Alfred Hitchcock's MacGuffins

Part 1

Definition of MacGuffin (or McGuffin): The famed director Alfred Hitchcock often capitalized on a gimmicky plot element to catch the viewer's attention or serve as a distraction - dubbed a McGuffin (or MacGuffin), that would propel the plot along its course. It is essential that a MacGuffin is introduced early in a film, and that it is something that has no real identity of its own and could be interchangeable.

Usually, the MacGuffin initially appeared to be of utmost importance as a catalyst - something that everyone in the plot wanted or was chasing, but actually was unimportant and only functioned to intentionally misdirect the audience. The MacGuffin then quickly faded into the background and ended up being trivial, irrelevant, insignificant or incidental to the film's story by its ending.

Its derivation was Scottish, meaning a "lion trap" for trapping lions in the lion-less Scottish Highlands (i.e., a trap that means nothing, since it is for an animal where there is no such animal). Not every Hitchcock film had a MacGuffin.

The MacGuffin normally refers to the mystery to be solved (or the fugitive's innocence to be proven), or a tangible object (in high demand for some reason, such as jewelry, a piece of evidence, a corpse, a person, a secret formula or message, a statuette or a military secret, something being smuggled, etc.), or some other kind of goal or motivator. MacGuffins are distinct from other film elements such as plot devices.

See also this site's information:

• Alfred Hitchcock Cameos
• Alfred Hitchcock's Greatest Films
• Alfred Hitchcock's Title Screens
• Most Famous Film Director Cameos

• The Maltese Falcon (1941) : the fabled black bird itself
• Citizen Kane (1941): Charles Foster Kane's final word - "Rosebud"
• Casablanca (1942): the "letters of transit"
• It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963): the big "W"
• Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975): the Holy Grail
• Star Wars (1977) : the schematic plans for the Death Star
• Apocalypse Now (1979) : Colonel Kurtz
• Escape From New York (1981): a cassette tape containing information about nuclear fusion
• Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) : the Genesis, a powerful terraforming device
• Romancing the Stone (1984): the emerald stone
• Pulp Fiction (1994) : Marcellus Wallace’s briefcase

• Beavis and Butt-Head Do America (1996): the X-5 bioweapon
• Titanic (1997): the rare diamond necklace, the Heart of the Ocean
• The Big Lebowski (1998) : the Dude's Persian Rug
  
• Saving Private Ryan (1998): Private Ryan himself
• Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000): the Green Destiny Sword
• The Lord of the Rings (2001-2003) : the "One Ring"
• The Departed (2006): stolen missile guidance microchips
• Mission: Impossible III (2006) : a toxic weapon known as "the rabbit's foot"
• Avatar (2009): the mineral energy source "unobtanium"
• The Hangover (2009): the missing Doug

• the MacGuffin: a pair of women's gloves found at the crime scene
• in the story, a London woman named Alice White (Anny Ondra) murdered an artist (of harlequins) named Mr. Crewe (Cyril Ritchard) who tried to rape her in his Chelsea art studio; she defended herself with a bread-knife and stabbed him to death; as she fled his studio, she accidentally left behind her gloves
• Scotland Yard Detective Frank Webber (John Longden), Alice's beau-boyfriend, was coincidentally assigned to investigate the homicide case; at the crime scene, when he located one glove and realized it belonged to Alice, he concealed it from other colleagues, knowing that it would incriminate Alice as the killer
• Alice's blackmailer was petty criminal Tracy (Donald Calthrop), who had seen Alice enter Crewe's studio; he claimed that he possessed the second glove; he made payment demands that were confronted by Frank - who was determined to cover up for Alice's misdeed
• as a suspect, Tracy fell to his death at the British Museum during a chase, while Alice was considering turning herself in to authorities; she wrote a note to Frank: "I am going to give myself up. I cannot bear the thought of that man being accused of something I have done"
• the police assumed that Tracy was Crewe's murderer; she confessed the truth to Frank ("I did it") and he replied: "I know"; she then explained how it was self-defense: "I was defending myself - I didn't know what I was doing"

