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The Man Who Knew Too Much

143 statements
27 feature instances
4 referencing feature instances

The Man Who Knew Too Much	type	TVTItem
The Man Who Knew Too Much	label	The Man Who Knew Too Much
The Man Who Knew Too Much	page	TheManWhoKnewTooMuch
The Man Who Knew Too Much	comment	The Man Who Knew Too Much is a collection of detective short stories written by G. K. Chesterton in 1920-22 and published in 1922.The book centers on Horne Fisher, a brilliant and extremely well-connected gentleman who is not a professional detective but can solve riddles with the best of them. Fisher revolves in the very upper crust of the British society. He is a relation or a good friend to the most powerful men in the Empire, like prime minister, Chancellor of the Exchequer or Foreign Secretary.Turns out, all those statesmen are thoroughly corrupt. The British state is rotten to the core, it cannot be saved, only distructed. Big political figures violate every law, they are concerned only about money they can embezzle. In the end they resort to murder.Enter Horne Fisher. As an amateur master of detection, he easily guesses the culprit, which is usually a very high-ranking official. However he mostly cannot reveal the truth and bring the murderer to justice. Because that individual is such an indispensable pillar of the British political and social system that it will collapse if the public learns about the crimes of man in question. Britain will lose its empire and probably perish.Moreover often the victim is an equally important and criminal person and had it coming for his sins. Thus the murder is committed only to save the kingdom. Of course in this case Fisher has every reason to silence the truth.Thus most short stories end anticlimactically. Fisher (and Harold March, The Confidant) don't tell anyone who is the real murderer. Because if they did, a much bigger crash, than a sole loss of life, would ensue.Horne Fisher appears in the eight stories in this collection. The Tree of Pride, the ninth story, does not include him, as well as three additional stories featured in the UK edition.Alfred Hitchcock used the title, but nothing else, for his movie The Man Who Knew Too Much.
The Man Who Knew Too Much	fetched	2024-03-06T11:46:09Z
The Man Who Knew Too Much	parsed	2024-03-06T11:46:09Z
The Man Who Knew Too Much	isPartOf	DBTropes
The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_1994ba0b	type	Gone Horribly Right
The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_1994ba0b	comment	Gone Horribly Right: That's how in The Temple of Silence people ostensibly supporting Horne Fisher's attempt to be elected to the Parliament actually regard his rise in popularity with the voters. From the beginning he was planned as a spoiler, to distract votes from the candidate they did not like and secure the win of the planned candidate. However his campaign was a runaway success which they did not expect.
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The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_2484396e	type	Know-Nothing Know-It-All
The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_2484396e	comment	Know-Nothing Know-It-All: That's how Harold March is introduced in the very first story.
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The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_372bc105	type	Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism
The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_372bc105	comment	Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: The Horne Fisher short stories are so extremely on the side of cynicism that they actually achieve the zone where the opposites meet and they suddenly become quite idealistic in general approach.
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The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_3a1c2171	type	The Man Behind the Man
The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_3a1c2171	comment	The Man Behind the Man: Chesterton likes to mention the officials who, while holding a post inferior to the top position in a certain body, are in fact more influential than the formal chief. Somehow several of Fisher's relations are this.
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The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_4063acfd	type	Woman Scorned
The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_4063acfd	comment	Woman Scorned: Bridget Royce in The Vanishing Prince is oddly this. One day Prince Michael runs into the farmhouse of Bridget and tells her that the police are following him. She offers him help. He curtly rejects her offer, proceeds through her farmhouse to the field and manages to hide there. The narrator presents it as though Prince Michael deeply hurt Bridget by his refusal to accept her assistance and hiding on his own instead.
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The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_41a3e267	type	Hidden in Plain Sight
The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_41a3e267	comment	Hidden in Plain Sight: Prince Michael in The Vanishing Prince runs into the field, closely followed by several policemen (though still out of their sight) and disappears into thin air. Of course he disguises as a scarecrow and the men overlook him and depart.
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The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_48ca7c29	type	Broken Ace
The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_48ca7c29	comment	Broken Ace: Fisher. He is extremely clever and shrewd. He also has huge connections. However he keeps saying that he cannot improve things in the British political system. Fisher can only keep silent and hope that total breakdown won't happen.
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The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_4918b32a	type	Scully Syndrome
The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_4918b32a	comment	Scully Syndrome: Forms the key to the plot of The Hole In the Wall. As Fisher puts it:
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The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_49f6a9e4	type	Most Writers Are Writers
The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_49f6a9e4	comment	Most Writers Are Writers: Harold March is a journalist.
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The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_6cc2137b	type	The Scream
The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_6cc2137b	comment	The Scream: Jefferson "Jink" Jenkins pushes out one when sees his hits on the target highlighted by phosphorus courtesy of Horne Fisher. Although none of them hit the center of the target, together they made a caricatured face of a recognisable man. Thus Fisher reveals that Jenkins is actually a pretty great shot which proves his involvement in the murder of the short story The Face in the Target.
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The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_737a65f4	type	The Watson
