A film that has aged badly and is largely forgotten, even within the general panorama of its director's cinematographic work.

Rating: 3/10 (31 March 2020)

This is another American film integrated in the effort to moralize and mobilize the public, in the context of World War II. The whole action revolves around an attempted sabotage in a military aircraft factory, with an unjustly accused worker fleeing the authorities to try to discover the truth, clear his name and avenge his best friend, who dies in the incident.
The plot has obvious weaknesses. Never would the police, in their right mind, assume that the workers who try to put out a fire are the same ones who filled with gasoline the only extinguishers available to do so. Likewise, a stranger would never trust and help someone he has just met, knowing in advance that he can be a wanted and highly dangerous terrorist. This is enough to take all the logic out of the story.
As a film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, it is not surprising that the technical aspects of filming, editing and post production have been meticulously carried out. The actors are good and do their job on a regular basis, but there is nothing really remarkable here. Robert Cummings is the protagonist and does a good job, but largely inferior to the performance he would do in "Dial M For Murder", for example.
This is a film that has aged badly and will probably end up in a certain forgetfulness, which will not be complete due to the fact that it was directed by one of the greatest filmmakers ever.