Beginning
with his first major Hollywood production,
Alfred Hitchcock began a familiar formula within his films which made for
countless successes. He very often used ordinary people, put into what he
called extraordinary situations. In the case of The Man Who Knew Too Much,
Leslie Banks stars as the ordinary man and title character. Once discovering a
plot for a political assassination, an otherwise average man is thrown into a
thrilling case of international intrigue.
The
recently released biopic about Alfred Hitchcock is primarily focused on the
risks that he took when making the film Psycho, which essentially started the
slasher genre and changed the direction of horror pictures forever more. This
was certainly an interesting point in Hitchcock’s career, but mostly because it
was later on in his career and many thought that his best pictures had already
been made. The truth is, even from this first Hollywood
production, Hitchcock was not afraid to take risks.
One
of these risks comes in the casting of the film’s most memorable villain,
Abbott (Peter Lorre). This would be Lorre’s transition into English-speaking
roles, though it came at a time of desperation. Although Lorre was an admired
and respected actor after M, the war had put a hold on a film career in Germany
The
Blu-ray release for The Man Who Knew Too Much includes a new digital
restoration of the film, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack. There is also
an optional audio commentary with film historian Philip Kemp and a new interview
with fan and filmmaker, Guillermo del Toro. Archived material includes a 1972
interview with Hitchcock and audio excerpts from Truffaut’s legendary interview
from 1962. There is also a short featurette with a restoration demonstration
and a booklet insert featuring an essay by critic Farran Smith Nehme.
