Frenzy filmed in London for the 1956 remake of "The Man Who Knew Too Much"). The last film he had made in Britain before his move to America was "Jamaica Inn" (1939). The film was screened at the 1972 Cannes Film Festival, but was not entered into the main competition. Set in the early 1970s, the plot centres on a serial killer terrorizing London by raping and then strangling women with a tie. Bob Rusk (Barry Foster), a Covent Garden wholesale produce merchant, is the murderer. However, circumstantial evidence, partially engineered by Rusk, will implicate Rusk's friend Richard Blaney (Jon Finch),
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956 film) and Doris Day is surprisingly effective as the mother who is frantic about her child ... Even in mammoth VistaVision, the old Hitchcock thriller-stuff has punch." "Variety" wrote that while Hitchcock draws "the footage out a bit long at 119 minutes, he still keeps suspense working at all times and gets strong performances from the two stars and other cast members." "Harrison's Reports" called the film a "highly exciting and entertaining suspense thriller" that "grips the audience from start to finish." Richard L. Coe of "The Washington Post" also liked the film, calling it "a dandy of its popular kind"