The Man Who Knew Too Much Blu-ray

USA 1956

The 4K UHD of The Man Who Knew Too Much is reviewed / compared HERE

The sole instance of Hitchcock actually remaking one of his earlier movies, this replaces the British version's tight, economic plotting and quirky social observations with altogether glossier production values and a typically '50s examination of the family under melodramatic stress. Stewart and Day are the complacent couple whose son is kidnapped by spies, and who wend their way through a characteristically Hitchcockian series of suspense set pieces (including a virtuoso crescendo at the Albert Hall) in their attempts to recover him. Starting slowly amid colourful but rather superfluous travelogue-style Moroccan footage, the film improves no end as it progresses, with anxiety about the boy's safety steadily undermining the apparent happiness of a marriage founded on habit and compromise.

Excerpt from TimeOut Film Guide located HERE

For Mr. Hitchcock contrived some lively thrillers with his formula of mystery and suspense, and he made international intrigue popular when it was getting an evil name. He virtually educated critics in the techniques and refinements of the "chase."

So it shouldn't distress his ardent public to learn that he has cleverly combined his old style and modern screen processes of VistaVision and color in his new picture, which is at the Paramount.

The story is lean and fluid. An American family—father, mother and young son—are sightseeing in Marrakesh, Morocco (this is where the scenic stuff comes in), when suddenly a Frenchman is murdered in cold blood before their eyes. Dying, the Frenchman whispers a cryptic message to the man, who happens to be a doctor. This makes him the man who knows too much.

Excerpt from the NY Times located HERE

Posters

Theatrical Release: June 1st, 1956

Reviews More Reviews DVD Reviews

Comparison:

Universal (The Hitchcock Collection) - Region 1 - NTSC vs. Universal (The Hitchcock Collection) - Region 2,4 - PAL vs. Universal (Alfred Hitchcock: The Masterpiece Collection) - Region FREE - Blu-ray

Big thanks to Gregory Meshman and Henrik Sylow for the DVD Screen Caps!

1) Universal (The Hitchcock Collection) - Region 1 - NTSC - LEFT

2) Universal (The Hitchcock Collection) - Region 2,4 - PAL - MIDDLE

3) Universal (Masterpiece Collection) - Region FREE - Blu-ray - RIGHT

Box Covers			Available Individually - August 2013:
Distribution	Universal Region 1 - NTSC	Universal Region 2,4 - PAL	Universal - Region FREE - Blu-ray
Runtime	1:59:44	1:54:55 (4% PAL speedup)	2:00:18.211
Video	1.83:1 Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 6.58 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s	1.83:1 Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 6:16 mb/s PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s	1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 36,370,161,826 bytes Feature: 32,661,006,336 bytes Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video Total Video Bitrate: 31.99 Mbps
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate: Universal (The Hitchcock Collection)
Bitrate: Universal (The Hitchcock Collection)
Bitrate: Universal Blu-ray
Audio	2.0 Dolby Digital English, 2.0 Dolby Digital French (Dub)	2.0 Dolby Digital English, 2.0 Dolby Digital German (dub)	DTS-HD Master Audio English 1770 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1770 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit) DTS Audio French 448 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 448 kbps / 24-bit
Subtitles	English, Spanish, None	English, German, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, None	English (SDH), Spanish, None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Universal Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 1.83:1 Edition Details: • Making of (34:17 / 4:3) • Production Photographs (4:07 / 4:3) • Theatrical Trailer (2.10 / 4:3) • Trailer compilation - Vertigo, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Rope, The Trouble with Harry, Rear Window • Production Notes (Text Screens) • Cast and Filmakers (Text Screens) DVD Release Date: March 6, 2001 Keepcase Chapters 18	Release Information: Studio: Universal Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 1.83:1 Edition Details: • Making of (34:18 / 4:3) • Trailer (2.08 / 4:3) • Trailer compilation - Vertigo, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Rope, The Trouble with Harry, Rear Window - narrated by James Stewart (6:14) • Art Gallery DVD Release Date: June 20, 2001 Digipack Box Chapters 18	Release Information: Studio: Universal Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 36,370,161,826 bytes Feature: 32,661,006,336 bytes Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video Total Video Bitrate: 31.99 Mbps Edition Details: • Making of (34:20 in 480i) • Production Photographs (4:14) • Theatrical Trailer (2.08) • Re-Release Theatrical Trailer (6:14) • My Scenes Blu-ray Release Date: October 29th, 2012 Custom Bookstyle case Chapters 18

Comments

The 4K UHD of The Man Who Knew Too Much is reviewed / compared HERE

NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Universal - Region FREE - Blu-ray - October 12': To be brief - This seems to be a pretty decent upgrade - colors lose the green tinge from the SD - and skin tones lose their orange hues - details generally rises, the 1080P image is brighter, more information in the frame... I was pleased with the appearance. Even some light scratches appear to have disappeared. There is no noise and a smattering of depth - a solid dual-layered, high-bitrate, transfer. Audio - which is prominent part of the film - gets the lossless stereo treatment and Bernard Herrmann's score and Doris' crooning have some real buoyancy and character in uncompressed. There are optional subtitles on the region FREE Blu-ray disc. The 1/2 making off.. is still present - and still in 480 - and there are trailers - including a lengthy re-release one for The Man Who Knew Too Much plus the BD is 'My Scenes' compatible. I see this as another highly positive reflection on Universal's Masterpiece Collection - one of the most important releases of the year.

***

ON THE DVDs: The transfers and prints appear to be almost exactly the same with some marginal differences. Colors and infrequent damage marks are identical. The PAL edition has some minor cropping on the top edge (or the NTSC is slightly over-scanned) - regardless it is negligible.

Subtitles are positioned slightly differently in the two releases (see example below).

There are some insignificant differences between extra material and the menus are different. They both offer one foreign language DUB and the PAL release has more subtitle options (as usual).

***

The DVDs of "Rope" released in France ("La Corde"), Spain ("La Soga"), and Italy ("Nodo Alla Gola") have the following:

audio: English, French, Spanish, and Italian
subtitles: English, French, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese

Similarly, the DVDs of "The Man Who Knew Too Much" released in France ("L'Homme Qui en Savait Trop"), Spain ("El Hombre Que Sabía Demasiado"), and Italy ("L'Uomo che Sapeva Troppo") also have the same:

audio: English, French, Spanish, and Italian
subtitles: English, French, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese

Unfortunately the details were collected from foreign DVD retail web sites, and I've not got any accurate details of the audio transfers (i.e. DD1.0 or DD2.0), but they're all likely to be mono.

(Thanks to Davey P of the Alfred Hitchcock DVD Information Site located HERE)

-Gary Tooze

Universal (The Masterpiece Collection) - Region FREE - Blu-ray Package

Menus
(Universal (The Hitchcock Collection) - Region 1 - NTSC - LEFT vs. Universal (The Hitchcock Collection) - Region 2,4 - PAL - RIGHT)

Universal (Masterpiece Collection) - Region FREE - Blu-ray

CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION

Screen Captures

1) Universal (The Hitchcock Collection) - Region 1 - NTSC - TOP

2) Universal (The Hitchcock Collection) - Region 2,4 - PAL - MIDDLE

3) Universal (Masterpiece Collection) - Region FREE - Blu-ray - BOTTOM

Subtitle sample