It’s a little odd to see John Gielgud playing a romantic leading man part on film – I’m so used to seeing him in support roles. Is that a toupee? He’s not too bad, although he lacks Robert Donat’s lazy charm or Michael Redgrave’s chipperness.
This is Hitchcock in a darker mood – the crux of the plot involves our spy heroes killing the wrong man and Gielgud and Madeline Carroll come to hate their jobs (you think they’d be a bit grateful since the job brought them together). The only one who seems to have a good time is Peter Lorre, smoking and drinking away, and laughing when he finds out he’s killed the wrong person.
This doesn’t totally work – at times you feel the film is more an excuse for set pieces (the murder, a scene in a chocolate factory), and our heroes are often passive, with events taken out of their hand. There is a film in the concept, but not here - here it feels "bitsy".
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