• the MacGuffin: a jeweled, diamond Suffolk necklace stolen by a gang of thieves in London (Amhurst Park), and located in a safe-house hideout on Anderson Road known as "Number Seventeen"
• in the expressionistic opening set in a dilapidated and abandoned mansion with cobwebs (a "house for sale or let" at No. 17), a body was discovered on the floor (with handcuffs and a gun) by a Cockney homeless man named Ben (Leon M. Lion) and an undercover detective named 'Barton' (revealed at the end to be Detective Gilbert Fordyce (John Stuart) (aka Forsythe))
• shortly later, policeman’s daughter Rose Ackroyd (Ann Casson) (a neighbor at No. 15) fell through the rotting roof of the home; she claimed she was looking for her father Mr. Ackroyd (Henry Caine), who disappeared from their home just before she received a telegram -- "Have Traced Suffolk Necklace to Sheldrake - Expect Him to Make Getaway Tonight - Watch NO 17 - Will Arrive Later – Barton" -- the telegram from 'Barton' referred to a stolen necklace and jewel thieves (led by 'Sheldrake' (Garry Marsh)) who were lured for an anticipated rendezvous at the house at around midnight before their escape via a trap door to a railway siding
• suddenly, the body on the floor disappeared - it was actually 'Sheldrake' pretending to be dead; he was seen removing the necklace from the water-tank of a toilet, but then Ben pickpocketed the necklace from 'Sheldrake's' pocket
• a trio of individuals (thieves looking for the necklace, posing as house hunters) arrived at the house at 12:30 am: (1) the gang leader's girlfriend Nora (Anne Grey), pretending to be mute, (2) Nora's escort-husband Brant (Donald Calthrop), and (3) their nephew, Henry Doyle (Barry Jones) (who falsely claimed in the film's conclusion he was posing as 'Barton')
• in the final scene, Ben revealed that the necklace was safe around his neck and offered it as a wedding present in exchange for a ride, as he spoke to Detective 'Barton'/Forsythe and Nora: "Will you see me safely home, guv'nor, if I gives you a nice wedding present, eh?"

• the MacGuffin: the planned assassination attempt of a foreign dignitary that was to take place in London (seen in a secret message intended for the British consul)
• in the plot, during a skiing holiday in St. Moritz (Switzerland) taken by the Lawrence family, Bob Lawrence (Leslie Banks) with his wife Jill (Edna Best), a French skier named Louis Bernard (Pierre Fresnay) was shot and killed during dinner; as he expired, he whispered to Jill that in his hotel room, he had a shaving brush containing a message that must be given to the British consul
• the enigmatic and cryptic note contained a place name (WAPPING) and two names: G. BARBOR MAKE CONTACT A. HALL MARCH 21st.
• it was revealed that Louis Bernard had been an agent for the "Deuxieme Bureau" and had been in the process of preventing the assassination of a world leader-statesman
• meanwhile, the Lawrence's daughter Betty (Nova Pilbeam) had been kidnapped; under time pressure to find his daughter and not upset the terrorists, Bob went in pursuit of the clues in the note; he realized that he had misunderstood, through concert tickets, that A. Hall was not a person but a place (Royal Albert Hall), and the assassination was to occur there at the end of the orchestral performance during a clash of cymbals, by a sharpshooter-assassin named Ramon (Frank Vosper)

• the MacGuffin: the nature of the '39 Steps' (What did 'the 39 Steps' refer to? Was it an organization or a thing?)
• the British possessed military secrets - secret airplane engine plans (vital to the country's air defense) that spies were attempting to smuggle out of the country in the mind of a music hall mentalist named Mr. Memory (Wylie Watson)
• in the concluding scene set in London's Palladium, it was revealed that the memory expert on stage held the Hitchcockian "MacGuffin" in his head - he had memorized the classified secret information regarding mechanical plans for the design of an airplane engine: "The details of the Air Ministry secrets were borrowed, memorized by this little man, and then replaced before anyone could find out" - and after the evening's show, Mr. Memory was to be taken out of the country by the spies, led by Professor Jordan
• when the hero Richard Hannay (Robert Donat) shouted out the question: "What are the Thirty-Nine Steps?", Mr. Memory dutifully answered: "The Thirty-Nine Steps is an organization of spies, collecting information on behalf of the foreign office of..." - but before he finished and named the country, Mr. Memory was silenced with a gun shot that rang out from master-spy Professor Jordan's (Godfrey Tearle) box above the stage; backstage as he died, Mr. Memory "confessed" by proudly reciting the complicated scientific mathematical formulas of the secret documents that he had painstakingly memorized - the secret formula was about how to make silent aircraft engines

