A mixture of smart comedy, thrilling disaster sequences and a great mystery, this is absolutely one of the picture perfect classic British films that isn't as well known as it should be and definitely worthy of discovery by those who love early Hitchcock and can't get enough of that style. It starts off at a Mardi Gras like celebration where Edmund Lowe, a drunken American detective, has a conversation with a man in a hideous mask whom he later discovers murdered. If that isn't enough to sober him up, his meeting (while still intoxicated) with insurance agent Constance Cummings certainly will.
Lowe is investigating a string up sabotage attacks on passenger trains, and that leads to some very frightening moments where Lowe and Cummings witness them, and later near the conclusion when they are on one. The script is snappy and no nonsense, and the photography terrific, with direction by Albert de Courville fast paced and non-stop movement. A few familiar British character actors in the supporting cast including Felix Aylmer and Henry Oscar, as well as memorable minor characters including a sniveling spinster type who gets all huffy when Lowe beats her in a card game. The film doesn't delve much into the identity of the saboteur or motive, and just gets to the point of resolving the case and to turn Lowe and Cummings into the British Nick and Nora who never were.
Lowe is investigating a string up sabotage attacks on passenger trains, and that leads to some very frightening moments where Lowe and Cummings witness them, and later near the conclusion when they are on one. The script is snappy and no nonsense, and the photography terrific, with direction by Albert de Courville fast paced and non-stop movement. A few familiar British character actors in the supporting cast including Felix Aylmer and Henry Oscar, as well as memorable minor characters including a sniveling spinster type who gets all huffy when Lowe beats her in a card game. The film doesn't delve much into the identity of the saboteur or motive, and just gets to the point of resolving the case and to turn Lowe and Cummings into the British Nick and Nora who never were.