For this week’s episode we take a look at the 1934 version of The Man Who Knew Too Much, the story so nice that Hitchcock made it twice. The 1956 version with Jimmy Stewart and Doris Day is now better known, but this was one of the key early hits that established Hitchcock’s career. It’s a kidnapping thriller about a British family who gets accidently mixed up in some international intrigue while on vacation in Switzerland.
***SPOILER ALERT*** We do talk about this movie in its entirety, so if you plan on watching it, we suggest you watch it before listening to our takes.
Details: A Gaumont-British Picture released in England on December 9, 1934. Produced by Michael Balcon. Screenplay by Charles Bennett and D. B. Wyndham Lewis, based on a scenario by Edwin Greenwood and A. R. Rawlinson. Starring Peter Lorre, Leslie Banks, Edna Best, Nova Pilbeam and Frank Vosper. Cinematography by Curt Courant. Music by Arthur Benjamin.
Ranking: 26 out of 52. Ranking movies is a reductive parlor game. It’s also fun. And it’s a good way to frame a discussion. We aggregated over 70 ranked lists from critics, fans, and magazines The Man Who Knew Too Much got 1,681 ranking points.