The Man Who Knew Too Much

It’s ultimately not difficult to see why Alfred Hitchcock chose to remake The Man Who Knew Too Much more than 20 years later, as this version of the film comes off, for the most part, as a sluggish and momentum-free drama that overstays its welcome even at a paltry 75 minutes. The narrative follows married couple Bob (Leslie Banks) and Jill Lawrence (Edna Best) as they’re embroiled in a plot to murder a foreign dignitary, with the pair forced to keep silent about the impending assassination after their young daughter is kidnapped by a group of criminals (led by Peter Lorre’s Abbott). The strong setup is employed to consistently underwhelming and uninvolving effect by Hitchcock, as the director delivers an aggressively talky first half that emphasizes “clever” dialogue over suspenseful sequences and character development – with, in terms of the latter, the movie littered with one-dimensional, far-from-sympathetic protagonists. (Lorre, on the other hand, is appropriately creepy as the scheming villain.) And although Hitchcock peppers the proceedings with a handful of memorable interludes – eg a pretty fantastic moment in which two characters surreptitiously communicate by singing messages along with a hymn – The Man Who Knew Too Much remains wholeheartedly unable to grab the viewer’s interest even as it builds towards an expectedly action-heavy third act. (It’s worth noting that the climactic opera house sequence, so phenomenal in the remake, falls disappointingly flat here.)

*1/2 out of ****