Torn Curtain
Paul Newman and Julie Andrews in Torn Curtain.
Torn Curtain was produced in 1965-66 and released in 1966.
Cast
Paul Newman... Professor Michael Armstrong
Julie Andrews... Sarah Sherman
Lila Kedrova... Countess Kuchinska
Hansjörg Felmy... Heinrich Gerhard (credited as Hansjoerg Felmy)
Tamara Toumanova... Ballerina
Wolfgang Kieling... Hermann Gromek
Ludwig Donath... Professor Gustav Lindt
Günter Strack... Professor Karl Manfred
David Opatoshu... Mr. Jacobi
Gisela Fischer... Dr. Koska
Mort Mills... Farmer
Carolyn Conwell... Farmer's Wife
Arthur Gould-Porter... Freddy - the Bookseller
Gloria Gorvin... Fräulein Mann
MacGuffin
Hitchcock explaining to Truffaut what the MacGuffin is: "It's the device, the gimmick, if you will, or the papers the spies are after. [...] the "MacGuffin" is the term we use to cover all that sort of thing: to steal plans or documents, or discover a secret, it doesn't matter what it is. And the logicians are wrong in trying to figure out the truth of a MacGuffin, since it's beside the point. The only thing that really matters is that in the picture the plans, documents, or secrets must seem to be of vital importance to the characters. To me, the narrator, they're of no importance whatever.
Hichcock Films with a MacGuffin
- The 39 Steps (the mechanical formula for the construction of an airplane engine)
- The Lady Vanishes (secret hidden in a melody)
- North by Northwest (microfilm containing government secrets)
- Torn Curtain ("Gamma Five" project, concerning an anti-missile missile)
- Similar to, but no MacGuffins are: Number Seventeen (the necklace), The Man Who Knew Too Much (assasination), Notorious (uranium)
Alfred Hitchcock Cameos
Foreign Correspondent
After John Jones (Joel McCrea) leaves his hotel, Hitchcock is seen wearing a coat and hat and reading a newspaper. |
The Birds
As Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren) enters the pet shop, Hitch is leaving with two white Sealyham terriers. |
Family Plot
Hitchcock's silhouette is seen through the door of the Registrar of Births and Deaths. |
Marnie
Hitchcock is entering from the left of the hotel corridor after Tippi Hedren passes by. |
The Lodger
Hitchcock is sitting at a desk in the newsroom. |
Torn Curtain
Hitchcock is sitting in the lobby of Hotel d'Angleterre, Copenhagen, with a baby on his knee. He shifts the child from one knee to the other. |
Shadow of a Doubt
Shadow of a Doubt: Hitchock's cameo on the train taking uncle Charlie to Santa Rosa. |
The Paradine Case
Hitchcock is leaving the train at Cumberland Station, carrying a cello case. Gregory Peck is carrying the suitcase. |
Psycho
Hitchcock wearing a cowboy hat can be seen through the office window when Janet Leigh is entering. |
Vertigo
Alfred Hitchcock is seen in a grey suit walking in the street outside Gavin Elsters company buildings. |
Young and Innocent
Hitchcock is standing outside the courthouse, holding a camera. |
Stage Fright
Hichcock is turning to look back at Jane Wyman in her disguise as Marlene Dietrich's maid. |
The Wrong Man
Alfred Hitchcock introduces The Wrong Man in what is not a normal cameo appearence. |
North by Northwest
Hitchcock too late for the bus at the end of the titles sequence. |
