Conrad Veidt and Valerie Hobson were popular enough in The Spy in Black to be reunited by Michael Powell in another espionage war thriller. This is set during the early days of World War Two with Vedit playing an out and out hero – a Dutch sea captain who gets involved with British agent Hobson. They get picked up by some Nazi agents during a black out.
This is full of lovely touches – stock footage, the camera moves about, a shoot out at the end among busts of Neville Chamberlain (who Veidt calls "tough" - so his press wasn't all bad), Danish restaurant workers coming to the rescue. It’s light fun – Veidt and Hobson make a sexy team (although Vedit should have had a more personal stake in the story somehow eg Hitchcock would have had him accused of a crime and having to prove his innocence, instead of just going along to collect his leave passes). Hobson is knowing, sensible and sexy - something many Powell heroines would be down the track.
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