笼中猎物

　　小说家丹尼尔（奥斯卡·马丁内兹 Oscar Martínez 饰）从刚出道起事业就顺风顺水，如今更是获得了诺贝尔文学奖的殊荣，攀登上了职业的顶峰，然而这荣誉却并未带给他满足，恰恰相反，丹尼尔担心名声和财富会夺走他文学创作上的灵感与锋芒。　　一晃眼五年过去，丹尼尔热度不减，邀约和奖项不断，可冷淡而又避世的他只教助手一一回绝。一封来自小镇萨拉斯的信吸引了丹尼尔的注意，萨拉斯是他阔别已久的故乡，如今邀请他踏上故土，接受“杰出公民”的奖项，在未告知媒体和朋友们的情况下，丹尼尔独自踏上了返乡的旅途，在那里，他再度见到了曾经的恋人艾琳（安德丽娅·弗里杰里奥 Andrea Frigerio 饰），如今的艾琳早已经嫁为人妻，而她的丈夫正是丹尼尔的旧友安东尼奥（达迪·布列瓦 Dady Brieva 饰）。

　　The main character is Dr. Max Holst, a successful neurosurgeon. One day an intense little man named Steinmetz shows up, who has the real ability to create objects out of thin air, using only his mind. As no one believes him at first, he is held at a ward for mental patients, but manifests the key to his door and escapes. As he has a special interest in Dr. Holst, Steinmetz subsequently invites Holst to his large mansion, which is full of expensive paintings and sculptures, and proves to him that he can in fact materialise objects. Steinmetz’s abilities are evolving by leaps and bounds, and is progressing from being able to create objects only to being able to create living things. His ultimate ambition is to be able to create a human being. He tells Dr. Holst that if he will only perform a certain brain operation on him, Steinmetz will become able to attain his goal. He’s got all the necessary equipment set up in his basement. Dr. Holst, however, is too spooked by the whole thing to agree to this mad scheme, and refuses. Steinmetz then sets about manipulating Holst’s life, to pressure him into performing the operation. By then Steinmetz has become able to create a temporary human being, and in the hope that he can perhaps make his own creation perform the operation, he manifests a doppelganger of Dr. Holst. This double proceeds to take over Dr. Holst’s life, creating chaos for him professionally and personally. And then Dr. Holst starts fighting back. The ending has the dual virtue of being both unexpected and satisfying.

　　音乐厅中传来枪声，观众们一片惊慌。一位外国女子（露西•曼娜海姆饰）询问理查德•汉内（罗伯特•多纳特饰）是否可以在他家中过夜。次日该女子在被杀之前告诉理查德必须阻止间谍组织“三十九级台阶”将国家机密偷偷送出英国。汉内为了证明自己并不是杀人凶手无奈前往苏格兰高地寻找线索，在火车上他寻求一位叫做帕梅拉（玛德琳•卡罗尔饰）的金发年轻女子帮助，但她却马上向警察告发了他。他找到了“三十九级台阶”的领导人乔丹教授，但随即被陷害入狱。侥幸逃脱后又由于帕梅拉的告发被两位伪装成便衣警察的人带走，并且他们还把帕梅拉和他铐在了一起。于是两人携手逃脱了出来并取得了互相的信任，然后他们再次回到音乐厅，汉内看到了上次就见过的表演。他向号称可以回答任何问题的“记忆先生”（怀特•沃森饰）提问：“什么是三十九级台阶“，于是……　　希区柯克曾说“记忆先生“是他最喜欢的角色之一，这个角色建立在一个名叫达塔斯的真人基础上，他自己小时候在伦敦看过他的表演。