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North by Northwest Scene 11 Summary

  • In D.C., we meet a new set of characters: members of a spy team led by the Professor.
  • They're looking at a newspaper headline that shows that Thornhill's wanted for the murder of Lester Townsend.
  • They ask what they should do but decide, at the Professor's urging, to do nothing.
  • The Professor explains at this point that—drumroll, please—there is no George Kaplan.
  • He's a "non-existent decoy … created to divert suspicion from our own Number One," meaning another agent who's undercover and close to the baddies.
  • But thanks to Thornhill and the identity mix-up in the Oak Bar, this fake decoy has become "a live decoy."
  • Rather than intervene, the Professor says they should see this as a "marvelous stroke of good fortune."
  • One CIA agent worries about Thornhill's safety and thinks it's "callous" of them just to let the poor innocent guy fend for himself.
  • But the Professor says anything else could mean "exposure and assassination" for "Number One," who's "working right under Vandamm's nose."
  • This is a matter of national security.
  • The agent worried about poor Thornhill's safety says, "goodbye, Mr. Thornhill."