The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934)

Second viewing; first seen on September 12, 1992

A couple vacationing in Switzerland with their daughter witness the murder of an acquaintance who happens to be a spy; before he dies he delivers a message to the protagonist.

Entertaining thriller, with humorous touches. This is from a time political assassinations were rampant. They continued to be quite frequent until the end of the 1960s. From then on they seem to have become outmoded, or the exclusive realm of madmen, probably because security on politicians was tightened to a degree that such acts became impractical. Extremists have developed different tactics. In Brazil, where I happen to live, there does not seem to be a history of magnicide. The government, on the other hand, attempts against the lives of citizens on a daily basis by supporting very lenient punishment for violent crimes. This film tackles the old Athenian theme of the opposition between the private and the public good, as expressed by the protagonists' apparent dilemma of saving their child vs. saving a foreign statesman. Athenians put the public good above all else; by the 20th century the situation of the world had changed in such a way that the public good came to have a direct bearing on the private one, as the First World War demonstrated.

Rating: 52 (up from 43)