Suspense: "Family Plot," "North by Northwest," and "The Lady Vanishes"

Fake psychics, family heirs, and $10,000, and a false identity are the motives and driving forces of Hitchcock's film Family Plot. Blanche, a fake psychic, and her boyfriend George attempt to the locate the nephew who for an elderly woman. The woman's nephew is the heir to a large estate and she is willing to pay Blanche and George if they find him. While searching for the missing nephew, Edward Shoebridge, they discover that his identity has changed to a successful jeweler Arthur Adamson. Hitchcock uses the identity change of Edward to build suspense within the movie. While searching for who they believe to be Edward, a hit-man named Maloney tries to kill them which leads the audience on an adventure has Blanche and George almost die due to a cut break line in their car.

The image below represents Blanche and George acting as spies as they do throughout the film to find the lost nephew and to solve the mystery behind his fake death after his adoption.

The missing character in Family Plot is used to build suspense and drive the film forward. This technique to create suspense is found in  Hitchcock's two films: The Lady Vanishes and North by Northwest.

The driving force in the film North by Northwest is the fake spy George Kaplan. The film begins with character Roger Thornhill who is mistaken for spy George Kaplan. Thornhill is kidnapped by two men who believe he is Kaplan. They try to kill Kaplan by forcing him to drink bourbon and attempt to kill him off by a drunk driving incident.

The profile of the fake spy sets up audience for an eventful, suspense-thrilling film. After Thornhill is almost killed by his avengers, he goes on an adventure of trying to figure out who George Kaplan really is and why the two men are after him. He goes to the Chicago hotel and sneaks onto the floor, pretending to be Kaplan. Throughout the film, the spy Kaplan is used to build suspense. For example, Eve Kendall, a woman Thornhill is infatuated with, lies to Thornhill and tells him she has arranged a meeting with him for Kaplan. Once Thornhill goes to the desolate location, a crop duster plan dives towards him and tries to kill him. Later on in the film, Thornhill pretends to be Kaplan to save Eve Kendall from the villains.

In comparison to Family Plot and North by Northwest, the film The Lady Vanishes also uses a missing character to build suspense. While staying at an inn, Iris meets a woman Miss Froy. The next morning, Iris and Miss Froy plan to take the same train. Right before boarding the train, Iris is hit on the head by a planter that fell out of the window. On the train, Iris sits next to Miss Froy in the same compartment and has tea with her in the dining car.

Iris sleeps in the train compartment and when she wakes up, Miss Froy is not there. While searching for Miss Froy, everyone on the train states they have never. The mystery of Miss Froy's disappearance and her whereabouts unknown to the people on the train build suspense for the audience. The audience does not know if Iris is imagining Miss Froy or if she is real for the first half of the film. Hitchcock uses the mystery to drive the film forward and to keep the audience wondering what happened and question what is going to happen next.

When Iris has team with Miss Froy, Froy writes her name on the window for her to see. Later in the film, this writing on the window returns. While the audience observe Iris, they too are trying to figure out if Miss Froy is real or not. The camera switches to this scene and this shot is an indicator that the writing on the train was real. This shot is used to build suspense within the film. 

These three movies use false human identities, fake spies, and "nonexistent" characters to build suspense for the audience.