Going over old ground

Rating: 5/10 (8 February 2006)

The plot of this sub-standard Hitchcock movie is strongly influenced by "The 39 Steps" but it's not in the same class. Robert Cummings was too light weight for the part of the young hero who goes on the run to prove his innocence after the aircraft factory in which he was working is sabotaged and his best friend killed. The heroine is spunky Priscilla Lane, (a better actress than she was ever given credit for), who is a mite too quick to overcome her reluctance to believe in his innocence, and the plot traverses the country from Los Angeles to New York, (the justly famous climax takes place on top of the Statue of Liberty). In terms of set pieces this is as good as it gets, although there is an excellent sequence at a society gathering that just about redeems the film. Otherwise it is all very jingoistic, made at the height of the war effort and directed, on this occasion, on auto pilot.