The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_737a65f4	comment	The Watson: Harold March. He follows the reasonings of Horne Fisher but is never able to figure anything out on his own. Short stories are not written in the first-person-narration but are generally told from the perspective of Harold March.
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The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_7a0374eb	type	Impoverished Patrician
The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_7a0374eb	comment	Impoverished Patrician: Michael Oâ€™Neill, aka Prince Michael is this. He is from a very ancient Irish family and he is currently quite poor.
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The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_8ed5c6e4	type	Asshole Victim
The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_8ed5c6e4	comment	Asshole Victim: Many instances of this. That's also why Horne Fisher frequently does not reveal the murderer. That's because he killed the victim to save Britain from war.
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The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_9a3b7208	type	The Needs of the Many
The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_9a3b7208	comment	The Needs of the Many: That's why the British prime minister kills Sir Isaac Hook, the ship tycoon, with his own hands. Hook was pushing for the war with Sweden which would claim numerous lives and he was just one man.
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The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_9cc1a329	type	Upper-Class Twit
The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_9cc1a329	comment	Upper-Class Twit: Lord Bulmer in The Hole in the Wall. He thinks that architect and archeologist have much in common because their names start with the same four letters:
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The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_9d6e002e	type	Whole Episode Flashback
The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_9d6e002e	comment	Whole Episode Flashback: The Temple of Silence is set in the past. Horne Fisher was a young, fresh-faced rookie in politics and tried to get elected to Parliament.
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The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_a3a7c41	type	Black Sheep
The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_a3a7c41	comment	Black Sheep: Horne Fisher is the one in his family. While he is very intelligent, he never made any career.
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The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_a70223	type	Karma Houdini
The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_a70223	comment	Karma Houdini: for most of the murderers. In The Vanishing Prince things are at their most egregious. A policeman kills two of his colleagues to clean the place for himself and is retired with a weighty pension. While the titular prince, who shot and wounded him to punish for these crimes, goes to jail (although Fisher does arrange for him to escape after a suitable interlude).
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The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_b7248073	type	My Country, Right or Wrong
The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_b7248073	comment	My Country, Right or Wrong: Horne Fisher's country (meaning it's political leadership) seem to be always wrong. But it is still his country. The state would be helped by a little bit of dismantling but Fisher is not the one who would set it off.
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The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_bcd27e37	type	Improbable Aiming Skills
The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_bcd27e37	comment	Improbable Aiming Skills: Jefferson "Jink" Jenkins in The Face in the Target. Aggravated by the fact that people around him believe he is a notoriously bad shot. They attribute his few hits of which they know to pure chance. Other times they see that does not hit the center of the target although he does not even try. Instead he draws a picture on the target (Jenkins is that good) but no-one notices.
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The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_c63e5338	type	It Runs in the Family
The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_c63e5338	comment	It Runs in the Family: In the family of Horne Fisher statesmen hold position in a certain department, not on the very top, however they are somehow more influential than ministers and viceroys to whom they are subordinate.
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The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_ca87e3ec	type	No Name Given
The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_ca87e3ec	comment	No Name Given: For the prime minister in The Fad of the Fisherman and The Vengeance of the Statue. He (they) is always referred to as the prime minister.
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The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_cbe3d017	type	Damned by Faint Praise
The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_cbe3d017	comment	Damned by Faint Praise: Harold March asks Horne Fisher whether he admires his outstanding cousin, Sir Howard Horne (who has just drawn up a budget March thinks is excellent). Fisher replies: Rather. Heâ€™s the best shot I know.
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The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_d563a53c	type	Batman Grabs a Gun
The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_d563a53c	comment	Batman Grabs a Gun: In the last story about Horne Fisher he is the one who "kills" the victim, aggravated by the fact that the dead was his uncle, a high ranking military officer. Of course his uncle was in fact a traitor, he was going to transfer very important documents to the enemy who has just invaded England.
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The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_d8573ef9	type	Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!
The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_d8573ef9	comment	Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: A common M.O. for many characters in short stories.
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The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_e34ada78	type	Authority Equals Asskicking
The Man Who Knew Too Much / int_e34ada78	comment	Authority Equals Asskicking: That's the case in The Fad of the Fisherman. The evil tycoon who was pushing for the war with Sweden is killed by the prime minister who only wanted to save thousands of lives. Of course this good deed remained unpunished even though Horne Fisher figured out the truth and also revealed it to the journalist Howard March.
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The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

The Man Who Knew Too Much	hasFeature	Confess to a Lesser Crime / int_a9a2aee4
The Man Who Knew Too Much	hasFeature	English Literature / int_a9a2aee4
The Man Who Knew Too Much	hasFeature	Scully Syndrome / int_a9a2aee4
The Man Who Knew Too Much	hasFeature	Treachery Cover-Up / int_a9a2aee4

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