BEFORE: Well, this is a Mother's Day film if I SAY it's a Mother's Day film. A girl is kidnapped, and her mother wants her back, of course. Seems about right.
Linking from "Number 17", Barry Jones was also in the 1950 film "Madeleine" with Leslie Banks. Other linkings are possible, but that one's the most prominent.
AFTER: This feels like another leap forward in plot and technique for Hitchcock, but the storyline still has some massive holes in it. Finally I'm getting into some international intrigue, so I'm thinking that my interest in Hitchcock's career is going to start paying off.
I would say that there appear to be too many coincidences - people at the end who just HAPPENED to be seen at the beginning of the film? I find that most unlikely - it's a big world, after all. But then I have to just shrug my shoulders and say, "Well, that was the plan, as unlikely as it seems."
The father does pretty well facing off against international spies, with no training whatsoever. I think if I set out to track down some spies myself, I wouldn't know where to begin. This is sort of similar to what was seen in "Blackmail", where a regular-guy juror sets out to investigate a crime, and do a better job of solving it than the police did.
NITPICK POINT: I have a feeling that trap-shooting and long-range sniper shooting are two very different things, but I'm no gun expert. However, if I were making a film about such things, I'd probably look into it to be sure.
Also starring Edna Best, Peter Lorre (last seen in "The Raven"), Frank Vosper, Hugh Wakefield, Pierre Fresnay, with a cameo from Hitchcock himself.
RATING: 5 out of 10 broken chairs
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