Alfred Hitchcock's plea to America to join the war came in the form of this thriller about a reporter's bid to smash an espionage ring. It's memorable for the scene in a windmill where Joel McCrea's coat gets caught in moving machinery; Edmund Gwenn as a chillingly matter-of-fact assassin; and the drama of a crashing aeroplane, filmed head-on by the director, who ingeniously put his cameras inside the cabin. There was a transparency screen on the other side and, behind the screen, a huge water tank, which burst apart - and through the screen, and into the cabin - at the touch of a button). Hitchcock himself makes his usual fleeting guest appearance, but had more trouble with the leading role. The director had wanted Gary Cooper to star. But Cooper thought the film 'just a thriller' and turned it down, McCrea making an admirable replacement. Asked about it years later, Cooper was, as usual, candid, laconic and to the point. 'That was a mistake,' he said. 'I should have done it'.

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