Patented 'wrong man' plot becomes top-flight Hitchcock...

Rating: 7/10 (12 March 2008)

Screenwriters Peter Viertel, Joan Harrison and (of all people) Dorothy Parker enable director Alfred Hitchcock to expound on what may have been his favorite movie theme: innocent man--wrongly fingered for a crime--hopes to clear his name by finding the real culprit. Hitchcock, who some credit with originating the story, engineers a great deal of suspense in this plot about a warehouse worker blamed for the explosion which killed his best friend. Plenty of excitement on a grand scale, with usually-colorless actors (Priscilla Lane, Norman Lloyd, Alan Baxter) doing surprisingly fine work. Even eternally-smug Robert Cummings gets into the proper spirit! *** from ****