Sometimes nobody knows what the MacGuffin is, they just know that they want it. The thieves don't get told what they're stealing, just that it's valuable. A man might know very little when other people assume that he knows too much. And Jules and Vincent might cart a freaking glowing briefcase around without ever actually letting us know what's inside.
Aside from unopened containers (Castaway), or mysterious secrets (Citizen Kane, The Prestige), another common appearance of this trope is in the superhero genre. Many plots are motivated by a hero's desire to keep his identity a secret, and the villain would never kill somebody before taking an excruciatingly long time to explain his superiority… and then pulling off the hero's mask.
For some reason they all assume that they'll immediately recognize the face underneath it.
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Eric Limer 
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