Complete credited cast: | |||
Leslie Banks | ... | Bob Lawrence | |
Edna Best | ... | Jill Lawrence | |
Peter Lorre | ... | Abbott | |
Frank Vosper | ... | Ramon Levine | |
Hugh Wakefield | ... | Clive | |
Nova Pilbeam | ... | Betty Lawrence | |
Pierre Fresnay | ... | Louis Bernard | |
Cicely Oates | ... | Nurse Agnes | |
D.A. Clarke-Smith | ... | Binstead (as D.A. Clarke Smith) | |
George Curzon | ... | Gibson |
While holidaying in Switzerland, Lawrence and his wife Jill are asked by a dying friend, Louis Bernard, to get information hidden in his room to the British Consulate. They get the information, but when they deny having it, their daughter Betty is kidnapped. It turns out that Louis was a Foreign Office spy and the information has to do with the assassination of a foreign dignitary. Having managed to trace his daughter's kidnappers back to London, Lawrence learns that the assassination will take place during a concert at the Albert Hall. It is left to Jill, however, to stop the assassination. Written by garykmcd
This is pretty intense movie. It moves along well, with some interesting twists and turns along the way. It contains some classic Hitchcock moves. Mainly, the crowded theatre scene. The proper British woman, wondering if she should do anything and interrupt the concert, even though her daughter's life may be at stake. As for villains, Peter Lorre and his henchmen(women) are absolutely delightful in an awful sort of way. As an American it is hard for me to have that stiff upper lip. Everyone is so controlled. Some of the humor is far fetched but much of the movie is tongue in cheek. Still, it works very well. The frontal assault at the conclusion seems wasteful, considering they had the crooks dead to rights, but one can accept it as trying to evaluate the situation. One distracting thing for me is the daughter. I've seen this film a number of times. The fact that she looks older than her mother always bothers me. She is also rather tiresome and silly. Still, this is great fun, shot well, and Lorre makes us really pull for the good guys because he is such a psycho.