Alfred Hitchcock

The Man Who Knew Too Much

The Man Who Knew Too Much

An ordinary British couple vacationing in Switzerland suddenly find themselves embroiled in a case of international intrigue when their daughter is kidnapped by spies plotting a political assassination. This fleet and gripping film is the first of the early thrillers the Master of Suspense, Alfred Hitchcock, made during the fertile phase of his career spent at the Gaumont-British Picture Corporation. Besides affirming Hitchcock’s genius, it gave the brilliant Peter Lorre his first English-speaking role, as a slithery villain. With its tension and gallows humor, it’s pure Hitchcock, and it set the tone for such films as The 39 Steps and The Lady Vanishes.

Film Info

  • United Kingdom
  • 1934
  • 75 minutes
  • Black & White
  • 1.33:1
  • English
  • Spine #643

Special Features

  • New digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
  • New audio commentary featuring film historian Philip Kemp
  • New interview with filmmaker Guillermo del Toro
  • The Illustrated Hitchcock, an extensive interview with director Alfred Hitchcock from 1972, conducted by journalist Pia Lindstrom and film historian William K. Everson
  • Audio excerpts from filmmaker François Truffaut’s legendary 1962 interviews with Hitchcock
  • Restoration demonstration
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: A new essay by critic Farran Smith Nehme

    New cover illustration by Bill Nelson, design by F. Ron Miller

Purchase Options

Special Features

  • New digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
  • New audio commentary featuring film historian Philip Kemp
  • New interview with filmmaker Guillermo del Toro
  • The Illustrated Hitchcock, an extensive interview with director Alfred Hitchcock from 1972, conducted by journalist Pia Lindstrom and film historian William K. Everson
  • Audio excerpts from filmmaker François Truffaut’s legendary 1962 interviews with Hitchcock
  • Restoration demonstration
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: A new essay by critic Farran Smith Nehme

    New cover illustration by Bill Nelson, design by F. Ron Miller
The Man Who Knew Too Much
Cast
Leslie Banks
Bob Lawrence
Edna Best
Jill Lawrence
Peter Lorre
Abbott
Frank Vosper
Ramon
Hugh Wakefield
Clive
Nova Pilbeam
Betty Lawrence
Pierre Fresnay
Louis Bernard
Cicely Oates
Nurse Agnes
D. A. Clarke-Smith
Inspector Binstead
George Curzon
Gibson
Henry Oscar
Barbor, the dentist
Credits
Director
Alfred Hitchcock
Written by
Charles Bennett
Written by
D. B. Wyndham-Lewis
Produced by
Michael Balcon
Associate producer
Ivor Montagu
Scenario
Edwin Greenwood
Scenario
A. R. Rawlinson
Cinematography
Curt Courant
Editor
Hugh Stewart
Art direction
Alfred Junge
Sound recordist
F. McNally
Original music
Arthur Benjamin
Assistant director
Pen Tennyson

Current

A Good Scare with Alfred Hitchcock
A Good Scare with Alfred Hitchcock
No filmmaker in history has been able to wrap an audience around his finger like Alfred Hitchcock. In honor of the Master of Suspense’s birthday (he would be 114 today), here’s a delightful clip from The Illustrated Hitchcock, a 1972 television …
Guillermo del Toro on The Man Who Knew Too Much
Guillermo del Toro on The Man Who Knew Too Much
For our release of Alfred Hitchcock’s early suspense classic The Man Who Knew Too Much, we turned to modern-day horror master and Hitch aficionado Guillermo del Toro (Cronos) to offer viewers a primer on just how important this thriller is in the d…
The Man Who Knew Too Much: Wish You Were Here
The Man Who Knew Too Much: Wish You Were Here

Both sparkling and suspenseful, Alfred Hitchcock’s benchmark thriller is the perfect getaway, and it set the scene for much of the master’s later work.

By Farran Smith Nehme

Eyes of Hitchcock
Eyes of Hitchcock
Filmmaker :: kogonada tweets at @kogonada and tumbles at missingozu.tumblr.com. You can view some of his work at kogonada.com.

By Kogonada

How We Restored The Man Who Knew Too Much

Restoration Spotlight

How We Restored The Man Who Knew Too Much
Criterion’s new restoration of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1934 thriller The Man Who Knew Too Much was a project many years in the making. Since the original negative is missing, the first challenge was to find the best possible source elements; only then…
Guillermo del Toro’s Guide to the Collection
Guillermo del Toro’s Guide to the Collection

Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro shares heartfelt appreciations for eleven of his favorite films in the collection.

From the Hitchcock Archives
From the Hitchcock Archives

On the occasion of what would have been the Master of Suspense’s 117th birthday, we’re looking back on a selection of essays and videos that explore his inexhaustible oeuvre.