The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956 Alfred Hitchcock)

Nothing much to add to this. Stewart's discomfort in restaurant scene is splendid. 

There he is!

There's not as much evidence of his complex set-ups in this one, though occasionally he will emphasise a shot:

The taxidermy scene has to be one of his very best.

Ambrose Chappell aka a dodo!

Great sound as usual (plane taking off as kidnapper rings off, echoes of footsteps in London street scene). Great cast.

Hitch had been thinking of 'Americanizing' the film as early as 1938, had even got the Marrakesh murder scene worked out.

He had befriended Angus MacPhail, Michael Balcon's script editor, at the time of the original, and when they met again during the war they had talked about rewriting it. (MacPhail worked on Whisky Galore, Dead of Night and Went the Day Well?) By 1953 the writer had become an alcoholic mess, and Hitch employed him as a way of helping him out, and much of the story outline was worked out between them before John Michael Hayes joined to flesh out the characters. Unaware of how much MacPhail had contributed to the script, Hayes didn't credit him and it caused a falling out between him and the director.

The Albert Hall scene is a marvellous piece of 'Pure Cinema' / silent movie making (I get the irony).

I subsequently learned in a great documentary on Hitch and sound that he made a detailed note that the sound of the opening cymbals should fade into the sound of the coach in the opening shot - what attention to detail.