BEFORE: And George Sanders carries over from "Rebecca". How convenient.
AFTER: This film captures a very specific moment in time - released after World War 2 was declared in Europe, but before the U.S. was officially involved. So the goal here was probably to raise awareness and GET America involved - which means this film doubles as propaganda of a sort.
An average reporter is chosen - there's your Hitchcock everyman, to get the average viewer involved - to work the European beat, to not just send back the "war is coming, any day now" telexes, but to get a real feel for the situation, and convey that to the American newspaper-reading public. Though I'm not quite sure what the editor felt that a crime-reporter could bring to the table.
Our everyman goes to one political conference after another, getting a read on who the big players are, while also trying to make time with the daughter of the "Universal Peace Party". He befriends a diplomat named Van Meer, and a few events later, is right on the scene as Van Meer is assassinated - or so it appears. The reporter becomes the story by trying to chase down the assassin, and tracks him to a mysterious windmill.
Again, nothing is what it seems at first - the assassinated diplomat could still be alive, the leader of the peace party could be working toward war, the policemen are corrupt, and down is up and right is left and, well you get the idea.
This was a very sneaky way to work in another espionage plot - either Hitchcock just didn't know the difference between a reporter and a spy, or he didn't much care. Because as far as I know, a reporter's not supposed to MAKE things happen, he's just supposed to report on what DID happen. We didn't send you over to Europe to capture enemy spies, learn about secret treaty clauses and try to marry diplomat's daughters - that's not in your job description!
Also starring Joel McCrea (last seen in "Sullivan's Travels"), Laraine Day, Herbert Marshall (last seen in "Murder!"), Edmund Gwenn (last seen in "The Skin Game"), Albert Bassermann, Eddie Conrad.
RATING: 4 out of 10 radiograms
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