STAR RATINGS EXPLAINED
Unmissable
Excellent
Good
Poor
Tragic

FILM DETAILS

Certificate PG

Cast Leslie Banks Edna Best Peter Lorre Pierre Fresnay Nova Pilbeam

Directors Alfred Hitchcock

Screenwriters Edwin Greenwood A R Rawlinson

Running Time 84 minutes

The Man Who Knew Too Much
The original 1934 version of Hitchcock's transcontinental tale of kidnap and assassination.

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Plot
Bob Lawrence (Banks) and his crackshot wife, Jill (Best) are holidaying in Switzerland when their French friend, Louis Bernard (Frensay) is gunned down, warning them, with his dying breath, of an imminent diplomatic assasination. To ensure the couple's silence, the conspirators kidnap their daughter (Nova Pilbeam). However, Abbot (Lorre) and his comrades have fatally underestimated British pluck.

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


Reviewed by David Parkinson

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