This one starts out with such promise, but gets bogged down near the end. Still it is unique enough to be worth a watch. Nina Foch is walking along a bridge in the fog in the middle of the night, looking over the side, when she encounters a policeman. He asks if she is alright, asks her if she is contemplating jumping. She says yes to the first question, no to the second. He tells her to go home, that this is no place to be hanging around at this hour. She walks down the bridge a bit further when a car stops near her. Three men are fighting - actually two are attacking the third man. As one man gets ready to plunge a knife into the heart of another Foch's character screams loudly and repeatedly. And then she awakens. It has all been a bad dream.
In burst the innkeeper where Eileen Carr (Nina Foch) is staying, and by his side, the guy (William Wright as Barry Malcolm) who was about to be stabbed in the dream! What IS going on here? Well, Eileen and Barry are instantly drawn to each other, and it turns out Eileen is a nurse suffering from shock from being in a shipwreck of an American navy vessel. She is at the inn for a long rest. Barry is more illusive about what he is up to. He asks her to spend a couple of days with him in San Francisco and says that she can stay with an aunt of his there. She agrees.
Well it turns out Barry is a spy/courier for the allies, and while in San Francisco he goes to the house of wealthy Paul Devon (Otto Kruger), who gives him sealed orders on the coordination of the underground in Japanese occupied China with the final stages of the attack on Japan. Devon mentions that this mission is so super secret, that no matter what trouble he gets in he is not to contact him after he leaves his house. A car will pick him up at midnight at his hotel and then on to a plane to start him on his way to China.
In the meantime Barry and Eileen are falling for each other, although this must be entirely chemistry because there is no time for character development here. At one point in the evening she even calls him "darling"? Hey Nina you didn't know this guy 24 hours ago, isn't this going a little too fast, even for wartime? Foiling the plans of our young lovers and the allies are two nasty Nazis who have found out what is going on and plan to kidnap Barry by being in that car waiting to take him on his mission. How will this all work out, watch and find out.
I will tell you this much, these spies are VERY persistent. They do believe if at first you don't succeed try try again. It also involves grandfather clock repair, watertight buoyant envelopes, secret Navy experiments going on in San Francisco Bay, and, remember that dream Eileen had? It turns out to be a premonition.
Just a couple of questions for both sides. For the allies - why was it necessary to list the names of the members of the underground - which is what the Nazis are after. After all, the members of the underground know who they are, they don't need a role call! As for the Nazis, why are they doing all of this work for the Japanese? Couldn't they be bothered to try and stop the invasion of their own country? Inquiring minds want to know but will never find out. Well folks, you can't say this one is a paint by numbers war picture, and it has ace direction from Budd Boetticher, here at only age 29 and his third year of directing. Notice how the cinematography sticks to close ups so Columbia's low budget roots do not show.
