two men kidnap roger thornhill at a hotel. they believe thornhill is george kaplan. they drive him to the mansion of lester townsend. phillip vandamm, who is an enemy spy, questions roger. vandamm's men make thornhill drunk and put him in a car to kill him. thornhill does not die. instead, the police catch him. thornhill cannot make the police or his mother believe his story. they visit the house of townsend. a woman pretends she knows thornhill and makes up stories.