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Sep 30, 2016Onewhoissaved rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
"The man who knew too much", 1934 starred Leslie Banks, Edna Best, Peter Lorre, and 15 year old Nova Pilbeam. What attracted HItchcock was blond women and that was Edna and Nova. But the real force here is Peter Lorre with his slicked down hair and the white stripe. Lorrie has a devilish look in his eyes and doesn't shrink from gun fire. It was his first English language role with no detectable foreign accent. I thought Hitchock put a tremendous amount of action in this 76 minute film. It is a little campy (this is a British film and it is only 1934) but there were no previous films to give audiences the feeling they have seen these scenes before. The shootout between the bad guys and the police with neighborhood people barely standing out of the way is quite good. Hitch remade this film in 1956 with James Stewart and Doris Day as the worried parents. That remake took 120 minutes with not as much of a buildup as the 1934 film.