During the Cold War, an American scientist appears to defect to East Germany as part of a cloak and dagger mission to find the formula for a resin solution—but the plan goes awry when his fiancee, unaware of his motivation, follows him across the border.
Alfred Hitchcock's 1966 spy thriller has one of the lowest reputations of his late works. Coming after a masterpiece like Marnie, it almost had to be a disappointment. But Hitchcock was incapable of making an uninteresting film.
– Dave Kehr,
Chicago Reader,
20 Mar 2012
rotten:
Hitchcock freshens up his bag of tricks in a good potpourri which becomes a bit stale through a noticeable lack of zip and pacing.
– Variety Staff,
Variety,
18 Oct 2008
rotten:
In these times, with James Bonds cutting capers and pallid spies coming in out of the cold, Mr. Hitchcock will have to give us something a good bit brighter to keep us amused.
– Bosley Crowther,
New York Times,
1 Jan 2000
rotten:
An above-average quota of glaringly shaky process work; but at least one classic sequence of protracted violence in a farmhouse kitchen.