Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
Aircraft factory worker Barry Kane flees across the United States after he is wrongly accused of starting the fire that killed his best friend.
Hitchcock's wartime thriller is a solid cross-country chase film with the wrongly-accused-man formula he perfected, but it lacks the sharp characterization and tight scripting of his best work. The leads (Robert Cummings, Priscilla Lane) are competent but uninspired compared to Hitchcock's stronger casting choices elsewhere. The cinematography is professionally executed black-and-white work without standout visual innovation. The film earns real novelty points for its distinctly American wartime setting and the parade of eccentric supporting characters, though the overall formula is familiar. The climax atop the Statue of Liberty is genuinely iconic and suspenseful, ranking among Hitchcock's most memorable set-pieces and earning a well-above-average Ending score.