A Filmmaker's Review: "The Man Who Knew Too Much" (1934)

I adore this film. I've seen it once or twice before some maybe ten years' ago but now, I re-watched it for the first time in ages and really - I forgot how enjoyable it was. I've seen the Jimmy Stewart and Doris Day 1956 version a few times but I can honestly say that for me, I do prefer this version. It just feels darker and more raw. It feels like a noir and a thriller. It's a brilliant effort at the film in the early days of Alfred Hitchcock's directing career.

The 1934 version, being my favourite version of the film, contains the brilliant performance of Peter Lorre - who, in all his glory, portrays Abbott. It's literally the performance of a lifetime. Through this character we get to see the seedy world of underground crime, post-war intolerance and brutality led on by a possible case of PTSD and control disorder. It is so incredibly psychological that I really do believe that this movie can mess with your head.

It starts off with the kidnapping of a young girl named Betty Lawrence. Abbott keeps her hidden with the help of some female cult leader and a couple of his right-hand men. This is to stop someone killing an official, but the parents of the child obviously want her returned safely and so, the official's life is still in imminent danger. When faced with the chance that their daughter could be hurt, the mother seems to turn into some sort of power ranger and takes matters into her own hands. This is a common psychological effect in which a mother will gain great amounts of power if her son/daughter etc. is in danger.

During the movie, there are some incredibly clever scenes in which a number of spies are involved, plans crumble and other plans work out the exact way they were designed to. The entire movie seems like it was designed by Abbott in order to play out in his favour and during the scene at the Royal Albert Hall, there is something imminent that tells us his plan is about to fail. The mother, Jill, has figured out that something's going to go horribly wrong and cries out a loud scream, making the gunman miss his target and hit the man he was planning to shoot on the shoulder - not killing him. Abbott definitely wanted this man dead because from then on, there is a massive shootout in one of the most spectacular movie endings of the early 20th Century.

The shootout lasts about 15 minutes and guns are blazing everywhere. People are hiding in shops, restaurants, hotels etc. all over the place to escape the gunfire. As soon as a window opens, the gunmen take out whoever is behind the curtain. It is a brilliant, fast-paced ending to an amazing film and you really just can't take your eyes off the screen. When Abbott tells his men to get the child (who by now, her father has found her and put her on the rooftop) - the men are shot dead by the gunfire outdoors. The ending is obviously happy, with Abbott getting shot as he hides behind a door, waiting for the possibility that his scheme may actually go ahead. But it doesn't.

The dialogue in this film is brilliant and very, very clever. When a man asks Bob Lawrence whether he's heard of "Sarajevo" and then the man says something along the lines of 'because one man you've never heard of opened fire on another man you've never heard of..." to put the war into context after Bob Lawrence and Jill ask why they should care about an official they've never heard of over their daughter's life. It's an cunning way to do it, but it really makes the movie work and I'm not going to lie, I did rewind the movie to watch that line spoken once again.

The dialogue is brilliant, the cinematography is excellent, the storyline is incredible and you are entirely invested in the Lawrence family getting their daughter back at all times. It is an extremely good movie with very little to critique at all. I've always heard the line 'but I don't like old movies' - well, you're going to love this one. Seriously, it is either equivalent to, or better than, the Stewart/Day version and I can honestly say that from the very moment this movie finished, I have wanted to keep watching it over and over again.