In fiction, a MacGuffin is an object, device, or event that is necessary to the plot and the motivation of the characters, but insignificant, unimportant, or irrelevant in itself. The term was originated by Angus MacPhail for film, adopted by Alfred Hitchcock, and later extended to a similar device in other fiction.
Blackmail is a 1929 British thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Anny Ondra, John Longden, and Cyril Ritchard. Based on the 1928 play of the same name by Charles Bennett, the film is about a London woman who is blackmailed after killing a man who tries to rape her.
Rebecca is a 1940 American romantic psychological thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. It was Hitchcock's first American project, and his first film under contract with producer David O. Selznick. The screenplay by Robert E. Sherwood and Joan Harrison, and adaptation by Philip MacDonald and Michael Hogan, were based on the 1938 novel of the same name by Daphne du Maurier.
Mr. & Mrs. Smith is a 1941 American screwball comedy film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, written by Norman Krasna, and starring Carole Lombard and Robert Montgomery. It also features Gene Raymond, Jack Carson, Philip Merivale, and Lucile Watson.
Tell Your Children is a 1922 British drama film directed by Donald Crisp. Alfred Hitchcock is credited as a title designer. It was the first film in which later Carry On actor Charles Hawtrey was to appear – he was aged eight at the time. The film is now lost.
In 1922, Alfred Hitchcock obtained his first shot at directing for Gainsborough Pictures with the film Number 13. It is considered Hitchcock's first feature film.
The Great Day is a 1920 British drama film directed by Hugh Ford. Alfred Hitchcock is credited as a title designer. On 17 April 1921, Paramount Pictures released the film in the US at five reels. The film is now considered to be a lost film.
Always Tell Your Wife is a 1923 British short comedy film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and Seymour Hicks, after they took over from an ill Hugh Croise. Only one of the two reels is known to survive. It was a remake of the 1914 film of the same name.
The Call of Youth is a 1921 British short romance film directed by Hugh Ford. Alfred Hitchcock is credited as a title designer. The film is now lost. It was made at Islington Studios by the British subsidiary of the American company Famous Players–Lasky.
The Mystery Road is a 1921 British silent drama film directed by Paul Powell. Alfred Hitchcock is credited as a title designer. The film is considered to be lost.
The Bonnie Brier Bush is a 1921 British drama film directed by Donald Crisp. Alfred Hitchcock is credited as a title designer. The film is considered to be lost.
Three Live Ghosts is a 1922 British comedy film directed by George Fitzmaurice. Alfred Hitchcock is credited as a title designer. The film is based on a 1920 Broadway play, Three Live Ghosts, by Frederic S. Isham and Max Marcin. Actor Cyril Chadwick is the only performer from the play to appear in the film. A copy of the film, thought to be lost, was found in a Russian archive and shown publicly in 2015. This version had however been radically re-edited by Soviet censors in the 1920s, making the film a searing critique of post-war Britain, including its relations with Ireland, which achieved Dominion status in the year the film was first shown.
The Spanish Jade is a 1922 British silent drama film directed by John S. Robertson. Alfred Hitchcock is credited as a title designer. The film is considered to be lost. It was shot at Islington Studios in London by the British subsidiary of Paramount Pictures. The story had previously been made into a 1915 film of the same title.
Around the World in 18 Days is a 1923 American silent film serial directed by B. Reeves Eason and Robert F. Hill. A total of twelve episodes of the serial were released. The film is now considered lost.
The Lodger is a 1932 British thriller film directed by Maurice Elvey, and starring Ivor Novello, Elizabeth Allan, and Jack Hawkins. It is based on the 1913 novel The Lodger by Marie Belloc Lowndes, also filmed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1927 ; by John Brahm in 1944; by Hugo Fregonese, as Man in the Attic, in 1953; and by David Ondaatje in 2009.
Woman to Woman is a 1923 British silent drama film directed by Graham Cutts, with Alfred Hitchcock as the uncredited assistant director and co-screenwriter. The film was the first of three adaptions of the 1921 play Woman to Woman by Michael Morton. To capitalise on the success of the film, Cutts and Hitchcock made another film, The White Shadow, with Compson before she returned to the United States.
The Beloved Vagabond is a 1923 British romantic drama film directed by Fred LeRoy Granville and starring Carlyle Blackwell, Madge Stuart, Jessie Matthews and Phyllis Titmuss. The film is based on the 1906 novel The Beloved Vagabond by William John Locke.
Wuthering Heights is a 1920 British silent drama film directed by A. V. Bramble and starring Milton Rosmer, Colette Brettel and Warwick Ward. It is the first film adaptation made of the 1847 novel Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, and was primarily filmed in and around her home village of Haworth. It is not known whether the film currently survives, and it is considered to be a lost film.
Wyndham Guise was a British actor who appeared on stage in Edwardian musical comedies beginning in the 1890s and became a film actor during the silent era. He is sometimes credited as Windham Guise.
Convoy is a 1927 American silent World War I drama film directed by Joseph C. Boyle and Lothar Mendes, starring Lowell Sherman and Dorothy Mackaill, and released through First National Pictures. The film is an early producing credit for the Halperin Brothers, Victor and Edward, later of White Zombie fame, and is the final screen appearance of Broadway stars Gail Kane and Vincent Serrano.
