History Film / TheManWhoKnewTooMuch

* ProductDisplacement: As with every Hitchcock movie transferred over from Creator/{{Paramount}} to Creator/{{Universal}} after its original theatrical release, the masters used for the 1983 re-release, VHS, and TV replaced the opening and closing Paramount logos with ones for Universal (with the fanfares intact). While the others regained their Paramount logos on DVD and Blu-ray, this one still ended with an '83-era Universal ident on its 2012 Blu-ray.

* HeKnowsTooMuch: The title is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin - a man - and his wife - are intimidated by criminals trying to keep them silent on the subject of an upcoming crime through the abduction of their child, all because they 'knew too much' about it.

Creator/LeslieBanks and Edna Best star as Bob and Jill Lawrence, an English couple who find themselves having to help stop an assassination. The Lawrences are in Switzerland, where Jill is competing in a clay pigeon shooting contest. Jill is passing the time by flirting outrageously with another hotel guest, the charming Louis. The flirting comes to an end when Louis is shot in the chest while dancing with Jill. Louis has just enough time before he dies to tell Jill to retrieve a message hidden in a brush in his room. It turns out that Louis is a spy, and the message has to do with a plot to assassinate a foreign diplomat about to visit England. The bad guys, led by Abbott (Creator/PeterLorre, in one of his first English-language roles), attempt to keep Bob and Jill silent by kidnapping their teenage daughter Betty (Creator/NovaPilbeam).

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/img_1056.JPG]]
[[caption-width-right:300:1956 film poster]]

''The Man Who Knew Too Much'' is a 1934 film by Creator/AlfredHitchcock, who [[SelfRemake remade the film]] in 1956.

* The 1934 film: Creator/LeslieBanks and Edna Best are Bob and Jill Lawrence, a British couple who find themselves having to help stop an assassination. The Lawrences are in Switzerland, where Jill is competing in a clay pigeon shooting contest. Jill is passing the time by flirting outrageously with another hotel guest, the charming Louis. The flirting comes to an end when Louis is shot in the chest while dancing with Jill. Louis has just enough time before he dies to tell Jill to retrieve a message hidden in a brush in his room. It turns out that Louis is a spy, and the message has to do with a plot to assassinate a foreign diplomat about to visit England. The bad guys, led by Abbott (Creator/PeterLorre, in one of his first English-language roles), attempt to keep Bob and Jill silent by kidnapping their teenage daughter Betty (Creator/NovaPilbeam).
* In the 1956 film: Creator/JimmyStewart and Creator/DorisDay star as Ben and Jo [=McKenna=], [[UsefulNotes/TheUnitedStates Americans]] traveling to UsefulNotes/{{Morocco}} with their son Hank (Creator/ChristopherOlsen). On the bus, they meet the amiable Bernard, who puts Jo on edge for remaining mysterious while asking them numerous questions about themselves. Soon her suspicions are confirmed when Bernard stumbles out of a crowd, in disguise and mortally wounded, to whisper a secret message to Ben with his dying breath. Unwittingly embroiled in events beyond their understanding, Ben and Jo quickly learn that there are dangerous people out there who very much want to keep the information a secret.

* The 1934 film: Creator/LeslieBanks and Edna Best are Bob and Jill Lawrence, a British couple who find themselves having to help stop an assassination. The Lawrences are in Switzerland, where Jill is competing in a clay pigeon shooting contest. Jill is passing the time by flirting outrageously with another hotel guest, the charming Louis. The flirting comes to an end when Louis is shot in the chest while dancing with Jill. Louis has just enough time before he dies to tell Jill to retrieve a message hidden in a brush in his room. It turns out that Louis is a spy, and the message has to do with a plot to assassinate a foreign diplomat about to visit England. The bad guys, led by Abbott (Creator/PeterLorre, in one of his first English-language roles), attempt to keep Bob and Jill silent by kidnapping their teenage daughter Betty (Nova Pilbeam, who starred in Hitchcock's ''Young and Innocent'' a few years later).
* In the 1956 film: Creator/JimmyStewart and Creator/DorisDay star as Ben and Jo [=McKenna=], [[UsefulNotes/TheUnitedStates Americans]] traveling to UsefulNotes/{{Morocco}} with their son Hank (Christopher Olsen)[[note]]The older brother of ''Series/TheBradyBunch'''s Susan Olsen[[/note]]. On the bus, they meet the amiable Bernard, who puts Jo on edge for remaining mysterious while asking them numerous questions about themselves. Soon her suspicions are confirmed when Bernard stumbles out of a crowd, in disguise and mortally wounded, to whisper a secret message to Ben with his dying breath. Unwittingly embroiled in events beyond their understanding, Ben and Jo quickly learn that there are dangerous people out there who very much want to keep the information a secret.

