The original version of Alfred Hitchcock's THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH (Gaumont-British, 1934), has often been overshadowed by the director's 1956 remake starring James Stewart and Doris Day. That version always struck me as an overlong movie built around its popular co-stars, whereas the original is all about the story, which gets told deftly in just 75 minutes. The pattern Hitchcock laid down in THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH is revisited to varying degrees in films like THE 39 STEPS (Gaumont-British, 1935), THE LADY VANISHES (Gaumont-British, 1937), SABOTEUR (Universal, 1942), and NORTH BY NORTHWEST (MGM, 1959).A husband and wife (Leslie Banks, Edna Best), vacationing in St. Moritz, come in possession of knowledge regarding an assassination plot, and have their young daughter (Nova Pilbeam) kidnapped in order to force them to co-operate with the assassins. One big advantage the original version has over the remake is the presence of the fascinating Peter Lorre as the arch villain. This was Lorre's first English speaking role, and he gives a performance that's expertly nuanced with oily menace and perverse humor. Lorre's character goes a long way in giving the film its distinctively dark atmosphere. Of course, the suspense is developed intriguingly, climaxing in the well edited Albert Hall sequence. But it doesn't end there; we then get an exciting shootout between the police and the criminals which reaches it's height literally as one of the kidnappers corners the little girl on the edge of a roof, by which time we're at the edge of our seats in pure, Hitchcockian style.I'm a great admirerer of Hitchcock's British films, and it always frustrated me that THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH was only available in dupey, public domain copies on budget DVD sets. Happily, this is no longer the case. Criterion's fully restored Blu-ray release of this important Hitchcock work is beautiful, with a clarity to the image and audio that's never been available to us before. This commendable restoration, transferred from a 35mm nitrate fine-grain master print, is sure to renew interest in the original MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH, and help put it in proper perspective as being superior to the remake.The extra features will enthrall any Hitchcock fan: A commentary by film historian Philip Kemp, an interview with director Guillermo del Toro, "The Illustrated Hitchcock" - interviews with the director conducted by journalist Pia Lindstrom and film historian William K. Everson, audio excerpts from Francois Truffaut's 1962 interview with Hitchcock, and a restoration comparison. There's also an in-depth booklet with an essay by Farran Smith Nehme.Highly recommended.