Spies, MacGuffins and Men Who Know Too Much:
A Primer on Alfred Hitchcock's Espionage Films
Though Alfred Hitchcock’s film is the primary basis for the play, you don’t need to be familiar
with the movie to enjoy the work on stage. What is helpful to appreciate is Hitchcock’s style and
defining characteristics, as the play is chock full of winks and nudges to many of his works, namely
his thrillers.
In a career spanning six decades, Alfred Hitchcock amassed a body of work that justly earned him the
title "Master of Suspense." Some of Hitchcock's most popular films utilize similar themes and story
devices, including the "MacGuffin," a concept or object (perhaps never even seen in the movie) whose
existence drives the entire plot of the film.
Many films use MacGuffins — think Pulp Fiction's mysterious briefcase containing a glowing,
unknown object; the letters of transit in Casablanca; the titular statue in The Maltese
Falcon— and yet the key to the MacGuffin is that it only has meaning insofar as it serves
the engine of the plot. If, for example, Sam Spade and the villains were fighting to find a painting
of a California condor instead of a statue of a Maltese falcon, nothing else in the movie would be
affected.
Espionage thrillers are tailor-made for MacGuffins, and few filmmakers are as well known for both as
Alfred Hitchcock. Here's a look at some of his more notable ones:
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THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH
Year: 1934 (remade in 1956)
Stars: Leslie Banks, Edna Best (1934); Jimmy Stewart, Doris Day (1956)
Synopsis: While vacationing in Switzerland (Morocco in the 1956 remake), an innocent couple
— having accidentally learned about a planned political assassination — is forced to go
on the run to stop the attempt and save their kidnapped child.
MacGuffin: The assassination attempt
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THE 39 STEPS
Year: 1935
Stars: Robert Donat, Madeleine Carroll
Synopsis: When a spy is murdered in his home, an innocent man — mistaken for the murderer
— is forced to go on the run and thwart an evil plot.
MacGuffin: British military secrets
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SABOTEUR
Year: 1942
Stars: Robert Cummings, Priscilla Lane
Synopsis: When the military aircraft plant at which he works is set on fire, an innocent man
— mistaken for the arsonist — is forced to go on the run and thwart an evil plot.
MacGuffin: The plot to destroy a Navy ship
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NORTH BY NORTHWEST
Year: 1959
Stars: Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint
Synopsis: When he attempts to send a telegram, an innocent man — mistaken for a CIA agent
— is forced to go on the run and thwart an evil plot.
MacGuffin: Microfilm hidden inside a statue
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TORN CURTAIN
Year: 1966
Stars: Paul Newman, Julie Andrews
Synopsis: Fooling everyone into thinking he has defected to East Germany, an American physicist
works undercover to unearth military secrets and thwart an evil plot.
MacGuffin: Mathematical equations
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TOPAZ
Year: 1969
Stars: Frederick Stafford, Dany Robin
Synopsis: Following the Bay of Pigs invasion, the CIA asks a French diplomat to infiltrate a spy
ring and thwart an evil plot.
MacGuffin: NATO documents
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Want more Hitchcock? Biography, essay and more here.
Written by La Jolla Playhouse Literary Manager Gabriel Greene.
