller with only Lorie to recommend it.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

01/04/24

Full Review

Kevin L

The remake was clearly better. Such bad, hokey, unrealistic acting then. Even taking that into consideration, the writing was weak, and that whole long stretch of shooting at each other for like 15 min. was beyond absurd. Lorre was a weirdo; too weird to be taken that seriously. 2.4 stars

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

02/10/23

Full Review

Christopher B

Released in 1934, The Man Who Knew Too Much is early Hitchcock and even he found fault with it and refilmed it in 1956 with a bigger budget and bigger stars but most still prefer this version. The film itself is nothing to write home about and lacks the dramatic weight, technical mastery and most importantly the crushing suspense that his later works would provide and be cited as masterpieces. There is a very simple plot here and some very roughly filmed sequences that aren't too believable or well filmed and the film reveals it's plot and angle very early on thus taking away from the suspense and guessing on the part of the viewer. Still with all the negative aspects, Peter Lorre made his debut English-speaking role and adds an air of mystery to not only his character but also the film too. With a short 75 minute running time, the film still seems a little slow throughout and only amps up the action during the final moments and is wrapped up swiftly and happily.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

11/02/22

Full Review

Ed M

So dated and slow it's almost unwatchable. Watch the Jimmy Stewart version.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

06/23/22

Full Review

j m

Not as good as the 1956 remake, which is quite different.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

I thought it was ok for its time period and quite suspenseful for a Hitchcock movie

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/13/23

Full Review

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Alfred Hitchcock

Director

Leslie Banks

Bob Lawrence

Peter Lorre

Abbott

Edna Best

Jill Lawrence

Frank Vosper

Ramon

Hugh Wakefield

Clive

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TIME Magazine

The story is told in sharp, abbreviated sequences gathering speed steadily toward their explosive climax, makes The Man Who Knew Too Much one of the neatest melodramas of the year.

Oct 25, 2017

Full Review

David Parkinson

Empire Magazine

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

Rated: 4/5

Mar 27, 2009

Full Review

Dave Kehr

Chicago Reader

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.

Mar 27, 2009

Full Review

Forsyth Hardy

Cinema Quarterly

The acting is for the most part simple and straightforward, but there is real subtlety in the performance of Peter Lorre, the Dusseldorf murderer of M, as the anarchist leader.

Feb 4, 2021

Full Review

Meyer Levin (Patterson Murphy)

Esquire Magazine

A sort of British G-Men plot, proving that calmness in crisis is more terrific as a suspense medium than the constant rattle of machine guns.

Apr 17, 2020

Full Review

Ann Ross

Maclean's Magazine

Peter Lorre's performance as a sort of undercover Napoleon working blandly to stand Europe on its head, is one of the most brilliant screen achievements of the year.

Oct 2, 2019

Full Review

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Synopsis

On a family vacation in Switzerland, Bob (Leslie Banks) and his wife, Jill (Edna Best), become friendly with a man staying in their hotel. When the stranger is assassinated in their presence, the vacation turns dangerous. Before dying, the stranger passes along a secret to Jill. Then, to keep the couple silent, a band of foreign assassins kidnaps their daughter. Offered no help by the police, Bob and Jill hunt for their daughter as they try to understand the information that they have.

Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Production Co: Gaumont British Picture Corporation Ltd.
Genre: Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Mar 22, 1935, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 12, 2016

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