Alfred Hitchcock actually wanted Gary Cooper to play the Joel McCrae role, but McCrae did an amazing job as a reporter with dyed-in-the-wool integrity who has to solve an apparent murder, not just to get a story which could be of benefit to the world, but to also save his life. Apparently the Coop thought that a suspense or mystery film was beneath him, but he failed to star in one of Hitchcock's best, most exciting and entertaining movies.
It's also a movie about the discrepancy between the high-sounding idealistic statements one can make and what one is really interested in doing, as we see folks apparently beyond reproach and dedicated to high ideals readily unmasked, showing their true intentions.
We also have to remember that this was kind of a propaganda film, not much of one, but as close as you can get to one, with an impassioned pitch by McCrae at the end for Americans to be aware of the horrors of the Nazi bombings of a civilian population in London. It's actually quite effective at the end when McCrae points out that, at that time, when the Nazis and Imperial Japanese Military had conquered large swaths of the world, America was one of the last "lights" remaining and perhaps the last hope for civilization.
Click on the link above to see the film for free on YouTube.
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