In St. Moritz, the British crack shot Jill (Edna Best) is competing in shooting with the foreigner Ramon (Frank Vosper). She loses the finals and she goes to a dinner party with her husband Bob Lawrence (Leslie Banks), their teenage daughter Betty (Nova Pilbeam) and their fellowship friend and skier Louis Bernard (Pierre Fresnay). While dancing with Jill, Louis is deadly shot by a sniper and he asks Jill to get a shaving brush in his room and deliver to an authority in the consulate. Bob finds a hidden message inside the brush, but he receives a note informing that his daughter was kidnapped and his wife and he should not tell anything to the police. Jill and Bob return to London and the secretary of the Foreign Office Gibson George Curzon) explains that Louis belonged to the special services and was spying the attempt of assassination of a prominent European diplomat while visiting London. Bob decides to investigate a clue with his friend Clive (Hugh Wakefield) in Wapping and discovers that the murder will take place at the Albert Hall. However, he is imprisoned by the conspirators and Jill goes to the theater to avoid the crime.
"The Man Who Knew Too Much" is one of the early Alfred Hitchcock's movies and very irregular in its execution. There are brilliant moments, like the sequence in the Albert Hall or the shooting in the ending; or funny, like for example the sequence of Bob's prank in the ball with the knit line or the witty dialogs during the competition. Unfortunately, there are also some dull moments, like the scenes with the annoying Betty; or the silly fight in the church; or the lack of credit to Clive's explanation to the policemen; or why Abbot did not kill Bob and Betty. The cinematography is not good in the Brazilian DVD released by Continental distributor, but it is the only chance to see this work of Alfred Hitchcock. My vote is six.
Title (Brazil): "O Homem Que Sabia Demais" ("The Man Who Knew Too Much")
"The Man Who Knew Too Much" is one of the early Alfred Hitchcock's movies and very irregular in its execution. There are brilliant moments, like the sequence in the Albert Hall or the shooting in the ending; or funny, like for example the sequence of Bob's prank in the ball with the knit line or the witty dialogs during the competition. Unfortunately, there are also some dull moments, like the scenes with the annoying Betty; or the silly fight in the church; or the lack of credit to Clive's explanation to the policemen; or why Abbot did not kill Bob and Betty. The cinematography is not good in the Brazilian DVD released by Continental distributor, but it is the only chance to see this work of Alfred Hitchcock. My vote is six.
Title (Brazil): "O Homem Que Sabia Demais" ("The Man Who Knew Too Much")