Moving into the director's portion of the countdown, we open with the works of Alfred Hitchcock. Granted, many of his films (this included) don't fit the standard mold of horror, but it is a thriller which I've found is mostly horror minus ghosts or vampires.
At a London music hall, Richard Hannay (Robert Donat) is among the crowd watching Mr. Memory (Wylie Watson) perform. Shots are fired, and in the mad panic Hannay runs into a young lady calling herself Annabella Smith (Lucie Mannheim). She talks her way into his apartment.
It may not have been the meeting Hannay wanted though, as Annabella explains she's a spy. Someone is trying to steal some top secret military plans from the British government, and she's trying to figure who and where. She doesn't know who is calling the shots, but she knows one thing-the boss is missing the tip of his little finger. She doesn't explain anymore before turning in.
If Hannay believe her or not, he soon believes something when she staggers into his room later that night with a knife in her back. The only thing she has with her is a marked map of the Scottish Highlands. Taking the map, Hannay slips out of the building and starts making his way north. By the next day his face is spread across every paper declaring him a murder.
After a quick encounter with the enigmatic Pamela (Madeleine Carroll), Hannay reaches Scotland. Getting a change of clothes at a farmer's house, he makes his way to the area marked on Smith's map. Finding a quaint cottage, the occupant introduces himself as Professor Jordan (Godfrey Taearle). Introducing him to his guests, Jordan even helps get the police off his trail. To make things even better, Jordan even says he knows Annabella.
Hannay is overjoyed at his luck... but he notices at last that Jordan is missing the tip of his little finger. Jordan notices this too, and promptly shoots him. Saved by a particularly thick prayer book, Hannay is now in even hotter water. Can he stop Jordan in time?
Pretty good little thriller. Hitchcock's theme of an innocent man going on the run works well here.
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