The fact that Hitchcock saw fit to remake The Man Who Knew Too Much 22 years after his first attempt says a lot about his earlier rendition: it's got potential, but it's rough-around-the-edges, with too much guff to make it a wholly satisfying experience. Unsurprisingly, the 1956 version is the slicker and more enjoyable of the two films, Hitch having refined his style over the intervening decades.
The 1934 film stars Leslie Banks and Edna Best as married English couple Lawrence and Jill, who uncover a plot to assassinate a foreign diplomat, which forces the terrorists to kidnap their daughter Betty (Nova Pilbeam) in order to keep them quiet. Of course, Lawrence and Jill being the protagonists in a Hitchcock film, they decide to track down their missing girl by themselves
While not a particularly remarkable example of Hitchcock's work, the film suffering from those foibles of early film-making, stiff performances and weak pacing, as well as a shootout at the end that doesn't know when to quit, the film is still worth checking out if only to see how it measures up to the better-known remake. Banks and Best don't come out of the comparison too well, being rather bland when compared to James Stewart and Doris Day, but Peter Lorre effortlessly makes his mark as villain Abbott.
The 1934 film stars Leslie Banks and Edna Best as married English couple Lawrence and Jill, who uncover a plot to assassinate a foreign diplomat, which forces the terrorists to kidnap their daughter Betty (Nova Pilbeam) in order to keep them quiet. Of course, Lawrence and Jill being the protagonists in a Hitchcock film, they decide to track down their missing girl by themselves
While not a particularly remarkable example of Hitchcock's work, the film suffering from those foibles of early film-making, stiff performances and weak pacing, as well as a shootout at the end that doesn't know when to quit, the film is still worth checking out if only to see how it measures up to the better-known remake. Banks and Best don't come out of the comparison too well, being rather bland when compared to James Stewart and Doris Day, but Peter Lorre effortlessly makes his mark as villain Abbott.