Has nothing to do with the short story collection ''Literature/TheManWhoKnewTooMuch''; nor with ''Film/TheManWhoKnewTooLittle'' beyond the [[ShoutOut title]] and [[MistakenForSpies a similar theme for the plot]].

''The Man Who Knew Too Much'' was first a 1922 book of detective stories, then a 1934 film by Creator/AlfredHitchcock, who [[SelfRemake remade the film]] in 1956.

Has nothing to do with ''Film/TheManWhoKnewTooLittle'' beyond the [[ShoutOut title]] and [[MistakenForSpies a similar theme for the plot]].

* MusicalTrigger: The assassin's cue to kill is a specific cymbal clash in a cantata since it marks a loud climax in the music that can mask the gunshot.

''The Man Who Knew Too Much'' was first a 1922 book of detective stories, then a 1934 film by Creator/AlfredHitchcock, who [[TheRemake remade]] the film in 1956.

* In the 1956 film: Creator/JimmyStewart and Creator/DorisDay star as Ben and Jo [=McKenna=], [[UsefulNotes/TheUnitedStates Americans]] traveling to UsefulNotes/{{Morocco}} with their son Hank (Christopher Olsen)[[note]]The older brother of ''Series/TheBradyBunch'''s Susan Olsen[[/note]]. On the bus they meet the amiable Bernard, who puts Jo on edge for remaining mysterious while asking them numerous questions about themselves. Soon her suspicions are confirmed when Bernard stumbles out of a crowd, in disguise and mortally wounded, to whisper a secret message to Ben with his dying breath. Unwittingly embroiled in events beyond their understanding, Ben and Jo quickly learn that there are dangerous people out there who very much want to keep the information a secret.

* FireHoseCannon: Creator/AlfredHitchcock reported that the London police, who were cooperating with the production, objected to the police being shown using guns against the criminals holed up in the house behind the temple. When he asked them how they would deal with it, they suggested using fire engines and hoses: a technique which had been employed in the Siege of Sidney Street in 1911. Eventually, the police agreed to the scene showing the police using rifles, so long as they were shown as being specifically issued for the assault.

* InNameOnly: The films to the original book, which is a collection of short stories about a detective who deduces who committed various crimes in the {{Blue Blood}}ed milleau -- and why the criminal will get away with it. Hitchcock had the right to adapt some of its stories, but decided all he really wanted was the book's title.

* MusicalTrigger: The assassin's cue to kill is a specific cymbal clash in a cantata, since it marks a loud climax in the music that can mask the gunshot.

* PoliceAreUseless: Well, not entirely, but when Clive shows up to rescue Bob with a single bobby, the cop not only refuses to break into the church, but turns around and arrests ''him''!

* BecomingTheMask: [[spoiler:Mrs. Drayton, who pretended to be nice to Hank, only to try and save the him near the films climax.]]

* BreakTheCutie: Jo has a HeroicBSOD after Ben tells her about Hank's kidnapping not only out of fear, but also out of anger for Ben tricking her into swallowing a sedative beforehand, as an attempt to keep her nerves calm.

** And, of course, [[CreatorCameo Hitchcock himself]]. [[spoiler:In this one he's seen [[TheFaceless with his back to the camera]], watching a group of acrobats in the Marrakesh bazaar.]]
* ChekhovsSkill: Jo's strong singing voice averts the assassination and helps locate their son. Hanks whistling also plays a role in his location.

* GenderFlip: In the earlier film the protagonists' child whom the villains kidnap is a daughter; in this film it's a son.

* InNameOnly: The films to the original book. Hitchcock had the right to adapt some of its stories, but decided all he really wanted was the book's title.

* AdultFear: The heroes try to thwart the assassination plot mainly because the assassins kidnap their child, Hank, and threaten to murder him if they give the police the information that Bernard left. [[spoiler:The scene near the end, as they prepare to murder him with a rope that one starts sinisterly wrapping around his hands, is downright nerve-wracking.]]

* BreakTheCutie: Jo has a HeroicBSOD after Ben tells her about Hank's kidnapping not only out of AdultFear, but also out of anger for Ben tricking her into swallowing a sedative beforehand, as an attempt to keep her nerves calm.

* [[IHaveYourWife I Have Your Child]]

* AdultFear: The heroes try to thwart the assassination plot mainly because the assassins kidnap their child, Betty, and threaten to murder her if they give the police the information that Bernard left.