• How We Restored The Man Who Knew Too Much

    Criterion’s new restoration of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1934 thriller The Man Who Knew Too Much was a project many years in the making. Since the original negative is missing, the first challenge was to find the best possible source elements; only then could a serious cleanup effort begin. In this new video, narrated by our technical director, Lee Kline, and included with our release, get a detailed, inside look at the step-by-step process of bringing back The Man Who Knew Too Much with the best possible image.

    Video, On Five

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19 comments

  • By Craig J. Clark
    January 17, 2013
    02:52 PM

    A herculean effort. Thanks for going to all that trouble!
    Reply

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  • By David Rowe
    January 17, 2013
    03:42 PM

    Very much worth the trouble. Thank-you! Would love to see Number 17 or Secret Agent get this treatment!
    Reply

  • By Jose Pelaez
    January 17, 2013
    09:55 PM

    Excellent job of making an old classic look new again.
    Reply

  • By -jordan_
    January 17, 2013
    10:41 PM

    My jaw dropped at the comparison... Brilliant!
    Reply

  • By Marc
    January 17, 2013
    10:48 PM

    Very educational to see the painstaking process Criterion goes through to restore films.Interesting to see what is exactly involved in a not so typical(warped) restoration.
    Reply

  • By David
    January 18, 2013
    07:12 PM

    I love this stuff! Thanks for all your hard work.
    Reply

  • By OnRobot
    January 18, 2013
    07:18 PM

    I love these behind the scenes videos. It's incredible what you all have done for this film and many others before it.
    Reply

  • By Thomas K
    January 18, 2013
    09:40 PM

    I wish Secret Agent and Sabotage both get this type of painstaking restoration in the near future.
    Reply

  • By Mark H.
    January 21, 2013
    10:23 PM

    Another video that shows again why you are my favorite company in the world. Bravo.
    Reply

  • By Sean
    January 22, 2013
    01:06 AM

    Way to go Criterion of restoring an extremely rare film and by being careful of not trying to rip the film with the original negative that would have been horrible but way to go! Now could you restore some of Fritz Lang's German films as well too! Thanks for listening.
    Reply

  • By marcus
    January 29, 2013
    03:32 PM

    I remember what this film looked like back in 1987...it was pretty much unwatchable, and the dialogue was so muffled it might as well have been in another language. Not surprisingly...I ended up favoring the remake. Now that I see what this looks like now...I'm ready to experience this movie again...what a remarkable restoration.
    Reply

  • By Laura Ann Scaife
    January 29, 2013
    04:45 PM

    I've just finished watching your restoration film and then dug out my old Bargain-basement VHS of The Man Who Knew Too Much. I'll be placing my order very soon!
    Reply

  • By BILL DAKOTA
    January 29, 2013
    04:46 PM

    Whatever happened to THE BALCONY with Shelley and and Warhol's BAD? And Alain Delon's ONCE A THIEF. I waited for THE BOY ON A DOLPHIN and lucked out with a PAL VERSION.
    Reply

  • By Mark
    February 01, 2013
    09:53 AM

    Butbutbut, "through various restoration techniques" - that's what we wanted to learn about!!!!!
    Reply

  • By Ritchard
    February 01, 2013
    10:05 AM

    Mark is quite right, it was a brilliant looking restoration, but I would love to see the restoration softwares in action. Would they be proprietary?
    Reply

  • By David
    February 07, 2013
    09:34 AM

    An amazing effort. I only wish that it had been scanned at more than 2K.
    Reply

  • By David Shepard
    February 08, 2013
    12:01 PM

    Wet gate printing does not use water!!! It uses a chemical with the same refractive index as the film base, thus filling the scratches and making them invisible. Unfortunately, the EPA has banned most of the best chemical options: freon, xylene, trichlorethylene. There is still some perchlorethylene around and that's mostly what is being used, while it lasts.
    Reply

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    • By Lee Kline
      February 13, 2013
      11:12 AM

      David, you are absolutely correct in that wet gate printing does not use water. This was an error in the piece that I personally read, and for some reason I didn't catch the mistake. Thanks for correcting!

  • By Todd
    February 22, 2013
    08:01 PM

    Just saw old version on DVD. The new version is much brighter and clearer if this short provides accurate picture.
    Reply

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