Banks eschews the services of the British intelligence agency, because Pilbeam's life is threatened if they become involved. Banks is The Man Who Knows Too Much after he takes possession of a document by Pierre Fresnay, a competition skier and socialite who turns out to be a secret agent.
Since this is a Hitchcock film, Banks attempts to solve the case and free Pilbeam through his own efforts, albeit assisted by ineffective Hugh Wakefield. Banks' amateur blundering gets himself abducted as well, putting the onus on Edna Best to put a spanner in the works of the spy ring. They plan to assassinate a foreign notable during a public concert at the Albert Hall.
Lorre is assisted in his diabolical plot by sharpshooter Frank Vosper, brusque dentist Henry Oscar, and humorless hypnotist Cicely Oates, whom we suspect has a personal relationship with Lorre.
How others will see it. Hitchcock, of course, remade The Man Who Knew Too Much in 1956, with James Stewart and Doris Day assuming the roles of Banks and Best. Since the later film is in color and has moviestar leads, it is more popular today.
How I felt about it. The original version is better, however, and not only because we don't have to hear Doris Day plug her latest hit song. The 1934 version has a tense, active, direct feel similar to Hitchcock's very next film, The 39 Steps. Compared to Banks, Stewart is a more convincing everyman. But that's not what the role requires. Banks is an Englishman first and foremost, which means that a combination of pluck, fortitude, persistence, and quiet bravado is needed to best sinister foreigner Lorre.
We freely admit that the 1934 version is a good to very good film. But it has the problems systemic to Hitchcock 'wrong man' movies, in which an innocent man is compelled to play detective, pitted against a network of experienced killers.
In the specific case of the present movie, Banks and Wakefield are unlikely to make rapid progress solving the case. They should have been murdered at the church. Lorre would not hold Banks captive, and tell him that he is to be killed soon. Such information will only provoke Banks to unexpected action.
Lorre is likely to use Pilbeam as a human shield as soon as the cops appear in force, instead of waiting until the situation is practically hopeless. Would Best's scream really prevent Vosper from killing the targeted dignitary? Would the dignitary's head slump as if he were asleep, if he had just been shot in the shoulder?
Going back to the beginning of the film, Lorre and Vosper would not make themselves conspicuous in Swiss society. Fresnay would not be shot in a crowded ballroom, a nearly impossible target for even the best sniper unless Fresnay decides to stand in front of the window. The coincidences of early encounters between villains Lorre and Vosper and the innocent Banks and Best strain credibility: Fresnay just happens to tumble into Lorre, Best just happens to be in the shooting finals with Vosper, etc.