Review of Passenger to London

Director Lawrence Huntington's eighth feature "Passenger to London" is a low-budget exercise in Hitchcockian suspense that lacks Alfred's master touch. Like all Hitchcock films, a generic object designated as the "MacGuffin" figures prominently in this lightweight espionage thriller. Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines MacGuffin as "an object, event, or character in a film or story that serves to set and keep the plot in motion despite usually lacking intrinsic importance." Typically, we have no idea about what kind of object it is, simply a rough one that serves as an excuse to pit the good guys against the bad guys. Meaning, they know far more about it than we ever will. David Evans, who scripted this standard-issue saga, had a banner year in the film business in 1937 with eight screenplays to his credit. "Passenger to London" could have been a romantic comedy with spies had Huntington and Evans developed the character of Barbara Lane. Serviceably helmed by Huntington and efficiently penned by Evans, "Passenger to London" refers to British Secret Service Agent Carlton (Victor Hagen of "Dial 999") who has been away on a mission to recover stolen documents, specifically blueprints, that have the Prime Minister sweating bullets over its loss. Carlton's chief, Sir James Garfield (Aubrey Pollock of "The High Command") and his subordinate, Frank Drayton (James Warwick of "Police Surgeon"), are dancing on pins and needles awaiting Carlton imminent return. Indeed, when we see Carlton for the first time, the immaculate agent is riding in a train to Dieppe when his suspicions are aroused by a couple of last-minute passengers aboard the train. Vautel (Paul Neville of "Twin Faces") and Veinberg (Ivan Wilmot of "Forbidden Music") take the compartment next to Carlton. Eventually, one of them will stab the unfortunate Carlton to death. Nevertheless, the shrewd British agent has already stashed that MacGuffin in the luggage of an unsuspecting female passenger, Barbara Lane (Jenny Laird of "Black Narcissus"), who is heading home. Before the trenchcoated dastards dispatch Carlton to the hereafter, he scrawls a hasty letter in pencil to Sir James, and then he entrusted the letter to a train conductor. Afterward, Carlton meets destiny at the point of a knife. Barbara Lane has no idea that Carlton has tampered with her luggage, cutting a slit in the lining where he stashes those valuable blueprints. Sir James receives the letter and Drayton and he breathe a sight of partial relief. Although Carlton is gone, they are relieved to learn that he had hidden the documents. The first half of this routine but polished potboiler ends with Drayton receiving strict instructions from Sir James. Drayton is ordered to register as a guest at Lane's hotel and to ferreting out those documents. Sir James wants Drayton to refrain from letting Lane know about the role that she has played in the affair. The second half of "Passenger to London" takes place in London. Now, Drayton is the lead character on a mission that he cannot reveal. The young chap sets out enthusiastically for the hotel and encounters Lane while he is registering. Not long after she leaves again, Drayton finds the door to her room conveniently unlocked. Entering, he conducts a swift search of the premises, but finds nothing incriminating. Meanwhile, since it has begun to rain, Lane returns to for her umbrella. This moment generates a modicum of suspense since Drayton doesn't know that she is coming back. Indeed, Lane catches Drayton in her apartment. Cool as ice, he coughs up a reasonable alibi about his presence in her rooms. He explains that he smelled gas. Lane accepts his yarn without knitting her brows as she does practically everything else that happens between them. For example, Drayton spends a day out with her. Presumably, the low-budget and the dire necessity for keeping the audience in the dark prompted the filmmakers and Sir James from sending others in to ransack Ms. Lane's room. Huntington builds up the tension when the villains barge in on him and his role in the matter takes an interesting turn. The problem with "Passenger to London" is the characters are a shallow lot, and depth might have given them some interest. For example, did Lane purposefully leave her door unlocked? Eventually, she learns that stolen items were placed in her luggage. Vautel and Veinberg track Lane down to her hotel and take nearby rooms. Huntington and Evans have cooked up one surprise near the end involving Sir James' suspicious activities. Most of "Passenger to London" involves chatty conversations that relay exposition. Lane seems a little too willing to succumb to Drayton's charms. At one point, Sir James warns Drayton before he embarks on his mission that the affair should remain between the two of them. The villains are a suspicious-looking bunch, and they have no qualms about murder. This is another of those classic tropes where the hero and his handler at the only two who know about their business. This film contains two popular plot devices; somebody slips information into another person's luggage. Something like this would occur later in the Don Siegel thriller "The Line-Up" (1958) and Terence Young's "Wait Until Dark" (1967). Mind you, drug smugglers hid contraband in those two movies. Altogether, clocking in at 57 minutes or thereabouts, "Passenger to London" qualifies as a breezy little ride, occurring in a succession of rooms, with minimal comic relief during the second half in the hotel.