• the MacGuffin: the belt (used for strangulation) from a missing (stolen?) raincoat
• in the plot, the body of international film star-actress Christine Clay (Pamela Carme) washed up on an English coastal seaside; her death came the morning after an argument with her jealous and estranged ex-husband Guy (George Curzon), who still wanted to be married to her (he said her Reno divorce wasn't valid), and accused her of having affairs; incensed, he looked out at the sea from the balcony, and turned back with rapidly-twitching eyes at his ex-wife (angered and capable of foul play)
• at the scene of the crime, screenwriter Robert Tisdall (Derrick De Marney) spotted the body and ran off to notify authorities; police had determined that Christine was strangled with the belt from a raincoat
• there were three reasons for Tisdall to be considered a prime suspect, although he was wrongly-accused: (1) he was seen running away from the crime scene, (2) Tisdall claimed that his raincoat was recently stolen and was missing, and (3) Christine had left him 1,200ドル pounds in her will (unknown to him), suggesting that they were romantically involved with each other
• Erica Burgoyne (Nova Pilbeam), the daughter of local police chief Colonel Burgoyne (Percy Marmont), believed in Robert's innocence; an intense search occurred, with her help, to search for and retrieve his raincoat to prove his alibi (if his coat still had its belt, the one found next to Christine's body wouldn't be his); when they questioned a local vagrant and China-mender named Old Will (Edward Rigby) who had the raincoat, it was learned that Will was given the coat (without a belt) by a man with twitching eyes
• in the conclusion, a matchbook in the pocket of the coat led to the Grand Hotel, where the killer (with the tell-tale twitching eyes) was finally spotted - he was a blackfaced drummer in a minstrel dance band (concealing his looks) in the hotel's ballroom; when confronted after collapsing, he confessed to the murder of Christine and Robert was cleared

• the MacGuffin: the secret message encoded in a piece of music sung by a folk singer-musician on the street - listened to and remembered by Miss Froy (May Whitty) - and then the singer was soon after murdered by strangulation - why was the singer murdered?
• another MacGuffin: the identity (and location) of the kidnapped or disappearing elderly lady Miss Froy - why did she vanish?
• in this tale, the person carrying the 'secret' information disappeared (or was kidnapped) and the search for their 'secret' became a search for the person
• there was evidence! that Miss Froy existed - she had written her name on the steamed-up carriage train window, proving that Iris Henderson's (Margaret Lockwood) claim that Miss Froy existed wasn't just an hallucination, but then grime from a train tunnel covered up the evidence
• in the final scene, Miss Froy was seen in the British Foreign Office in Whitehall, playing the tune on a piano

• the MacGuffin: the character of the first Mrs. de Winter - Rebecca (never seen on screen) - did husband Mr. Maxim de Winter (Laurence Olivier) really love her or not, and was he responsible for her death?
• the haunting presence of keepsakes and the hallowed memory of Rebecca de Winter, continually mentioned lovingly by housekeeper Mrs. Danvers to drive the second Mrs. de Winter (Joan Fontaine) crazy
• the startling confession given by Maxim to his second wife, about how he despised Rebecca; when she asked: "How could I even ask you to love me when I knew you loved Rebecca still?" - he replied with vehemence: "You thought I loved Rebecca? You thought that? I hated her!... I never had a moment's happiness with her. She was incapable of love, or tenderness, or decency"; the second wife replied with disbelief - and relief: "You didn't love her? You didn't love her?"
• the death of Rebecca (how she died) - was revealed by her doctor Dr. Baker (Leo G. Carroll) and her husband to be intentional - realizing that she was terminally ill, she deliberately goaded Maxim into accidentally killing her; Maxim was acquitted of her murder, and her death was ruled as a suicide

• the MacGuffin: the secret Clause 27 in a peace treaty between Holland and Belgium, memorized by Dutch diplomat Van Meer (Albert Bassermann) who was one of only two signatories of the treaty; the most important clause in the treaty was never written down, just memorized by the two; therefore, it was "a piece of information that would be very valuable to the enemy in the war that breaks out tomorrow, weather permitting"; the secret clause in the treaty could either be used to avert or start the war
• in the plot, American crime reporter and 'foreign correspondent' Johnny Jones (Joel McCrea) was selected to interview Van Meer: "Talk with him, find out what's in that treaty, and what he thinks is gonna happen. Facts!"
• in the film's most striking sequence set on steep stair steps leading down from the Amsterdam Town Hall to the public square, Jones became suspicious when diplomat 'Van Meer' (Samuel Adams), whom he had already met and talked to in London, failed to recognize him even after repeated reminders; at the same time, a press photographer (Charles Wagenheim) stepped up to them and asked permission for the diplomat's photograph - a gun was concealed or hidden by his camera, and the assassin shot 'Van Meer' to death at point-blank range in the middle of his forehead; he tumbled down the steps
• however, as it was revealed a bit later in a windmill outside Amsterdam, the real Van Meer was alive; the man shot was Van Meer's impersonator, look-alike decoy or doppelganger; as a result of the real diplomat's knowledge, he had been kidnapped after the faked assassination attempt by a secret international peace organization operating as a subversive Nazi spy ring; he admitted what had happened to Jones before being taken away: "The man you saw shot, it wasn't me. He was a substitute that looked like me...They want the world to think that I've been assassinated. Yes. To conceal the fact that I'm in their hands"
• the film revolved around trying to locate and save the diplomat ("Holland's strongman") (and prevent his torture) - he was allegedly the key to maintaining peace in Europe in 1939
• in the long run, the MacGuffin became unimportant when Van Meer was rescued (and the leader of the spy ring was uncovered); the film ended with reports that Germany had invaded Poland and Denmark, and was bombing Norway

