Eric Ambler's scripts more often than not annoyed me by being muddled and artificial. This is no exception, and the first part of the film makes you squirm in uneasy impatience, but then things turn interesting as the plot unfolds. Hitchcock was very careful about always letting the audience know exactly what was happening, that major principle is missing here like in so many Hitchcock-inspired films. Joel McRea is generally reliable, but the real actor here is Herbert Lom as the Polish commandant in the service of MI5, he is wonderful in every scene and lifts the film out of the ditch. The intrigue is interesting, Joel McRea attempts to shoot a hare and hits a man with a buckshot, and the man is dead. No one thinks of the idea that the man could have been shot by someone else at the same time, two shots and two hits from a long distance, which immediately throws the film out of credible realism. There are Germans involved interested in atomic secrets, their leader Marius Goring always haughty and unsympathetic, but Roland Culver as the MI5 man also makes a good impression. Evelyn Keyes is the enjoyable character of the film, and Herbert Lom gives her the proper treatment. There is a great finale which saves the film, but the major asset is actually a great score by Hans May, which gives the right espionage atmosphere to the film, although the real thing is missing.
Review of Shoot First
