"Hitchcock’s films abound with objects as visual correlatives - the missing fingerin The Thirty-nine Steps [...] the milk chocolates on the assembly line in Secret Agent, the knife and time bomb in Sabotage.  [...] Hitchcock’s objects are never mere props of a basically theatrical mise-en-scene, but rather the very substance of his cinema."

                                   - Andrew Sarris
The "Unica" lock to the basement in Notorious
The lighter in Strangers on a Train
The lighter in Strangers on a Train
The "Unica" lock to the basement in Notorious
Hitchcock’s films are filled with symbolic objects.  His films often revolve around either these objects or missing objects, which have become known as "MacGuffins."  Hitchcock is himself known to have said that he directed his films so that "if by any chance the sound apparatus broke down in the cinema, the audience would not fret and get restless because the pictorial action would still hold them!"  Even the titles of his films have an "objectness" to them (The Birds, Rope, Champagne, Lifeboat, Psycho, etc.)
The poisoned coffee cup in Notorious
The compass in Lifeboat
The poisoned coffee cup in Notorious
The compass in Lifeboat
Among the important objects shown here is the compass from Lifeboat. This simple object, insterted into an even simpler setting, controls the way in which the audience feels about different characters. The closeups of the compass, which only the audience and Willie are priveleged to see, allow the audience to sympathize with Willie. Hitchcock's films are filled with these types of objects. In the scene above from Notorious, the audience knows more than Ingrid Bergman's character. The cup, which sits ominously in the foreground of the shot, becomes the main character of this scene. Other important symbols in Notorious include keys and the "UNICA" lock. This name refers to a common Hitchcockian theme of castration and the shift of power. Devlin, who opens the wine cellar with a key stolen from Alex, has in a sense castrated Alex by stealing his key. A good deal of anxiety is created around Alicia in this sequence since it was she who stole the key and castrated Alex by betraying his trust.
Mother's brass hands in Psycho
Bruno's Lobster tie in Strangers on a Train
Mother's brass hands in Psycho
Bruno's Lobster tie in Strangers on a Train
Hitchcock designed another symbol in Strangers on a Train himself: Bruno's lobster tie, which was a gift from his mother. This gift is ironically appropriate since Bruno wants to use his hands like a lobster and strangle his mother. Later in the film Bruno will use his hands in this way when he strangles Miriam. Hands are symbolic in Psycho. The bronze hands found in Mother's room seem serene and peaceful, quite opposite to the audience's opinion of Mother otherwise. These hands personify the Mother and deflect the culpability for the murder to Anthony Hopkins' character.

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