Gielgud is cold and elegant as Brodie/Ashenden but lacks the heart which makes spies intriguing to an audience. Madeleine Carroll is warm and funny, Robert Young is charming (and would have made a great leading man here), and Peter Lorre is hilarious (perhaps unintentionally), stealing scene after scene. Lorre plays his part with a Spanish accent, an earring, curly dark hair, and rolling eyes, and it's hard, if not impossible, to believe that he's an assassin. The outdoor scenes are obviously painted, especially in a mountain climbing scene, and the action is melodramatic. The best and most natural scenes are the scenes in which Young flirts with Carroll, while Gielgud stews or looks confused. These scenes provide contrast with those in which Lorre, in real life a German, looks like a chubby assassin trying to sound "Spanish."

Hitchcock balances his serious scenes with scenes which offer some dark comic relief--Brodie's "wake" contrasting with a scene in which the butler casually carts off his empty casket, Gielgud and Lorre discovering a church organist's body and then having the church bells ring while they are hiding beside them in the bell tower, and Madeleine Carroll visiting politely with the wife of a man being assassinated while the wife's psychic dog howls loudly at the door. In major scenes the major characters wear clothing with sharp black and white contrasts, while lesser characters wear grays, and a constant prop throughout the film is the cigarette--even inside a sauna. Not very suspenseful, the film nevertheless has a surprise ending, and modern viewers will enjoy seeing this cast at work in this early Hitchcock film. Mary Whipple


Interesting Failure   March 21, 2003
 3 out of 4 found this review helpful

This film is something of a disappointment, following as it does Hitchcock's masterpiece 'The 39 Steps'. Yet it is one of Hitchcock's fascinating failures - a vision of the dirty business of spying which pulls no punches. As an innocent man is being murdered we see his dog scratching at the door and howling in one of Hitchcock's most intense and powerful scenes. There is no let up - the hero must committ a shabby murder or walk away from his patriotic duty. No wonder Hitch had trouble finding a suitable ending or that audiences find it difficult rooting for the hero.
Geilgud plays the lead with commendable finesse and with his clipped diction and matinee idol looks he certainly commands the screen. Yet perhaps this film belongs more to his co-stars Madeleine Carroll and even more Peter Lorre - the earringed womanchasing hitman - who moves effortlessly from comedy to horror.
In the end the film lacks cohesion - the love interest in particular seems tacked on - and is perhaps a little too unpleasant for most tastes, but for Hitchcock fans it is essential viewing, forshadowing in some ways 'Notorious' and 'Torn Curtain'.


one of hitchcocks masterpieces   January 20, 2001
 2 out of 7 found this review helpful

this film is one of hitchcocks finest masterpieces with unfogettable lines and scenes.Any great lover of hitchcock films or even just films must buy this great and classic film for u will remember it forever and ever