A hitch in time...

Rating: 6/10 (17 May 2011)

Solid if not stolid Hitchcock war-time movie, it contains some imaginative scenes of typical Hitchcockian panache, but sags in the middle, is peopled with too many characters and while it picks up again for its justly famous climax atop the Statue of Liberty, is lacking somewhat in dramatic impact.
Of course it's fun to see past and future Hitchcock motifs get aired, for instance, there's an innocent man in handcuffs befriended by an initially suspicious attractive girl, then there are the various pointers to "North By North-West", both climaxing atop a national monument, the innocent hero encountering peril in the middle of nowhere and the hero's ingenuity in causing confusion at a party scene to effect an escape. The older wiser Hitch knew how to increase the potency of the high jeopardy scene the second time around, c.f. Cary Grant's rescue of Eva Marie Saint on Mt Rushmore, a character whom the audience cared about, rather than the plunge to his death of the Nazi sympathiser,spectacular as it is. That scene above Lady Liberty is a triumph of imagination and vision, but is by no means the only effective one here, take for instance the "slot-machine" reaction shots to the bomb at the ship's launch or the comic insertions of Priscilla Lane's advertising billboards which provide an ironic commentary on the action. There's also the fleeing couple's meet-up with the travelling circus, an obvious but still cleverly written microcosm for the different standpoints on the War (one suspects Dorothy Parker's hand at the wheel for this scene).
Truth to tell, there's probably a little too much speechifying which slows the action down. Also, it's pretty obvious that this is B-list casting when Hitchcock invariably worked better with marquee-names. Robert Cummings is pleasant and amiable enough, but has a slightly mincing gait and doesn't act anger too well. Lane is a touch better, sassy but lacking a little on warmth and glamour but the main kudos go to Otto Kruger as the sinister Tobin, the traitor hiding behind the veneer of respectability, like so many of Hitchcock's "smiling villains".
I enjoyed it as I invariably enjoy almost every Hitchcock feature, especially from his Hollywood years, but this particular outing seems more like a stop on the road rather than a destination in itself.