The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934 film)
| The Man Who Knew Too Much | |
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| Directed by | Alfred Hitchcock |
| Produced by | Michael Balcon (uncredited) |
| Written by | Charles Bennett D. B. Wyndham-Lewis Edwin Greenwood and A.R. Rawlinson (scenario) |
| Starring | Leslie Banks Edna Best Peter Lorre Nova Pilbeam Frank Vosper |
| Music by | Arthur Benjamin |
| Cinematography | Curt Courant |
| Release date(s) | December 1934 UK release March 22, 1935 U.S. release |
| Running time | 75 min |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Budget | £40,000 (estimated) |
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934) is a British suspense film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, featuring Peter Lorre, and released by Gaumont British. It was one of the most successful and critically acclaimed films of Hitchcock's British period.
Hitchcock remade the film with James Stewart and Doris Day in 1956 for Paramount Pictures; it is the only film he ever remade. The two films are, however, very different in tone, in setting, and in many plot details.
The film has nothing at all in common (except the title) with G. K. Chesterton's 1922 book of detective stories of the same name. Hitchcock decided to use the title as he had the rights for some of the stories in the novel.[1]
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Synopsis[edit]
Bob and Jill Lawrence (Leslie Banks and Edna Best) are a British couple on vacation in Switzerland, with their daughter Betty (Nova Pilbeam). Jill is participating in a clay pigeon shooting contest. They befriend a foreigner, Louis Bernard (Pierre Fresnay), who is staying in their hotel. One evening, as Jill dances with Louis, she witnesses his assassination as a French spy. Before dying, the spy passes on to them some vital information to be delivered to the British consul.
In order to ensure their silence, the assassins, led by a charming and nefarious Abbott (Peter Lorre), kidnap the Lawrences' daughter. Unable therefore to seek help from the police, the couple return to England and, after following a series of leads, discover that the group intends to assassinate the head of state of an unidentified European country, during a concert at the Royal Albert Hall. Jill attends the concert and distracts the gunman with a scream.
The assassins are tracked to a working-class area of Wapping in London, near the docks, where they have their hide-out in the temple of a sun-worshipping cult. Bob enters and is held prisoner, but manages to escape. The police surround the building and a gunfight ensues. The assassins hold out until their ammunition runs low and most of them have been killed. Betty, who has been held there, and one of the criminals are seen on the roof, and it is Jill's sharpshooting skills that dispatch the man, who, it emerges, was the man who beat Jill in a shooting contest in Switzerland.
Abbott seems to commit suicide rather than be captured, and Betty is returned to her parents.
Production[edit]
The film started as Hitchcock and writer Charles Bennett tried to adapt a Bulldog Drummond story revolving around international conspiracies and a baby kidnapping. As the deal for an adaptation fell through, the frame of the plot was reused in the script for The Man Who Knew Too Much, the title itself taken from an unrelated G.K. Chesterton compilation.[1]
Peter Lorre was unable to speak English at the time of filming (he had only recently fled from Nazi Germany) and learned his lines phonetically.[2]
The shoot-out at the end of the film was based on the Sidney Street Siege, a real-life incident which took place in London's East End (where Hitchcock grew up) on 3 January 1911.[3][4][5] The shoot-out was not included in Hitchcock's 1956 remake.[6]
Hitchcock hired Australian composer Arthur Benjamin to write a piece of music especially for the climactic scene at Royal Albert Hall. The music, known as the Storm Clouds Cantata, is used in both the 1934 version and the 1956 remake.
Alfred Hitchcock's cameo appears 33 minutes into the film. He can be seen crossing the street from right to left in a black trench coat before they enter the Chapel.
Production crew[edit]
- Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
- Written by Charles Bennett and D. B. Wyndham-Lewis
- Associate Producer: Ivor Montagu
- Photography: Curt Courant
- Editor: H St. C.J. Stewart
- Music: Arthur Benjamin
Cast[edit]
- Leslie Banks as Bob
- Edna Best as Jill
- Peter Lorre as Abbott
- Frank Vosper as Ramon
- Hugh Wakefield as Clive
- Nova Pilbeam as Betty Lawrence
- Pierre Fresnay as Louis
- Cicely Oates as Nurse Agnes
- B. A. Clarke Smith as Binstead
- George Curzon as Gibson
References[edit]
- ^ a b "The Making of The Man Who Knew Too Much", The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) DVD
- ^ Classic Film Guide: "his first English-speaking role (learned phonetically)"
- ^ TimeOut Review: "shootout re-enacting the Sidney Street siege"
- ^ Screenonline.org Review: "modelled on the notorious Sidney Street siege of 1911"
- ^ Britmovie.co.uk Review: "based on the Sidney street siege"
- ^ http://www.tcm.com/thismonth/article.jsp?cid=104984&mainArticleId=201941
Further reading[edit]
- Youngkin, Stephen D. (2005). The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 0-8131-2360-7. -- Contains interviews with Alfred Hitchcock and a discussion on the making of The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934).
External links[edit]
- The Man Who Knew Too Much at the Internet Movie Database
- The Man Who Knew Too Much at AllRovi
- The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934) at the AFI/Turner Classic Movies database
- The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934) Eyegate Gallery