• the MacGuffin: the overriding question: was playboyish, irresponsible, untrustworthy, and penniless con-artist and gambler Johnnie Aysgarth (Cary Grant) also a killer or not? did he marry his wife just for her money? was he plotting his rich wife's murder?
• Johnnie's wife Lina McLaidlaw-Aysgarth (Joan Fontaine) continually suspected that her husband was going to murder her - when he played word games, all she could see was the word 'murder,' and when he read a book about a killer, she thought it was a manual for his own deeds to poison her
• the character of naive Englishman 'Beaky' Thwaite (Nigel Bruce), Johnnie's friend and financial partner - was the catalyst that caused Lina to ultimately suspect that husband Johnnie was a murderer, when 'Beaky' was found dead, traveling with Johnnie; after Lina learned of the death, the skylight above her in the hallway cast a web-like shadow over her as if she was in a cage - and the next victim?
• in the "glass of milk" sequence, Johnnie brought bed-ridden Lina a glass of milk (was it poisoned?), ascending the stairs with the luminous glass
• however, by film's end in a tacked-on ending, it was revealed that Lina had been entirely wrong about Johnnie; he was planning on taking out a life insurance policy on himself and then committing suicide, in order to cover his debts

• the MacGuffin: the elusive whereabouts of Frank Fry (Norman Lloyd), an arsonist-saboteur who was part of a cabal of 'fifth columnists' and terrorists who were plotting to destroy Hoover (Boulder) Dam and a USS naval battleship in Brooklyn, among other things, including in the first scene the burning of a Los Angeles defense aircraft factory

• the MacGuffin: incriminating items (the stolen ring and the newspaper article) that would reveal the evil identity of serial killer Charles Oakley (Joseph Cotten) of rich widows for their money
• upon arrival in Santa Rosa, CA, homicidal Uncle Charlie gifted a stolen emerald ring to Young Charlie Newton (Teresa Wright) with incriminating initials engraved inside - a major MacGuffin
• after Young Charlie's sleuthing at the library to read the days' newspaper (her family's paper had been destroyed by Charlie) - she came upon an article about the 'Merry Widow' murderer; she learned that the MW Murderer's third victim's name matched the engraved initials on the ring Uncle Charlie gave her (TS From BM): TS (Thelma Schenley) From BM (Mrs. Bruce Matthewson) - the film's major turning point

• the MacGuffin: the many mysterious instances of parallel lines (fork lines on the tablecloth, robe stripes, vertical bars on a train station's ticket counter, train tracks, patterns on a bedspread, and sledding tracks outside a window) - and the search for their real meaning; why did the lines or patterns haunt and agitate the sanity of the replacement head for Green Manors, a Vermont psychiatric hospital - a young Dr. Anthony Edwardes (Gregory Peck)? -- was it due to a forgotten murder from the past?
• the MacGuffin, in essence, was Dr. Edwardes' memory of his past and some traumatic event
• Dr. Constance Petersen (Ingrid Bergman), the hospital's only female psychologist - discovered that the signature on the note slipped to her by Dr. Edwardes was markedly different from his autograph in his book (Labyrinth of the Guilt Complex); she suspected he was a fraud, although was falling in love with him
• through sleuthing and psychoanalyzing his phobia (or "guilt complex"), Dr. Edwardes came to be cured; he admitted he was an imposter (his real name was John Ballantyne or J.B.), had amnesia, was on-the-run, and had possibly killed the real Dr. Edwardes; he also remembered a traumatic childhood incident of pushing his brother off a bannister, accidentally causing him to be impaled by the spires of an iron gate; his recovered memory revived him and inspired him to save Constance from skiing off the same steep slope on which Dr. Edwardes, in JB's presence, fell to his death
• the MacGuffins in the story ultimately climaxed to reveal the unmasking of the real killer of Dr. Edwardes, Dr. Murchison (Leo G. Carroll), the long-time head of the institution who didn't want to be retired; he had shot Dr. Edwardes on the ski slope just before he skiied off the edge